The Call You Can't Miss: The Keys to Living a Purpose-Infused Life

By Tracy L. McDuffie Jr

Don't settle for a life you've merely fallen into-choose to live the life you were created to lead!

From cars to the smallest creatures in nature, everything serves a specific function. But what about humans, the most sophisticated beings on Earth?

In The Call You Can't Miss: The Keys to Living a Purpose-Inf

• Language: English
• Publisher: Purposely Created Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781644846322

Book preview

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THE CALL YOU CAN’T MISS

Copyright © 2023 Tracy L. McDuffie Jr.

All rights reserved.

Published by Publish Your Gift®

An imprint of Purposely Created Publishing Group, LLC

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Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-64484-631-5 (print)

ISBN: 978-1-64484-632-2 (ebook)

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my fellow stewards who are looking to maximize their stewardship. Whether we like it or not, we are all stewards. We own nothing, and everything we have was given to us by God. Therefore, it is our duty to take what we’ve been given and serve others. Those who embrace their roles as stewards live selfless lives and spend most of their time thinking about how they can serve others with the gifts with which they have been blessed. Those who don’t embrace this idea of stewardship spend most of their time focusing on how they can profit or advance their own agendas with the gifts they’ve been given.

If we’re honest, all of us have fallen into the category of wanting to advance our own agendas. It’s human nature to have selfish tendencies. There is a daily battle within me to do what I want to do, even though I know there is something completely different that I’m supposed to do. Doing what I want to do would make me feel good in that moment. It serves the self and brings self-satisfaction. When I do what I’m supposed to do, I might not feel good in that moment, but the long-term satisfaction of accomplishing what was needed for the good of others is priceless. Stewards meet this challenge head-on and come out on the winning side most of the time.

If you’re looking to maximize your stewardship but aren’t sure where you should start or the steps you should take to get there, I hope this book provides you with the insights you need to not only embark on your journey but stay encouraged throughout.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I: Discover Your PURPOSE

1. You Were Made for This

2. Discover Your Treasure

3. Inner Circle

Part II: Believe Your POTENTIAL

4. Believe

5. Let’s Eat

6. Fill Your Cup

Part III: Unleash Your POWER

7. Persistency and Consistency

8. Power Trip

9. Limitless

Part IV: Live Your PASSION

10. Why Not?

11. The Evidence Speaks for Itself

12. Gassed Up

Acknowledgments

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

Everything was created for a reason. Cars were created for transportation. Coolers were made to keep things cold. Chairs were created to sit on. Even things that we fear and despise, like snakes, rats, and insects, were created to help our ecosystem. These things were created to serve a purpose.

If man-made items and animals were created for a purpose, there should be no question that the crown jewel and most sophisticated beings on Earth, humans, were created for a purpose, too. Our sophistication can be a gift and a curse. The gift is that we have the tools to take our purpose to levels that no other creation can. We can use our purpose to create multiple purposes for ourselves and others.

The curse is that we are the only creation that may never serve our purpose. A car can’t decide that it doesn’t want to transport people. A chair doesn’t get to decide that it doesn’t want someone to sit on it. A cooler doesn’t decide that it doesn’t want to hold things and keep them cold. Nothing else in creation, except for humans, can decide what it wants to be or do. However, our sophistication gives us the choice to do what we want to do and not what we were created to do. Therefore, our sophistication can make us simple and unsophisticated.

I’ve been blessed enough to have friends who are high-achieving professionals. Most of them have college degrees and post-graduate degrees. I also have friends and family members who don’t possess the academic achievements of the college-educated crowd. Both groups of people have one thing in common: purpose. No matter what you do or how much money you make, if you feel you aren’t living your purpose, there is a high likelihood you will feel unfulfilled.

I have conversations with many people about their lives and professions, but as an attorney, most of my conversations are with fellow attorneys. Of the people with whom I am closely connected in the legal field, more than 70 percent of them would change professions if given the opportunity. Notice I’m not talking about changing law firms or areas of practice; I’m talking about changing careers. And some of these people own their own law firms.

They all have different reasons, but the common underlying reason comes back to purpose. They don’t feel as if they’re living their purpose. There is this hole and emptiness inside of them no matter what they achieve. This is the same for my physician friends and those who went to trade schools. Some of them love what they do and feel as if they’re operating in their purpose, and others are just looking for the best way out. Purpose is the common denominator of true fulfillment across the human race.

Purpose is the gift that keeps giving. People who discover and live their purpose are the best version of themselves. They maximize their potential because they love what they do so much that they get deeply involved in taking their game to the next level at every opportunity.

They feel and act powerful because they are confident in what they do. This is not a false confidence that borders on arrogance. This is a true confidence because they have results that prove that they can move mountains when they unleash their power. They also live a life of passion. Their desire controls the way they think and act. They align their lives in a way that excludes anything that is not in alignment with their passion.

If you’re taking the time to read this book, I suspect you have made the choice to live the life you were created to live, not the life that you have settled for. Living a life of purpose is a beautiful thing. I’m confident that once you discover your purpose and start walking in it, there is no other way you will want to live life. Your purpose will be an addiction, and you will need your fix every single day. I hope this book will give you the courage and tools to discover your purpose, believe your potential, unleash your power, and live your passion.

Part I

Discover Your PURPOSE

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.—Ephesians 2:10, New International Version (NIV)

A bird is safe in its nest, but that’s not what its wings were made for.—Amit Ray

* * *

OPENING THOUGHTS

Whether you choose to believe it or live it, you have a purpose. An assignment that only you can complete. I know this to be true because God did not make any photocopies. We are all original works of art. Some people don’t care to know and/or live their purpose. I pray for those individuals because they will truly live an unfulfilled life. But if you’re reading this book, you don’t fall into that category.

The encouragement is this: since you were created for a purpose, you were meant to know that purpose; it’s not a secret that God is trying to hide from you. We just have to pay attention to the clues that we inadvertently ignore. You probably already know your purpose and just don’t know that you know it. However, if you are searching for your purpose and feel you haven’t found it, the next few chapters are filled with steps you can take to gain the clarity and direction you need to know the reason you were placed on this earth.

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YOU WERE MADE FOR THIS

We were all made to do something. Most of us were made to do multiple things. Although this section is called Discover Your Purpose, it could have just as easily been called Continue Discovering Your Purposes. I believe that most of us have more than one purpose in life. Some of us are so gifted that we have many purposes that will allow us to simultaneously impact different areas in positive ways. Some of us are so great with one gift that we can create and execute multiple purposes under the umbrella of that one gift. And our purpose can be seasonal. Today’s purpose may expire to make room for tomorrow’s purpose to be fulfilled.

YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES

What were you made to do? Whatever that is, you can do it no matter how much you may fail at first. I learn more from my failures than I do from my successes, and if you’re honest with yourself, so do you. When babies are learning to walk, they fail miserably at first, but that doesn’t stop them from trying. Eventually, they become so good at walking that they try to run shortly after. And not too long after that, they are both running and jumping. They advance quickly; they don’t just settle for walking once they learn how to do so. They keep advancing their skills and moving to the next challenge or milestone.

A lot of times, people give up on their purpose because it doesn’t come easy at first. In the beginning, failure is more common than success; therefore, it can be easy for them to mistake their failure as a sign that they aren’t meant to do what they’re trying to do. However, if it is one’s purpose, they are not only meant to be successful, they are meant to be abundantly successful to the point where they master and dominate the area. The greatest athletes of our time were once babies and didn’t walk all the way across the room without falling when they took their first steps. But the use of their legs and feet has made them millionaires. Although I’m not a hockey fan, I look at those athletes in amazement. They skate very fast on ice skates while holding a stick, dodging defenders, and controlling a puck. I’m pretty sure every single one of them fell on their butts the first time they tried to walk.

Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite Bible verses. It is the inspiration that led me to discover my purpose. The New International Version reading of this scripture is as follows: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I’m going to break this down so you can see that you have a purpose to fulfill.

First, this scripture tells us that we are handiwork. Handiwork is a compound word; when broken down, it simply means work of the hand. Since we are God’s handiwork, we were specially crafted and created by His hands. That alone should make everyone feel special and provide the inspiration to live a purposeful life. A product of handiwork is more valuable than an item created in bulk and made by machines. If you were to go and purchase two similar items, and one was made by a machine and the other was made by hand, I can guarantee you that the handmade item will cost you more money. The reason is that it takes more time, effort, and expertise to create something by hand.

Since God specially crafted us with His own hands, we are more valuable than we realize. This value is given by our creator and is non-negotiable. There is no haggling on the value of God’s work. Items made by hand and items made by machines are created for a specific purpose. Everything created was meant to do something and provide some value. The fact that God created you by hand is proof that you were meant to do something that provides value.

The next part of Ephesians 2:10 talks about us being created in Christ Jesus to do good works. The phrasing good works puts to rest any notion that you don’t have value and your purpose isn’t to serve the good. Some people really feel that they have no value in this world and that the world would be better off without them. I would say those people either don’t know or don’t value their purpose.