Why Does God Prepare You in One Place and Use You in Another?

By Angela D. Thomas, DrPH, MPH, MBA

Because preparation and purpose don't always share an address. God will often grow you in one place, one role, one season, and then release your actual purpose somewhere else entirely. Learning the difference keeps you fully present where you are instead of resenting it.

We've said you're in preparation and that you should be collecting receipts. Now I want to talk about place, because a lot of us are frustrated with our current situation for one simple reason. We think the place we're being prepared in is supposed to be the place we get to shine, and when it isn't, we feel stuck and overlooked.

Here's the truth. There is a place for preparation, and there is a place for purpose. Sometimes they are the same place. A whole lot of times, they are not.

Where Did Jesus Prepare and Where Did He Fulfill His Purpose?

Follow His movements, because it is beautiful. He was born in Bethlehem. A few days into His life, His family took Him to Jerusalem, and it was right there that two people, a man named Simeon and a prophetess named Anna, recognized who He was and spoke over His purpose. Then His family carried Him back to Nazareth, and Nazareth became His place of preparation. Jerusalem is where His purpose would ultimately be fulfilled, all the way to the cross. Nazareth is where He grew.

Then comes the one story we get from His childhood. At twelve years old, His family goes to Jerusalem for Passover, and on the way home they realize He isn't with them. Luke 2:46 (NKJV) says, "Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions." Twelve years old, holding His own with the teachers. And when His worried mother asks Him why He did this to them, Luke 2:49 (NKJV) says, "And He said to them, 'Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?'"

Watch the geography. He is in Jerusalem, His place of purpose. He is twelve years old, and twelve in the Bible is the number of power and authority. You see it everywhere in Scripture. Twelve disciples. Twelve tribes. The woman with the issue of blood who suffered for twelve years before she was healed. Jairus' daughter, twelve years old, that He raised right up. Twelve is power and authority, and there He is at exactly twelve, in exactly the place of purpose, about His Father's business. And don't miss this. His parents found Him after three days. Hold that number, because the same Jesus would one day spend three days before He got up out of that grave. God does not waste details.

For one moment, in the right place, at the right marker, He steps into what He came here for. And then what does He do? Luke 2:51 (NKJV) says, "Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them." He goes right back to His place of preparation and keeps growing. He didn't try to force purpose to happen in the place that was meant for preparation.

Why You Have to Be Fully Present in Both Places

Let me make this real with my own life. For me, Michigan was a place of preparation, professionally and spiritually. It's here in the DMV area that I'm actually walking in my purpose. Two completely different physical places. One prepared me, and I will always value it, but it was never where I was meant to plant my purpose. If you look back over your own life, you might find the very same kind of story. One place that grew you, and another place where you finally got to use what grew.

And place is not only about geography. It is also about role. There's a role that preparation plays, and there's a role for the actual doing of your purpose, and you need both. Think about a praise team. All those rehearsals on Tuesday and Thursday, running the notes, working the harmony, seeking God on how to minister it, that's preparation. But the moment they set foot on that platform, it's game time. They are about the Father's business.

I live in both of those. I'm a grown woman with grown responsibilities, and I still honor my mama who raised me. But when I am standing in my purpose, teaching the Word, if somebody I love asked me to stop right then and take out the dog, I'd have to look at them like, you don't see that I'm about my Father's business right now? Preparation has its place. Purpose has its place. And a mature woman knows exactly which one she is standing in and gives it everything she's got.

What Does the Bible Say About Seasons and Purpose?

It says there's a time for all of it. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV) says, "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." A season to be prepared. A season to walk it out. Sometimes even a season where you have to go off the grid, where folks can't reach you, so you can be fully present in whatever God is doing, whether that's your preparation or your purpose. There's no shame in disappearing for a stretch to get ready. I've done it myself. Being fully present in the season you're in is the whole assignment.

Take this to the Word yourself. Luke 2:41-52, Ecclesiastes 3:1.

What This Means for You

Look back over your life. What was your place of preparation, and are you willing to let God plant your purpose somewhere completely different?

Yesterday we built a prayer list for the wait. Today we separated the place of preparation from the place of purpose. Next up, we deal with something that actually hurts, the people from your place of preparation who can't seem to recognize your purpose.

I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, “The Amazing 30,” is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.