Vasta N. Kamara

PURPOSE, PURPOSE, PURPOSE

Having gone to boarding school at an early age of 7, I developed a level of independence and learnt to adapt in almost any situation. So I kind of went with the wind and believed God that the wind would blow me in the right direction.

The school I went to guaranteed us to excel and excel we did. In P7, we had Math and English tests every Monday of the week and on Friday afternoon we would converge in the dinning to receive our test results in front of all the P7 class teachers. Now the arrangement was such that they gave out all the test results and all those that scored below 90% would line up and go to each teacher for a fair share of canes depending on the teachers’ mood. Those who had above 90% were not necessarily spared because you would fall victim to the number by number caning rounds where according to the teacher the number was easy and therefore no one should have failed it.

So I didn’t ever develop a reading culture and neither did I learn to apply myself. I just needed to remember what I have read at the right time- during an exam. It is no wonder that I do not have reading as one of my hobbies.  

On the contrary, I was always enrolling for courses and this was not because I am an academician but rather my effort to find fulfilment by getting a better job or fitting into the competitive corporate world. It was all meant to make me happier since I would get more money or grow in my career. I made 10 years in employment last year and although I have had good jobs in this time, I still felt empty and unhappy. I had a void that I couldn’t fill and a general resignation to my social life.

I then attended the New Dawn Camp 2017 and for the first time I came up with something called my ‘purpose’.  Now I had been literally begging and bugging God in my prayers for a very long time to show me my purpose in life having read a book called the ‘Purpose Driven life by Rick Warren. One morning while at the New Dawn camp, we were challenged to think about and write down our purpose. It was tough, ‘seeing that God hadn’t answered yet’ but after a bit of thinking I successfully came up with a purpose that I polished over time. Writing down my purpose created excitement in me and gave me a new challenge to step out into. Thank you Lord for Worship Harvest Ministries.

So in order to grow in my purpose and sharpen my leadership skills, I have signed up with Harvest Institute and now I have to read a lot and apply what I have read. While this seems like too much to chew on right now, I am excited about this new learning curve, I like the challenge and I am determined to stay the course because this year, I am being INTENTIONAL.