“He has also set eternity in the human heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Have you ever stopped in the middle of an ordinary day and asked yourself, “Why am I here?” Maybe it happened in a hospital waiting room, at a funeral, or on a sleepless night. Maybe it happened when everything was going well, and you still felt that something was missing. That question is not a sign that something is wrong with you. It may be the most important question you will ever ask.

There Is More to Life Than What You See

I spent thirty years as a missionary in Western Europe, and in my work in the financial industry I often have conversations with people about life and mortality. Rich and poor, educated and simple, believers and skeptics: I have noticed that almost everyone, at some point, feels the same quiet ache. There must be more.

The Bible explains why. God “has also set eternity in the human heart.” You were made with a soul for an eternal destiny. That longing you feel is not a mistake. It is a signpost.

You Were Placed Here on Purpose

Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul stood in the middle of Athens, one of the most educated cities in the world, and told the crowd something surprising. He said that God decided when and where each person would live, and why: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Think about that. The year you were born, the country you live in, the family you came from, the place where you are reading this right now: none of it is random. God placed you here so that you could find Him. The Bible even says that God knew you before your first breath: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).

“You are not an accident. You are not a number. You are known.”

But the Clock Is Running

There is a second truth we do not like to think about: our time here is limited. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

In the ancient world, sailors knew there was a season when the sea was open and a season when it was closed. When winter came, ships stayed in port, and anyone who had waited too long was stuck. Paul once wrote to a friend, “Do your best to get here before winter” (2 Timothy 4:21). He knew that some doors do not stay open forever.

I am not saying this to scare you. I am saying it because I care. If you were made for a purpose, it would be a tragedy to reach the end of your life without discovering it.

What Keeps Us From Finding It

If God is so close, why does He feel so far? The Bible is honest about the problem: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We have all chosen to go our own way, and that choice separated us from God, the eternal source of life. That separation is why we feel empty and restless, and why no achievement, relationship or possession ever fully fills the space.

But God did not leave us there. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came to bridge that distance. He died in our place and rose again, so that we could come home to the God who made us. He said it Himself: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

“Not just a longer life, but a full one: a life with meaning, forgiveness and a future.”

How I Found Mine

I grew up in the Dominican Republic. In the evenings on my parents’ farm, I would lie in the grass and watch the sky fill with color and then with stars, wondering who had created it all. I prayed all my life to know God, but nobody knew how to help me.

One Thursday in July 1983, I woke up with a terrible toothache. Like everybody, I hated dentists, but the pain was stronger than my fear. I could not know it then, but that afternoon I had a divine appointment. Before starting her work, my dentist, Dr. Aura Rodriguez, gathered the other doctors, opened the Bible, and prayed for their patients. I had never seen anything like it, so between one spit and the next, I asked her why. As she worked on my tooth, I heard the Gospel for the first time. I prayed to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior, kissed my dentist goodbye, and went home wondering: Was it real?

The following Tuesday, I woke up hearing a clear voice inside me: “Read the Bible.” That night I took our dusty family Bible, sat on the floor of my room, and began with Matthew. When I reached chapter 5, Jesus’ words went straight to my heart. I knew I was a sinner, and right there I met Jesus personally. He was real. He was the Voice. I felt a love I had never known before. My search was over.

More than forty years later, I can tell you with certainty: it was real. Christianity is not about us searching for God. It is God searching for men and women.

Why am I telling you this? Because the same God who found me is looking for you.

Have You Found Yours?

Maybe you are not sure what you believe. That is okay. You do not need to have all the answers today. You only need to be willing to look. Jesus once invited two curious men with a simple phrase: “Come, and you will see” (John 1:39). No pressure, no pretending, just an honest invitation to explore.

You are not here by accident. Do not wait for winter to find out why.

---

Not sure where you are with God? Take the 2-minute quiz and discover your next step.