The Target: When You Finally See Where You’re Aimed

There comes a moment in every archer’s process when the chaos around them quiets and their eyes finally lock on the target.
It’s the moment when everything snaps into place, and clarity arrives where confusion once lived.

Life doesn’t always give us clarity that quickly.

Sometimes purpose feels blurry, distant, or impossible to recognize. Even when you’re healing, growing, doing everything “right,” it can still feel like you’re shooting in the dark… hoping you’ll hit something meaningful.

If you’ve ever thought, “I’m moving, but I’m not sure toward what,” then you’re standing right where this week begins.

Because the truth is:
Purpose rarely becomes clear at the beginning. It becomes clear as you move.

🌿 When I Couldn’t See My Own Target

I know what it feels like to want purpose so badly you can taste it, but still not know what direction you’re supposed to aim.

There have been many uncertain moments in my life. Times where I wasn’t dreaming about purpose — I was fighting to stay alive, fighting to stay strong for my girls, fighting to make it through the next court hearing or appointment.

After my encounter (the one I wrote about in The Journey), something unexpected happened.
I started to see glimpses of the target… not all at once, but slowly.

I noticed what made my heart come alive again.
I became aware of the moments when peace replaced panic.
I clearly saw the people I felt called to encourage, even when I didn’t feel strong myself.

It was like purpose started leaving breadcrumbs, like small clues that helped me see what God was aligning me toward.

I didn’t get clarity because life became easy.
I got clarity because I kept moving, even when everything felt uncertain.

🎯 Purpose Doesn’t Begin with the Target

This is the shift most people miss.

We think we need the target first:
a perfect plan, a clear calling, a detailed picture of where our life is supposed to go.

But archery teaches something entirely different:
You don’t start with the target. You start with alignment.

You learn your stance and grip.
You learn to bend without breaking and how to stay connected.
You learn to breathe through the wind.

And only then, after movement, some stretching, and uncertainty, the target comes into view.

For you, that might look like:

• finally realizing who you’re called to help
• seeing a dream that’s been there all along
• recognizing a desire that keeps resurfacing
• feeling a pull in your spirit that won’t go away
• noticing a pattern in what drains you and what fills you
• gaining clarity in the middle of what you didn’t want

Clarity isn’t a lightning bolt.

It’s a slow unfolding, and you recognize it when your spirit says, “This is what I was made for.”

🌿 When Purpose Finally Comes Into Focus

Purpose doesn’t always look glamorous.
Sometimes it looks like compassion you gained from the pain you lived through, or like a voice you never knew you had, or wisdom you couldn’t have learned any other way.

Clarity appears when you position yourself, so you are ready to see it — not when you’re desperate to understand it.

Think about your own life:

• What themes keep repeating?
• What conversations energize you?
• What problems break your heart?
• What strengths do people keep pointing out?
• What moments make you say, “This is why I’m here”?

Those aren’t random.

They’re indicators; the way the target begins to sharpen in your field of vision.

Clarity doesn’t shout.
It whispers.
And when you’re aligned, you finally hear it.

🎯 What If You’re Closer to Clarity Than You Think?

It’s easy to believe you’re far from purpose when the target still looks blurry.
But what if the blur isn’t distance...it’s timing?

What if everything you’ve been walking through hasn’t been delaying you but preparing you for this moment?

The truth is:
Most people aren’t lost. They just haven’t learned how to see.

And once the target becomes visible, your whole life starts aligning around it.

Not perfectly or instantly, but undeniably.

🌿 Reflection for the Week

Take a moment and reflect:

Where am I starting to see clarity I didn’t have before?
What keeps pulling at my heart no matter how many times I try to ignore it?
What if the “blur” isn’t me being lost — but me being prepared?

You may not see the entire target yet, but if you can see even a glimpse, that’s enough to begin aiming.

🙏 A Prayer of Alignment

“God, help me see what You’ve been aiming me toward.
Make my purpose clear in ways I couldn’t recognize before.
Show me the signs, the nudges, and the patterns that reveal where You’re leading me.
Give me courage to aim with confidence, not fear.
And steady my heart so I can recognize the target
when it comes into view.”

Next Monday, we move deeper into the process with The Release where we explore the moment when purpose meets motion and everything God has been aligning begins to move through you.

Until then, stay attentive because clarity is closer than you think.

With love,
Andrea John
🌿 Uncover identity. Discover purpose. Step into destiny.