Main Character Energy

Not arrogance, but assignment.

I have been doing a lot of discovery calls lately.

And person after person seems to be showing up to these conversations carrying a very similar weight. Some are in government. Some are in corporate. Some are in ministry, in marriage, in families and relationships leaving them feeling like they are quietly collapsing from the inside. The details are generally different, but the feelings, the feelings are almost always the same.

It is like the life is being sucked out of me.

I hate being here, but I have to stay. I have bills. I have years invested. I have people depending on me.

I know things are falling apart, but if I just keep my head down, maybe they will eventually get better.

I stopped dreaming a long time ago. I cannot afford to think beyond right now.

I have spent a lot of hours recently replaying those words and feelings back over and over in my mind, and I feel what I can only describe as holy frustration. Not at the people saying them. At the situations themselves. At the slow, quiet, relentless way that life in this last year has so quickly pressed people who were moving through life with a sense of purpose into smaller and smaller versions of themselves, until one day they look up and do not even realize they have become the supporting character in their own story.

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Your Scene in the Bigger Story of Life.

Before I go any further, I need to make sure we are on the same page about what story we are actually talking about. Because this is not a self-help narrative with a tidy three-act structure and a motivational ending. This is not a vision board exercise or a personal branding moment.

We are talking about the greatest story ever told. Literally.

It begins before time itself, with a God who created everything from nothing and called it good. It moves through the fall of humanity, the long and aching separation of a creation cut off from its Creator, and then the most dramatic plot twist in the history of existence: God Himself putting on human flesh, walking into the story He wrote, and rescuing it from the inside. The death. The resurrection. The moment that split time in half and offered an alternative ending for every human life that would come after it. And it does not stop there. This story is still being written. It is moving, purposefully and sovereignly, toward a Kingdom that will have no end. Toward a day when every wrong is made right, every tear is wiped away, and every person who said yes to the Author hears His voice say: well done.

That is the story we are in. Not a small one. Not a casual one. The one.

And you were written into it on purpose.

I am a writer and a creator, so I frequently think about things in pictures and metaphors. Connecting real stories to lived experience is how I make sense of life, how I find the thread between where I am and what God is doing. And all of that is probably enhanced by living in Los Angeles, where I find myself surrounded, daily, by the language of film and production. It is in the air out here. Everybody is building something, telling a story, pitching a vision. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I started seeing our lives in relationship to God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit through a frame that finally made the whole thing click for me.

I am sharing how I process it in the hopes that it does the same for you.

God the Father is the Executive Producer of the greatest story ever told. He holds the vision. He owns the resources. He has final authority over how this all ends. The beginning and the end belong to Him, and nothing, not a single scene, makes it into this story without His say.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, is our Director. He did not hand us the script from a distance. He became the script, walking it out in human flesh so we would know exactly what faithfulness in our scene looks like. He works with us intimately, interpreting the Father’s vision, directing our steps, making sure we understand what the scene that is our life actually expects from us.

And the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is our personal coach on set. Always present. Always available. Whispering direction between scenes, interceding when we do not have the words, calling out gifts we have not yet recognized in ourselves, keeping us aligned to the vision when we start to drift. He does not abandon us between takes or when we go off script. He stays, patiently waiting for us to remember His voice and return to His guidance.

Now here is where we come in.

The story is not about us individually. Let me be clear about that. The story is about God’s glory, His redemption, His faithfulness across generations and centuries and eternity. We are not the story.

But our scene? Our scene was written for each of us specifically. Nobody else can perform it. No one else carries the exact combination of gifts, experiences, lessons, and calling that God the Father placed in us to complete it.

Ephesians 2:10 says we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do. That is not a generic word. That is our specific assignment, placed into this specific life, at this specific point on the timeline, in the very specific set of circumstances that only we occupy.

Our scene matters to the big story. And when God the Father wrote us into it, He did not do it carelessly.

So, if God cast us with that much intention, and equipped us with that much support, why are so many of us still standing in the background?

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You Are Not an Extra!

This is the part that often keeps me up at night.

Because it is not just the people I talk to in discovery calls. I have been here too. I know what it feels like to hand over the pen on your own story. To let the bigger personality in the room determine how much space you’re allowed to take up. To let the person who appears to control the resources determine your worth. To let the noise of survival drown out the voice of your calling.

Nobody wakes up one day and decides to become a background character. It happens in layers. A dream deferred here. An opinion swallowed there. A boundary not set. A gift not shared because the room that needed it felt too intimidating. A season operating in survival mode that turned into your permanent address.

And sometimes, somewhere in the middle of all of that, we lose the plot. We stop seeing ourselves as someone the story needs and start seeing ourselves as someone the story is simply happening to. That is what I want to challenge. Because one of those postures produces purpose. The other one just produces waste.

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Purpose Is Not Reserved for Grand Stages.

I am constantly encouraging people to show up for their challenges with main character energy. And what I mean by that is simple: show up, despite the difficulty of your circumstances, walking in purpose and intent on living out your assignment, and with the confidence that God the Father has fully equipped you with everything you need to do that.

Purpose is not always a supersized thing, and I think that confusion is where a lot of us get stuck.

Every person on this planet has an active role in God’s grand story. But only a small percentage of those people will carry a purpose with a world-altering, headline-making impact. Jesus is, of course, the model for that kind of purpose and nobody who has ever walked this earth will come close to the weight and meaning of what He carried. So, take the pressure off. Your purpose does not have to be enormous to be significant. It is simply yours, and only you are uniquely created to fulfill it.

Wherever God has you in this moment is an important part of your scene. It might be preparation for a future act. It might be the lived-out evidence of a previous one. Either way, there is purpose in every minute.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my car in a grocery store parking lot, maybe a bit subconsciously, delaying going in. Honestly, it was the end of April, and my budget was stretched. I was just not looking forward to seeing how much my usual staples had gone up in price. After about ten minutes of avoidance, I grabbed my bags and got out. Walking toward the store entrance, I passed a sweet little elderly woman pushing a cart that was almost as big as she was. I smiled but kept walking. And then the Holy Spirit said, clear as anything: go back. Help her.

I have enough life experience and lessons behind me to know better than to ignore that voice. So I turned around, walked back, and asked if I could help her push her cart to her car. She hesitated at first, then looked up at me and her whole face opened into the most beautiful smile. She thanked me over and over, saying “God bless you for your kindness, God bless you!” And after, I walked into that grocery store completely transformed. Budget anxiety gone. Attitude reset. Basking, genuinely, in the grace of having been used by the Lord in that moment.

That is a small thing in the grand scope of the bigger story. But small, ordinary moments are exactly what God uses to get His glory.

Your life is your scene. You are the main character in it. Purpose is the specific way God made you to show up in whatever space you occupy: in your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, a conversation you did not plan to have, a moment that will never make a highlight reel on your Instagram, but will absolutely matter to the person on the receiving end of it. And to you too, if you allow yourself the space to receive it.

You have purpose in every place you find yourself. Every room. Every ordinary day.

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Main Character Energy Is Not Arrogance. It Is Faith.

Is it arrogant to think of yourself as the main character?

No.

Arrogance says the story is about me. Main character energy honors that the story has a role specifically created for you. Showing up fully in that role is a posture that honors the One who wrote you into it. That is not ego. That is stewardship.

Shrinking? Playing yourself small, staying invisible, burying your gifts, abdicating your voice to whoever seems more important in the room? That is not humility. That is fear in disguise.

God the Father had a vision for each of our lives well before we drew our first breath. Jesus was sent to help us understand that vision and to bring it to life through truth, person by person, scene by scene, step by step. The Holy Spirit, as our personal coach, guides us into our calling, keeping us honest, and making sure we do not miss our cues.

All three working together. For the story. For us. For the good of every person whose life we will touch.

The finish line is not a standing ovation from an earthly audience. It is for the Kingdom of Heaven, and one day hearing from the Executive Producer Himself: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

So even in our challenges, despite our roadblocks, and with whatever difficult circumstance we face in the world today, we matter in a main character kind of way. The circumstances we find ourselves in are not a reflection of the final outcome. As I always say, the outcome is the Creator’s job, obedience is ours.

That is what main character energy is for. Not our glory. His.

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The Set Is Ready. Action...

If you have been living like a supporting character in your own story, please stop.

Start getting intentional right now about who God created you to be and what He created you to bring to your scene.

If you know your purpose and you have been hiding it, please stop.

If you are unsure of your purpose, take this as your sign to get serious about figuring it out. Now. Get still. Get honest. Ask the Director, Jesus, what your scene is supposed to look like. Ask the Coach, the Holy Spirit, what you have been missing. And most importantly, ask the Executive Producer, God our Heavenly Father, what His vision was when He wrote you into this story.

Every day spent walking through life aimlessly is another day of wasted film. Another day of your scene sitting unshot.

You are the main character. It is time to act like it.

Coach Zia

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Ready to stop going through the motions and start walking more fully in your purpose? Coaching spots are open. Visit myfaithatwork.co to learn more.