When is our purpose in life discovered?

I don't quite know how to say thank you privately in a public place.  It is difficult and perhaps enigmatic as well.  In the last couple of days I have learned that sometimes people come into your life and end up having a profound effect on you or family in ways that were never planned or even contemplated.

For the last "quite some time" our family has gone through some pretty devastating things, some many people know about; a couple of issues only a very small handful of people are aware of.  In the last 72 hours there have been peaks and valleys that have left me breathless just trying to keep up with everything.  Then out of the blue.....

A person we have grown close to over the past almost 6 years began talking about past experiences in her life.  She is such a great person with a generous heart - that much we have known for a long time - but she started encouraging some people that are very close to us in ways that we have been incapable of.  It is said that experience is the best teacher and that if you have walked a mile in someone else's shoes, you are better able to understand what they are going through.  For years I believe one of my life's purposes has been to comfort people who have lost children.  When something like that happens to you, the parents who are left behind do not have to "begin at the beginning" of what it really is to lose a child - unfortunately I already know.  The person I refer to in this blog has been able to reach someone we love very much in a way that it simply isn't possible for me to do because I haven't "walked there".

Is it possible that this person came into our lives almost 6 years ago in a way and for a purpose completely unrelated to what she has been able to do for one of our loved ones in the last couple of days?  I don't know.  Everyone has their own belief system but at this point I really think this person was a integral part in the grand scheme of our life and that the good she can now provide some members of our family is invaluable and was planned long ago by something much bigger than we can ever be.

I realize this post is confusing at best.  What I really want to do is to say thank you to someone who has helped in such a big way with such a big issue.  You never know what form your help or comfort might take.  But hopefully you recognize when you see it.  Thank you friend.  You might have just found one of your purposes in this grand scheme called life.