Excerpt from Before You Meet Prince Charming by Sarah Mally

Directions are not any help unless you know not only where you want to end up, but also where you are now. Some young people need a spiritual GPS module to give them some guidance. They have no purpose in life. They do not know what they want to do with their future, how to get there, where they are now, or why then are here. Without purpose in life we wander aimlessly, either allowing slothfulness to take control or finding ourselves "busy" but accomplishing very little.
  Take inventory and ask yourself where you are right now. Why does God have you here? What is His purpose for you today? What is His calling for your life? And how are you going to get to your next destination?
  Maybe you're all confused about your life and have no idea what the Lord's plan if for you. After returning from a Christian conference, I asked the Lord what do you want me to do? I want to serve you Lord. But how? Here is the important point: I didn't know what the Lord had in store for my life, but I DID know that there were some areas in my life which I needed to be obedient. First, there were some people I had wronged, and I knew the Lord wanted me to go and ask their forgiveness. Then there were some spiritual disciplines (such as Bible reading,Scripture memorization, prayer, etc.)  that I knew I needed to more diligently apply in my life. As I began to obey the Lord in these "small" areas, He began to open more and more ministry doors for me.
    It will be the same for you. The Lord usually doesn't show us the whole picture of our life right away, but He is always faithful to show us the next step. Each act of obedience opens new doors of ministry and reveals the next step God wants us to take. This is walking by faith--- trusting the Lord with all your heart, acknowledging Him, and knowing that He will direct our paths. It requires obedience on our part. But we must not think that we can skip any of the steps along the way. Obey now and you will reap the rewards later.
  As a young lady, you probably believe that God is calling you to be a wife and mother. This is a very noble calling. In fact, there is no assignment more important than raising a new generation to serve the Lord. Yet, marriage cannot be your ultimate goal in life. You must have a life purpose bigger than marriage. If you don't, you won't be fully prepared for marriage.
  Of course, I don't mean just any "life purpose." I am definitely not referring to seeking after a career. Our culture, driven by the modern feminist movement, is pressuring us as girls to be a successful in the world's eyes, get graduate degrees, be independent, move up in the business world, have small families, and do men's work.This standard of success that the world pushes does not even compare to the calling God has for your lives as wives and mothers. God made us the be helpers to our husbands and to bear and train little ones for the kingdom of God This far more important and fulfilling than any career could ever be.
  So what do I mean by "a life purpose bigger than marriage"? I mean that our life purpose must be to serve the Lord, to give our entire lives to Him, and to bear much eternal fruit in order to bring God glory (Jn. 15:8). Unless we are focused on this "great work" (Neh. 6:3) for God, we will never be fulfilled in either singleness or marriage.
  There are many people God brings into our paths each day who desperately need the gospel, teaching, and encouragement. Purpose to have a ministry mindset everywhere you go.