Several months ago, the Lord placed a call on my life to leave the student ministry that I had served with for several years. It was by far one of the hardest acts of obedience the Lord has ever asked of me. I love the girls I worked with more than words can describe, and the thought of not being their Girls Minister anymore absolutely broke my heart. However, in His great lovingkindess, the Lord taught me that they were not “my” girls, they are His.
In the weeks and months since leaving, there have been many times when I have thought, “Did I even make a difference?” What good did I do during my years there?”
Have you ever felt this way? In the quietness of your own heart, have you ever wondered what difference you are making for the Lord? Maybe it is a past ministry or the ministry you are currently a part of, do you ever question your worth and purpose?
If you answered yes to any of the above, let me tell you, you are not alone! Satan loves to discourage us through these thoughts. He loves to convince us that what we are doing or what we have done in the past wasn’t effective.
Typical Satan! We are told that he has come to tear down, kill, and destroy (John 10:10a), so it’s no wonder he wants to do that in the ministries God has called us to!
The truth is we often believe the lie that we weren’t effective because we don’t always get to see the complete life change. It is easy to believe that a conversation, an event, or several years worth of discipleship isn’t effective because we don’t see complete sanctification.
Paul had to deal with these same thoughts as he ministered. He wasn’t always the one who got to see the finished product, but he was faithful to lay the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:5-8).
Several years ago, I got to see this concept in action. During a mission trip to Jamaica, my team and I spent a week building houses for several families. We spent the first half of the week building a house on a foundation that had been laid by a totally different team the week prior. The second half of the week, we worked on a laying a foundation for a house that would be built by the next team. By far, my favorite part of the trip was seeing the faces of the family as they saw their completed house for the first time. I would have loved to see the second house completed and the joy on the faces of that family. However, just because I didn’t get to see the completed product doesn’t mean the foundation we laid was any less important.
You may have a girl in your ministry who you are laying an incredible foundation for, but you may not be the one to lead her to the Lord. You may not be the one to bring her to the place of understanding her calling, but that does not mean your ministry to her is any less effective or important. You are laying foundations with every conversation, every prayer, every encouraging text.
Don’t lose hope. God is using you! Remain faithful to His call, and count the foundations just as much a victory as the completed houses!
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