I had the opportunity to sit down with a dear friend recently and just decompress. December had been a hard month for me and I was wrestling with so many emotions. I just needed a sounding board, someone to listen and help me clear through the emotional and mental clutter to find the truth. Have you ever been there? I am so grateful God gives us sisters in Christ!!
I don’t know about you, but whenever I get an assignment or put on a project, I want to jump to the good part. The part where women are being blessed and ministered to by the results of my efforts. I long to feel effective, and let’s be honest, my type A personality loves to check off the box of having accomplished something.
BUT…….to accomplish something well, there is a process. If we skip one step we stunt or stall the entire undertaking. All of the steps are important, they all take effort, so why is starting at the beginning so hard? For me it is because I can’t see the results, they are not instantaneous. And there is a lot of work that goes into preparation.
Awhile ago, I was feeling pretty frustrated because I felt as if the opportunities to minister to women who need help walking through the aftermath of sexual abuse were elusive. As I prayed about it, I sensed God telling me that I would not be able to harvest the ministry field He has called me to until I planted the seed He gave me to plant. It that moment, it dawned on me that what I had just thought was something I would like to do one day was an assignment from God: “Write the book!”
I was skipping the step of planting the seed (creating the content), but I was also skipping the step of preparing the soil (being obedient, transparent & authentic). As I lamented to my friend that I’m so often distracted by the ministry opportunities that I see God at work in, she pointed out that it is because preparing the soil is hard work. We don’t get to see immediate results so we have to lean in and trust God with it. We have to lay all our fears and doubts at His feet and do the work, remembering that as we surrender to Him, the outcome is not our responsibility, it is His.
Can you relate? Has there been a time in your life that you have become distracted and set your project or assignment aside for one that brings more instant gratification? Or maybe that thing you’ve been trying so hard to accomplish and not making any progress with is because you skipped the prep work? You are not alone. And you can begin again. Just lean in, trust that God is working it out, and do the hard work! You may not get instant gratification, but you will be blessed.
“Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” Deuteronomy 5:33 NIV
What assignment or project do you feel the Lord calling you back to? Let me know in the comments or send me an email. I’d love to be praying for you as you step out in faith to do what God has called you to do.
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