Have you ever wondered if what you do makes a difference?
Are you really making an impact? Touching lives? It doesn’t even have to be
related to God either. Ever thought your work was done in vain? That what you
did was pointless?
Well, I do. ALL THE TIME! I know it’s my own little war in
my head with the lies that Satan likes to throw at me to try to make me feel
less than who God has made me to be or to try to stop me from doing the work
God has called me to do.
Anyway, being in Thailand has made me, at times, feel that
way. In Africa, we were in the forefront of ministry. We were IT! (even though I
hated feeling like I was being paraded around at times). Partly because we were
white and a sight to see but also, as one of my African contacts had said, it’s
because we are white that they come to see us, to hear us. They feel we are
educated more than them, we are better than them and they want to be like us so
they will come and listen to us more than to their own. Most of our ministry in Africa was preaching
and teaching. Here, in Asia it’s not been that way.
Here, we do behind the scenes work. We put together gifts
for the Christmas party we had. We go with translators to schools to hand out
papers to invite students to come to English camp or Christian camp (even
though its difficult because of the language barrier, many people know English
but have no confidence in speaking it). We haven’t preached once but have had
numerous times to share Christ through these smaller interactions. There is
always a translator/contact with us so that when we leave we leave those we’ve
meet in the hands of the Christians here. They are shy here so they rarely come
up to us but if we go up to them they get really excited to talk with us.
Because our work is much more behind the scenes sometimes I
question what I’m doing; is it making an impact? But today, a Korean missionary
here said to us, “Your presence here is a blessing.” Seriously? He continued on
basically saying that our prayers for this place are powerful and effective.
That more prayer is needed and because we are here we are praying for this
place. That today we have been able to invite more people than otherwise
because there were more of us to contact people.
It made me think of a verse I’ve written about before:
Philippians 4:11 “I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstance”-I need to know that it is okay to be behind the scenes. That just
my presence is powerful.
And 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or WHATEVER
YOU DO, do it all for the glory of God.” – this life isn’t about me. It isn’t
about me being in the front (and quite frankly I don’t like that). Its about
God and whatever God needs me to do, I’ll do it. That’s what is important. So,
whether I am preaching or teaching or washing peoples’ feet or stuffing
packages or handing out invitations or singing and dancing on stage…I must
remember that my presence is powerful and it’s all for the glory of God.
