The Ministry God Is Building Is Also Building You

When God places an assignment on our hearts, our attention naturally turns toward what we are supposed to accomplish.

We begin thinking about the ministry.

The business.

The book.

The Bible study.

The class.

The outreach.

The opportunity.

We ask questions like:

“How can I make this better?”

“How can I reach more people?”

“How can I be more effective?”

Those are good questions.

But over time, I have begun asking a different one.

“What is God building within me while I build this?”

I believe that changes everything.

We often assume God is primarily interested in the work we are producing.

Yet throughout Scripture, we discover that He has always been deeply interested in the person doing the work.

When Moses led Israel through the wilderness, God wasn’t simply forming a nation.

He was forming a leader.

When David shepherded sheep before becoming king, God wasn’t simply preparing a throne.

He was preparing a heart.

When Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, God wasn’t only restoring a city.

He was restoring a people.

The visible assignment was never the whole story.

There was always a deeper work taking place beneath the surface.

I wonder how often we miss that.

We become discouraged because the ministry hasn’t grown as quickly as we hoped.

The business hasn’t produced the income we expected.

The book hasn’t reached as many readers as we imagined.

The doors haven’t opened according to our timeline.

So we begin measuring God’s faithfulness by visible results.

Yet perhaps He is measuring something entirely different.

Perhaps He is looking at our growing trust.

Our humility.

Our perseverance.

Our willingness to obey when no one is watching.

Our ability to remain faithful even when the outcome is uncertain.

Those things rarely receive applause.

But they are the very qualities God uses to shape His servants.

Looking back over the past year, I have realized something I never expected.

I thought God was primarily building a ministry.

Instead, I discovered He was also building me.

He was teaching me that obedience and outcomes are not the same thing.

He was teaching me patience when I wanted progress.

He was teaching me stewardship instead of simply praying for provision.

He was teaching me that my identity could never rest in a title, a platform, or a number.

It had to remain rooted in Him.

When I look at the work I’ve done this year, I see books that were written, blogs that were published, studies that were created, and dreams that continue to unfold.

But when I look at what God has done, I see something even greater.

I see a heart that trusts Him more than it did before.

That is a different kind of success.

Perhaps you have been faithfully building what God placed in your hands.

You have continued showing up.

You have continued praying.

You have continued serving.

Yet you wonder if anything meaningful is happening.

Let me encourage you with this thought.

The assignment God gave you is not only changing the lives of others.

It is changing yours.

Every act of obedience is shaping your character.

Every season of waiting is deepening your faith.

Every challenge is teaching you to depend upon Him more completely.

One day, the ministry may grow beyond anything you imagined.

The business may flourish.

The dream may become reality.

But when that day comes, you will not be the same person who first began the journey.

You will have been transformed by the very work God asked you to do.

That is His pattern.

He builds the assignment.

And through the assignment, He builds the servant.

So if you find yourself wondering whether your labor has been worth it, remember this:

God is accomplishing far more than what you can presently see.

He is not only building something through you.

He is building something within you.

And perhaps, years from now, you will look back and say the very words I now find myself saying:

“I thought God was primarily building a ministry, but this year I discovered He was also building me.”

Much Love

~Gayla~