I was talking with a friend a while back about some of the challenges in this season of the ministry. I have some long-term projects I’m working on, and I only see slow progress with virtually no feedback. It’s not an easy season, for sure.
So as my friend suggested and as I now have been regularly describing my ministry life – “I’m in the middle of the ocean and I can’t see the shore I left, and I can’t see the shore I’m headed toward. I just keep swimming.”
I have friends who, on a consistent basis, tell me that they would have given up a long time ago! To which I always reply, “God hasn’t told me to stop swimming yet.” And so I continue either swimming or treading water. But I don’t turn back.
Anyone who is in any kind of ministry will tell you that this type of season is not unusual. Maybe that helps a little in the “misery loves company” way. But mostly it just feels lonely and unproductive.
So what do I do with that? Well, what I have been doing regularly when I find myself feeling that way is to ask God to drop some reminders into my life to let me know he’s still in this with me. I call them “nuggets from heaven.”
A while back I got an email from a gentleman in New York who had purchased “The Honest Griever” because his wife had just recently passed away. He told me how helpful it was. How it was the only book that pointed him in the right direction – to God. And he thanked me profusely for having this ministry. Huge nugget!
God has been faithful to drop them into my life, but I don’t think he does it often enough! Pretty ungrateful attitude on my part.
So not long ago, I was making this same request of God. “Please give me SOMETHING to let me know that I need to keep swimming. Let me know this is still what you want me to do.”
What did I get? Nothing. Or so I thought.
And then God gently reminded me of how he faithfully and CONSISTENTLY drops some nuggets into my life that I haven’t been acknowledging are from him. I didn’t have eyes to see. And more accurately, I wasn’t looking for them.
I’m talking about this weekly blog post. I’ve been writing posts from either the ministry site or my personal blog since February 2018. That’s over 180 blog posts! And 180 topics.
Not once has God failed to give me an idea for an upcoming post. And not only the topic, but all the ideas and examples and lessons and scriptures and even images that he so faithfully plants in my brain week after week after week. Never have I had writer’s block. That’s an amazing statement!
So while those big, unexpected nuggets are great, and I will always be thankful for the times God blesses me with them, I needed to be reminded that he does indeed WEEKLY show me how much he loves me and cares for me. I was too busy looking for the big stuff and missed how he so powerfully blesses me ALL. THE. TIME!
As I was looking through thousands (not quite…) of ocean images just now, I landed on this one because the ocean isn’t completely calm and there are those looming clouds. Clearly, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. But more importantly, there is the sun (Son) on the horizon and that’s where my focus must remain. I will keep my eye on THAT prize and keep swimming.
What about you? I bet every one of you has had seasons where you feel you are in the middle of your own ocean. Maybe you’re there right now. Lots of drudgery, maybe little progress, or no feedback or encouragement. It could be your job, or your family, or relationships, or health circumstances. Lots of ways we can be stuck between shores.
My encouragement to you is to develop vision that sees God’s hand in the mundane and the seemingly insignificant nuggets that he’s dropping in your life. I’m quite sure they are there. Don’t spend as much time as I did looking past them.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Psalm 34:8
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