Trusting God for the Value of Your Work
I don’t often talk to you about how strange this process of writing is, but I feel like you should know about Thursday night.
I had a thought on my mind for a few days and finally got it down on paper. (I still say paper, even though it is a Word document. Paper sounds more enchanting, doesn’t it?)
Then I began to experience what I now define as “blog angst”.
ANGST: A feeling of anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression.
The symptoms include very loud sighing that sometimes can last for hours. Multiple trips to the basement to tweak the blog. General unrest while trying to relax in the living room with my family, which leads my husband to ask why I am flopping around.
There is a sidebar on my blog dashboard that shows how many revisions I have made to my writing.
The total came to six for the blog post entitled People of Weakness and their Happy Ending. (Will you enjoy the irony of that for a moment?)
Six times I sighed myself back downstairs, #6 being at 1:00 in the morning. Yes, out of a dead sleep I woke up and had to change just one more thing.
Six times I felt like God had a wonderful truth for me to share.
But was I saying it well?
Was it stupid? (Blog angst always leads me to say, “I am dumb. Everything I write is dumb. Everyone in the whole world is going to think I am dumb.” And I do realize this is ridiculous.)
On the fifth flop, which landed me in bed, my husband came upstairs and stroked my hair with great pity.
Poor little miserable writer.
He leaned over and whispered, You are a good writer, and you are doing good work.
Bless him.
The thing is, I don’t know if what I have written is good, I said.
And aha! This is what I want to share with you today.
Do you realize most of the time we have no idea the value of the work we are doing? We don’t know how it will affect people. We don’t know what God will do with it. We don’t know if we’re making perfectly wise choices. We don’t know how far our good works will reach.
Moms, teachers, employees, pastors, husbands –we all wonder every day if we are making a difference.
I open my Bible to the letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and I say to Paul, You had no idea a Montana girl would be sharing your words on a computer in 2014. You didn’t know your words would make it to the internet where anyone in the world could read them within seconds. You didn’t know there would be an internet. You didn’t know there would be a Montana.
Paul says:
We make it our goal to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:9 NIV)
Paul’s goal was never to measure his blog stats or to look to see how many pins his latest post got. Of course, Pinterest is girly. But you know what I mean.
Paul woke up every day and worked hard to please the Lord, and all the fruit of his work was in the Lord’s hands. Completely in the Lord’s hands.
So we make it our goal to please the Lord.
Thanks Cristy for this inspired word. I have been wrestling and worrying about my value and contribution to my secular job. This word has made me see that In my work for the Lord and my earthly employer, I should focus on pleasing God only and he will take care of everything else. Matt 6:33.
Thanks & Be Blessed
I’m so glad you were encouraged. I pray God will cause you to have a powerful influence in your workplace.
hi Christy, sometimes i also get discouraged, i have so many posts and only one person bothered to leave a comment. i see the traffic people read but don’t leave words of encouragement. i still new to blogging and i am trusting God for a miracle. i know how long it takes me to pour out my heart. i keep doing it anyway as the Holy Spirit guides me.
http://purposefulandmeaningful.blogspot.com/
I’m sure that as you stick close to Jesus and make it your effort to please the Lord every day, you will see fruit in your life!
That’s a good word, Christy. I needed it. Just to encourage you back, though, I have to confess that there isn’t a single article on my blog that had less than double digit revisions ………. EVER! I think my OCD would revolt, in fact, if ever I posted without at least 15 edits. Haha. Just keepin’ it real with ya 😉 Be blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!
I know it’s part of the agony of being a writer! But I think when you add the fear of the Lord to it, the task becomes even weightier.
This post reminds me of something I heard recently…”I don’t know how to do this, but something inside me does” (from Gratitude & Trust by Paul Williams and Tracey Jackson). Of course, that “something” is the Holy Spirit. You don’t know if what you’ve written is good, but the Holy Spirit does. God will make sure that your work reaches those who need it most. That part isn’t for you to worry about.
I love that quote! I have a huge chalkboard in my living room, so that’s going to be my new quote on the wall. Thanks for sharing.
This was wonderful. I love reading your blogs. I fact I ration them to 3 a day or I just wouldn’t stop some days (reading the older ones).
Now that just makes me smile. You’re so kind.
This was very timely for me to read this encouraging word. Just yesterday a ministry opportunity we were trying to do was going in a different direction and so I woke up today with lots of sighs about it. But your wisdom here gave me some relief. This written word ministry of yours is valuable. Keep typin’.
My experience over the last year is that ministry never goes the direction we think it’s going to go, but God always takes it someplace better than we could have imagined. Thanks for the precious encouragement!
Thanks so much for this, Christy! So, so true- especially for us creative types. I feel like I need to hear these words of encouragement at least once a week.