THE WORLD I WALK IN

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

In previous posts I’ve talked about how ministry is messy and pretty hard most of the time. I have shared stories about people we’ve met on the street, how we’ve been invited into schools and businesses to pray with people, and much more. I’ve been real with y’all about the ups and the downs we’ve had.

However, did you know that many people think we are crazy for doing what we do as a family? Seriously. You should have seen some of the looks on people’s faces when we told them that we were going down to Texas to help Rocky start over.

Not just that, but we even get funny looks when we tell folks about praying with a guy at the local grocery store who had never heard the Gospel before.

There are some that look at me like I am in a totally different world. You know what though? I am more than ok with getting that response. Not because I’m anything special, but because it means I must be doing something that doesn’t make sense to the fallen world we live in.

I must be doing something that only makes sense if I have a different mindset.

The other day I was texting with one of my good friends who is involved in ministry and deals with many of the same things I deal with. I was sharing with her about a particular situation in which I just had to keep showing up. Over and over again. I said something like, “But nope. You can’t get rid of me!” To which she responded with, “Yeah, that’s true. I tried to get rid of you, but it doesn’t work lol!”

We were completely joking around and trying to be positive about that particular ministry situation, but at the same time I realized something.

I realized that people think that we are crazy for all of the ministry stuff we do because they are so afraid of failure. They may also be in it to gain glory for themselves. When they hear about Rocky’s story and God telling us to go help him, their first thoughts are, “What if he fails? What if he makes a mistake and my time is wasted?” “If he fails, it will be an embarrassment to me.”

Can I be real with y’all today? That is not the world I walk in. Failure is NOT an option for me.

It doesn’t matter if the person I am ministering to messes up or makes some wrong choices. I will always fight against the enemy for their souls. Because in the world I walk in, everything matters. The initial response may not be the final result we want, but my time and effort were most certainly not a waste.

Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

I think that the reason we see so many people being burned by ministry is because they are doing the work for man instead of for God. We need to stop being people who measure our success by worldly standards.

Ann Voskamp once said, “Sometimes we want greater clarity when what we need is deeper trust.”

Our human flesh wants to know that the outcome is going to be good before we invest in something or someone. We want to have clarity. But if we believe that we serve a big God, then we should be able to trust Him with any situation and just do what He asks us to.

I’m not sure about you, but I want to get to a point where I’m walking in the victory that Jesus has given me. Knowing that anything I’m doing, as long as it’s for the Lord, is not a waste even if it looks like a failure at first.

I don’t give up on people. When doing ministry in our everyday lives, we must have the mindset that failure is not an option. It’s worth it. Every single thing we do for the Kingdom is worth it.

Of course, it may not make sense now, but I know it will eventually. So, you best believe I’ll be in our blue Sonata driving a thousand miles to Texas, or wherever the Lord calls, to do it.

That’s the world I walk in.

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”  (James 1:4)

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What did you take away from this post?

= Do you believe that ministry is worth it even though it may be hard?

= What are you going to do differently?