Have you ever been underrated for a job well done? It can be quite hurtful and depreciating and draining. (Wives and Moms may be shouting a resounding YES!!) In case you needed to hear this, you are not underrated if you are serving God! Not all of us are called to be pastors or missionaries, CEOs, mentors or any kind of vip you can think of!
Have you ever underrated your own importance? Many of you know that because of my lack of physical health, I had to give up a job that I enjoyed and loved for a job I did not enjoy. I spent quite a few months driving into work crying and praying that God would help me through this stressful change. No one likes change. I lost my Dad, lost a job I loved and lost my health...one of those losses is enough to break you but 3 at a time? What was God trying to do? Did he even care? I was in no physical condition to fight him though so I had to trust that He had a plan for me in this new role. And He did. I suppose it even makes sense. I've always loved the elderly and maybe it's because I can empathize with pain since I live with pain or maybe it's just because they were the age group I didn't find as intimidating. Being a true introvert, reaching out to others can be hard and when I knew God wanted me to reach out to others, it was the elderly I started with first. They understood hard work and many had great stories including farming with horses which the word horse alone perks my ears!! They are also extremely amazing at encouraging you! They are set in there beliefs. They've been around and most aren't buying into the woke culture. I recently chatted with an elderly lady on how America isn't the nation it once was and why we thought that. I agreed with her and she with me and she was just so grateful that someone young "got it!" She went on to say that because of our conversation she found renewed hope for the younger generation. I told her please continue to pray for us! One story I love sharing about an elderly lady has truly inspired me. I went to a visiting church and was chatting with some of my cousins/friends when an elderly lady came up to us out of the blue and said "I just want you to know that I'm praying for you." "Your generation has much more to deal with than I ever had to growing up." At the time I was too young to really understand what she meant but I do now. I don't remember her name or her face but those words sure got to my heart! Praying for someone she doesn't even know? She had a calling and she was fulfilling it by praying for the youth. Wow. Now there's a woman of God who didn't give up hope and had no quit in her. See she may not have had strength or wisdom to share with me on the challenges I was to face but she was praying for the young generation. Her duty may have seemed light or unworthy to some of us sitting in higher up positions or having means of helping others in greater ways but this elderly lady had an important mission from God.
So where do I work? At a nursing home as an activity aide....in the dementia unit! God does know how to make my eye brow raise...but I do believe he was preparing me for it all along. This is an underrated position. People don't understand all the redirecting and enthusiasm and patience that this job requires....I'm not here to puff myself up or get attention for a job well done....I'm simply saying there's a lot I have to do on a daily basis that gets overlooked, wearisome and even unseen. You can easily experience burnout and feelings of exhaustion can set in and no resident even remembers your name. But they do remember how you make them feel. How are you at that little ministry?? How do you make others feel when they are around you? Don't underrate yourself by wishing you could do a bigger better ministry than the one God has for you right now. Perhaps this is only a blog written to myself because I've had to give up time with so many others because this ministry can drain you and you feel that you have nothing left and at the end of the day you find yourself asking God does what I do matter or get noticed by you at all? Am I really doing what you want me to do? Maybe I'm sharing too much of my sinful heart but I get stuck on thinking that I don't do enough for God...my ministry needs to be bigger, or I need to reach out more to this person or do something with that outreach and honestly that just leaves me feeling more exhausted and depleted knowing I don't have the energy or time for all that. You see all these problems and you think I'm not doing enough but if you did anymore you wouldn't even have time to put God first in your life!!
I was listening to a sermon while riding my horse today and this well known preacher was saying how his wife would tell him frequently that she just doesn't know what God's ministry is for her life. Now she was a wife's preacher, a mother etc and still she didn't know what her ministry was. He said she was in the hug ministry as she was an encourager. I chuckled out loud cuz that's a small thing but can be so underrated. I hear we need about 4 hugs a day for healthy functioning. A necessary reason I have horses and a dog. Some would say I'm part of the hug ministry too (I use to HATE hugs!!) as I've been able to get some non hugger friends to be ok or even enjoy hugs and families of the residents say I give the best hugs! No idea if that's really true but if God is in your heart and you desire to be used by Him. He will use you. It may not seem like much. People may underrate the worth of your small ministry all the time and you may get little to no recognition, in fact, you may be at the point of wanting to give it up as it's too draining!! but keep doing that small ministry that God desires you to do for we all will get to reap the benefits in Heaven even for being on the sidelines of bigger ministries. If you've helped finance a ministry that's a ministry, if you've prayed, you've done a ministry, if you hug (envourage) that's even a ministry. You have a ministry. It may not be glamorous, it may only touch a few hearts but every heart matters to God. That's why we're here. God desires to touch hearts through using what we can give him right now. God touches our hearts to reach other hearts. That should never be underrated.
