Before Clay and I became missionaries, I held a role on the Executive Team of a successful marketing agency. My position and the work I did gave me a sense of pride and purpose. If I’m being honest with myself, I believed that a lot of my worth as a person was tied up in that job.
Here in El Salvador, I don’t have an impressive title. I don’t manage anyone (well, besides 3 little boys) or impact the future of a company. In fact, most of my days, I don’t feel like I accomplish anything noteworthy whatsoever.
Right now, our job is adjustment, language school, and cultural understanding. We are laying a foundation to thrive here for many years by spending this time establishing new rhythms, helping our sons find a sense of stability and belonging, learning to speak Spanish, and growing to understand and appreciate Salvadoran culture. This is all with the goal of having the ability and capacity in the future to build deep relationships and facilitate planting a solid church from a place of health and joy and faith.
But right now, I find myself wondering Am I doing enough? What is my real purpose? Am I spending my time in a valuable way? Will people be impressed with me?
It hit me recently, in a subtle, 4-car pile-up kind of way, that I had been questioning my value and doubting my worth because I have always defined it by what I do, and not by whose I am.
I have always defined my worth by what I do, and not by whose I am
I realized that God’s purpose for me right now is to be faithful in the daily things, the non-flashy work, the boring stuff, the seemingly low-impact actions.
He wants me to pour my heart and soul into taking care of my 3 boys and helping them feel loved and settled in a new country. He encourages me to tell my faith story to my Spanish teacher even though I stumble over my words and sound like a 4-year-old. He nudges me to reach out to the family in my son’s class and invite them over for a play date. He beckons me to love my husband in a selfless, grace-filled way.
My life is simple and my footprint is small. And that’s exactly how God wants it to be right now – maybe for this season, maybe forever. The biggest thing I have to let go of in order to find joy and peace in this assignment is my pride.
The Lord values this work. He rejoices when we are faithful in the little things. He does a great thing in us when we stop assigning our value to our jobs and our output and our titles, and start believing that our worth is found in the drops of blood that covered Calvary’s dusty ground.
The Lord rejoices when we are faithful in the little things
Whether we impact thousands of people, or whether we lovingly care for one, it is the Lord who works in and through us to accomplish HIS purposes. None of our efforts were our own to begin with.
If you are anything like me and wonder if your days really matter, please hear this – all that God requires of us is faithfulness. The work He has given your hands to do matters because of who gave it to you.
We cannot know how God is using our seemingly mundane contributions in his fantastically complex and grand plan of redemption. Many times, the only things stopping us from enjoying the job He has given us is US – our own pride, our doubts, our lack of faith.
The work He has given your hands to do matters because of who gave it to you
Lord, help me to live faithfully and obediently, no matter how small the tasks may seem, because the ultimate goal is for you to get the glory, not for me to be admired. Give me a spirit of humility and a sense of purpose. Remind us daily of your love and teach us to find our worth in you.