Hidden Connections

In a recent conversation with a dear friend, she was expressing how a current assignment that I am engaged in during this season seems to be such a wonderful fit. I wasn’t surprised about her assessment of my contribution to this role since each time we’ve spoken recently, I excitedly spoke of the impact during an encounter or how through a task, the Lord would reveal His hand in reversing a situation.

As we casually chatted, I realized that I had been missing a wonderful opportunity to show gratitude for how the Lord was using this unlikely role to share His love and His power in unexpected places. I was unaware of the impact because I had spent the last several months trying to understand how it was all connected. So my first word of inspirational insight is this - Don’t ever spend so much time trying to uncover your purpose through psychological and situational evaluations that you completely miss God’s purpose being revealed through you. For many of us, we’ve decided what ministry should look like in our lives. We often equate it to roles and areas of familiarity. The disconnect occurs because we sometimes forfeit valuable opportunities to see God at work in amazingly life-altering ways. There are times that we are so busy looking for the God-thing that looks like all of our previous God-things, or that resembles the God-thing as it is presented in someone else’s walk, that we therefore miss the new thing that God is doing. Remember, the greatest gems are often hidden in the deepest parts of the earth. Many times, these hidden gems become someone else’s God connection as they witness our journey in real-time.

I recall saying to her, “…but ministry is my calling, and my heart is in ministering to the lives of God’s people.” And in that instant, before the words even fell upon her ears, the Lord revealed the hidden connection. Through seemingly insignificant chatter, the Lord spoke and made His divine plan in that moment crystal clear.

Saints, let us stop judging what ministry should look like solely based upon our perception of (wo)man’s perspective of what it should look like in our lives. The Word of God says that “greater works will we do” (John 14:12) and I believe that the greater works may not look like the works we are accustomed to seeing. Also, Philippians 2:13 reminds us that “it is God who works in (us)” and this work is to His good pleasure and to His perfect will.”

Therefore, what this moment of brief conversation revealed is that sometimes what pleases God is often eerily uncomfortable for us. Sometimes what pleases God is far from what appears to be glamorous or prestigious for us. The will of God is sometimes hidden in connections that bring absolutely no honor to our name but reveals His glory in spectacular ways. My realization in this season is that there will be times that I will be most effective when my reputation, my titles, and my prior accomplishments don’t precede me, but the genuine and authentic love of Christ revealed in the simplicity of the moment will change someone’s trajectory.

Today, look for the power of God to be revealed in those precious connections that you may have consistently overlooked.