For years my husband was involved with praise and worship and I was engaged in teaching young children from God’s Word. Each of us loved serving the Lord in these areas. But eventually, we felt that the Lord was transitioning us to something new. So, we obeyed and decided that together we would serve married couples. We have been passionate about sharing with others what a godly marriage entails and even refer to our own experiences as lessons of what to do and more importantly, what not to do ;)

We prayed. We trusted. And then, we put ourselves out there with the intention of planting a seed and encouraging at least one person. No sooner did we take these first steps and we felt like there was confusion in our communication, we misunderstood each other, and we didn’t even want to talk to each other at times.

How could this have happened if we were doing what God instructed us to do?? And was it worth it to step out into this area if this is how it would impact us?

It seems we were not the only ones who struggled with such. After the Lord instructed Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites go, we read in Exodus that Pharaoh’s response was to make the Israelites work harder and his demands of them grew exponentially. Moses sounded unsure about what he got himself into: “Lord, … how can you mistreat your own people like this? Why did you ever send me if you were going to do this to them? Ever since I gave Pharaoh your message, he has only been more and more brutal to them, and you have not delivered them at all!” (Exodus 5: 22-23 TLB).

It’s hard to believe that you’re doing the right thing when everything around you appears to be worse off. But for those of us familiar with Moses’ and the Israelites’ story, we know this passage wasn’t the ending. In fact, we see that Pharaoh eventually did let God’s people leave Egypt and it was in the most miraculous, divine way possible! Only God could receive all the glory for this deliverance.

But it began with Moses obeying AND continuing to obey in spite of not seeing a favorable outcome instantaneously. Likewise, in these years since my husband and I have ventured out, we have seen our marriage strengthened as we point couples to Him and see them grow.

So if you have stepped outside of your comfort zone to follow the Lord and find yourself “worse off” than when you started, let me encourage you with something dear Friend: this struggle is temporary, but the impact is eternal. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. The enemy wants you to feel discouraged and simply abandon what you are instructed to do. Remember this:  “ … you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 AMPC)
~Joyce

Photo Credit: www.unsplash.com