Unseen

Old Journal Entry:

Just some thoughts that I have been struggling with and thinking about. Being a minister's wife… It feels invisible, like nothing I do matters. He gets up to preach and everyone notices that, they notice the word from God that impacted and changed their lives, they notice the advice my husband gives them, but they don’t notice the clean clothes he is wearing, the encouragement I gave before he preached his hardest sermon yet, the prayers, the one who gets all of her husbands frustrations while he is stressed to bring forth the Word, the one who cares for their child, the song that is sang before he ministers, or the music that is played for altar call. Being a minister's wife is often unseen, not noticed, or appreciated. It often feels like you are not making a difference, and what is the point? This is a struggle for me that is there quite often, after all, doesn’t everyone want to feel important and like they matter?

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I believe my journal entry above has a lot of truth to it. A lot of times a minister’s wife is an unseen role. I am also throwing a bit of a pity party. I would dare say that if we are being honest, we all have those “pity party” times. I know the above entry may have some simple, mild situations, but I felt that I should share this today. There are many “unseen” roles to serve in, so take the following words and apply to wherever you may be that feels unseen. Please do not take what I am saying out of context. We are meant to be a light and stand out, but there are some things that do not have to be seen.

I would say that one of my greatest desires is to be used by God. I want to have a ministry, and feel like I am doing something for Him. I remember being a young teenager going to church camp. My family had gone early to help clean and prepare for the upcoming week. Myself along with some others were supposed to go into the church sanctuary and sweep. I ended up being the only one that went in there. I remember feeling like all of those around me were getting opportunities to work in ministry, and at that time I felt that the only way to be in ministry was on the platform. I was as a young teenager in that sanctuary fighting back tears as I swept and prayed silently, “God I just want to work for You, why can’t I do something for You?” It wasn’t very long after that that Rev Willis happened to walk into that sanctuary. He said, “What you are doing right now is working for the Lord, and He sees...”. He may have said more, but as a young girl that is what stuck out to me, and I will never forget it. God sees it. Those words changed my life, because I realized in that moment that even if I was just sweeping the floor, I was still working for Him. God even cared enough about me to send someone into that empty sanctuary just to tell me that He saw me. Even now, all these years later, though I know God sees, at times I still struggle with the thought that what I am doing is not good enough, as I am sure you can tell by the old journal entry I shared.

In today’s culture we often see the words, “I see you”.

Struggling mother, I see you.

Struggling father, I see you.

I could go on, but I am sure you have read that as well. I’m going to be honest. As silly as it may sound, I have read these types of posts mentioned above, and then thought “Thank God someone notices me washing the dishes and doing all the housework! I feel seen!!” Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I hope you understand what I am trying to say. I feel that there is a pressure in today’s culture to be seen.

However, I wasn’t called to be seen by man, and neither are you. There are things that we do that will be seen, but the reason behind what we are doing should not be with the purpose of being seen by man. Realize God sees all.

If you start to listen and read the things that are said about being seen, It can get you in the mindset of… if you do not feel that you are “seen”, then something is wrong. It has you questioning, does someone see me? That can also lead to not feeling that you have as much importance as someone else.

My son was watching the PawPatrol movie the other day and this line stuck out to me, “Ladies and gentlemen, and most importantly, influencers with over 10,000 followers…” This was a line by the “bad guy” in the movie, but it is something that is being pushed by the world. If you aren’t seen by many then you do not have as much importance. This is NOT biblical. (side tangent: this is how easy the world can slide little things into our minds and the minds of our children. That is why we must be so careful what we allow into ourselves and our homes. It influences us.)

In a culture where everything and everyone is pushed to be seen, let us not forget that some things were not meant to be.

We were never meant to draw attention to ourselves in ministry. We were meant to serve.

This can bleed over into our ministry, wherever that may be. I feel like this is a good example from my personal life. One of my favorite things to do is sing. I love it. I have never sang at a big conference, and I don’t have a record deal; however, I have sang, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus” as I held my child who just had a nightmare. That is the most important place I will ever sing right where God has me serving as a mother. I have gotten the opportunity to sing in nursing homes where family members whose hearts were heavy while sitting next to their loved one that didn’t get a good report. As I sang and the power of God was in the room tears streamed down their faces. I wasn’t anything special, but I allowed God to use me and was content where He placed me. A nursing home may not be “seen”, and my child’s bedroom in the middle of the night definitely isn’t.

God sees that. It is very easy to feel like I am not doing enough. That my ministry/work as a mother isn’t seen or appreciated as much as someone who is singing at a conference with thousands of people. Oh but it is. It is so important. I get to be the one to comfort my son and point him to God in those moments. I get to raise a world changer. It doesn’t have to be “seen” by others, God sees it.

When you come to this realization it will give you peace. It takes the pressure off of you to be seen or successful and puts it into the hands of God.

God is a rewarder of the secret things.

Don’t change who you are to get the attention of others. Don’t sacrifice your happiness, your life, or your fulfillment in Christ to satisfy the world’s agenda. Don’t give up your God given role to be seen. Who are you trying to be seen by anyways?

God sees you, called you, and you are important to Him.

Minister's wife, you are chosen to help carry the burden.

Preacher, you are chosen to speak the Words of the King on His behalf.

Mother, you are chosen to nurture your children.

Husband, you are chosen to lead the family God has given you.

Serve God in whatever role He has placed you in with your whole heart. He sees what is done in secret and will openly reward, elevate, or whatever He sees fit, whether that is on earth now, or in eternity later.

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

God cares for you! Just surrender everything to Him, no matter how silly it may seem, and remember, God sees you, called you, and you are important to Him.