God Doesn’t Need You in His Work … But He WANTS You!

May 23, 2019

I haven’t posted on here in quite a while… but I have an excuse!!

This past semester I had the opportunity to spend 4 months in South Africa. These truly were months of transformation and restoration, and God taught me an overwhelming amount throughout both my time there and since I’ve left the beautiful country. My time there was spent processing all of the things the Lord was teaching me – things I will continue to try to understand and grasp for the rest of my life. While spending time abroad, God completely overwhelmed me with His vastness and glory. The passions of my heart were revamped, and my eyes were opened to the power of His Spirit as my heart was broken for the things that break His.

Now, if I were to go into detail about all my experiences and everything God was stirring in me both in South Africa and since I’ve been back, this post would be a novel x12. But one thing I do want to lay out is a struggle that I came across while I was there.

During my time in South Africa, I was serving in a township. The things God revealed to me and had me see were both heart-rending and necessary for what He had planned for me. Many of the experiences that I had there broke me down, but in such a way that was needed to grow my heart. Coming from the United States where opportunity and luxury surround me, I was hit with so many questions. I found myself constantly coming up with ideas to help, and often found myself disappointed when I wasn’t seeing progress. Towards the end of my time serving in this community, I felt distressed by all of the things I hadn’t seen accomplished or changed. I felt like a failure, about to leave and go back home to opulence, leaving little to no seen mark of change behind. But here’s the thing that God sort of smacked me in the face with, and trust me, even if you did not go to South Africa, He is trying to tell you this too:

You alone are not capable of change. You do not have the power to break the bonds of sin and destruction. Your hands are not healing hands.

Sorry if that killed your mood… but honestly, this was a relief to me. I felt relieved knowing that the reason I didn’t make a change was because I couldn’t. But you know who can? God. And He is moving, He is working, even when we don’t see it.

I remember walking into one of the homes of a member of the township I was serving in. This home was a tin shanty, along with the others in the community. Seeing the living conditions of the family left me completely outraged with God. I found myself yelling at Him, asking Him why He wasn’t providing for them, why He wasn’t caring for them. The woman who lived there went on and on about her faith and how much she loved Jesus and was excited to pray together. Her heart was full of joy, yet mine was full of bitterness. “God, where s your hand in the lives of these people who adore you and worship your name every single day?” And you know how God responded to me? He said “Emily, who are you to judge whether or not they are being provided for?” I mean, what does being provided for even look like? Because in my mind, it’s having a house and enough money, which these people have neither of…yet they have more faith and joy in their hearts than I may ever have. This type of joy and faith are things that all of us here in the U.S. are impoverished of. God’s hand is in all of their lives. He is working and moving in that community every single day, and their earthly riches have nothing to do with that.

Leaving South Africa, I felt like I hadn’t done enough. Like I just needed some more time, and maybe I could help better something, make the life of at least one person just a little bit easier. But here’s the thing I think we tend to miss about missions trips, volunteer work, service projects, etc. Sometimes, it’s not about what you and I can do to help and make a difference. Sometimes it’s not about the imprint we are going to leave. In both the Christian view and the secular view, there are so many debates on whether or not these types of mission trips are good. Whether or not it’s okay to enter into a community, build relationships, and then leave. Whether or not people participate just to make themselves “feel better.” Whether or not they actually made a difference. Whether people make mission trips and service work about them. But, I think sometimes it is about you. I didn’t change the life of any person in that community that I know of. I didn’t make the organization I was working with any better. But my heart was transformed and God was molding me into the disciple He is calling me to be. God is going to continue to use the experiences I had on this trip to shape me and stir in me for the rest of my life.

While I was there, God even opened my eyes to the brokenness at home and in the United States as well. He revealed to me things I may never have caught onto unless I was taken out of this environment for a while.

A lot of times we take missions trips, service, study abroad, etc., and we tend to measure them. We measure them by statistics and numbers. How many people were helped, how much of an impact was made, and so on. But here’s the thing:

God’s work will still be done, with or without you. The homeless people on the side of the street that you see every day, God doesn’t need you in order to take care of them. The girls taken away from their families and sold into the trafficking industry, God is with them every single day, even though you aren’t. The people in that township I served in, God’s Will will still be done there, with or without me.

God doesn’t need us to do His Work, but He allows us to be a part of it if we choose.

And I think being able to be a part of and experience the work that God has already been doing in South Africa was the most incredible part. Knowing that God can and will provide for them with or without me is such a relief. It takes the burden off of my shoulders of whether or not I am doing enough. God allows us to run the race with Him, not instead of Him. You yourself are not going to lift the burdens of evil and despair in the world. God is doing this every single day, and He invites us – He welcomes us to come to witness it. To step in and join Him, so that we can be shaped into a disciple of His. God used my experience in South Africa to reveal to me the gifts and passions He has placed in me to be the disciple He has created me to be. Whether or not I choose to use those gifts and passions, His work will still be done. But if I choose to enter in and use them, obey Him and follow Him, work with His people, love His people, and serve His people, every day will be a transformation of my heart.

Sometimes God brings us on mission trips and pulls us into service because He wants to transform us, reveal something to us, test us, etc. Sometimes it’s not about the actual impact our hands made. And that’s okay. 

If we aren’t satisfied with the results of the work God pulled us into, what are we missing? Are we not trusting His work and His plan? Why did God ask you to step into this? Because trust me, it’s not because He needed you.

Much love, Em