The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”

—1 Corinthians 12:4–6

We have a very narrow idea of what serving means, and we often look around at others, trying to figure out how we should serve by imitating them.

For years, I served God in the ways society and the church made me feel I should, but I always felt burnt out and like nothing I was doing made any difference. I wasn’t considering what the Lord wanted me to do—only trying to serve the way I saw others serving. 

I read about a woman who watched all her neighbors grow beautiful gardens, but she just couldn’t do it. Everything kept dying, and she couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. She prayed in frustration, “Why does my garden keep dying, Lord?”

“I never told you to plant a garden,” he said.

She had decided to follow the path she saw others on rather than asking what the Lord had for her.

It’s not wrong to plant a garden or to try different ways of serving God, but if we serve out of the overflow the Spirit is producing in us (John 7:37–38) rather than imitating others, we will likely prevent many fruitless endeavors and our own exhaustion, overwhelm, and frustration. 

There are different kinds of gifts, service, and working, but all are led by the same God. Walking closely with him is the surest way of using our gifts in ways that make a meaningful, eternal impact and leave us feeling refreshed rather than drained.

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