Here is another exercise by which you can take the pulse of your ministry. It is not something that you do continuously but occasionally it may have value.
Take some time to sit quietly and calm yourself. When you have quieted yourself, take a pad of paper and begin to list some of the positive things that have happened in your ministry from the beginning until now. Now, make the faith assumption that God has been part of that ministry. Look for patterns in what you can affirm as positive incidents in your career history. Write some of those possibilities down so that you can see them and reflect on them.
Now note some of the more difficult moments in your ministry. If God “works for good with those who love him and are called according to his purpose,” look for redemptive results that have occurred because God was with you during those difficult times. None of this is to say that God caused such negative experiences for a purpose. It is simply to say that God can work redemptively even in the difficult moments. What have you learned, how have you grown, what are redeemable possibilities as a result of such experiences.
Write some of those down and combine them with that which you have gleaned from the positive moments. What does this suggest about your future directions. Write out some possibilities. Put them aside and then return to them at least a week later and see how that speaks to your future. Share them with a friend and get their reaction as well. Allow God to speak to you through the Bible, prayer, community, and time.
