Relax and Let It Go: The Outcome Belongs to God

By Dr. Kathy L. Amos

Have you ever completed an assignment you believed God gave you, only to receive a response that was nothing like what you expected?

Perhaps God instructed you to start a business, establish a ministry, launch a program, write a book, organize an event, form a partnership, introduce a new service, or build a team. You prayed, planned, prepared, and invested your time, energy, faith, and resources. You did everything you knew to do—and then the response was disappointing.

The people you expected to support the vision remained silent. Attendance was lower than anticipated. Registrations did not come as quickly as you hoped. The proposal was declined. The partnership never developed. The team did not embrace the vision. The people you poured into did not appear to value your sacrifice.

When that happens, it is easy to begin questioning yourself and the assignment.

“Did I really hear God?”

“Did I move too quickly?”

“Why didn’t more people respond?”

“Was all my work in vain?”

This is where business, ministry, and marketplace leaders must learn an important lesson: Obedience is our responsibility, but the outcome belongs to God.

First Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”

We are responsible for planting and watering. We are responsible for praying, preparing, counting the cost, developing the strategy, communicating the vision, and executing the assignment with integrity and excellence. However, there comes a point when we must release the results into God’s hands.

Too often, we complete an assignment and then exhaust ourselves trying to manufacture the response. We become consumed with attendance, sales, registrations, views, likes, recognition, and approval. Without realizing it, we begin measuring our obedience by people’s reactions.

But obedience cannot always be measured by an immediate response.

You can cast the vision, but you cannot make people embrace it.

You can create the opportunity, but you cannot make people participate.

You can promote the business, but you cannot force people to purchase.

You can announce the event, but you cannot make people register.

You can teach the truth, but you cannot make people apply it.

You can build the ministry, but you cannot make people commit.

You can lead with integrity, but you cannot make everyone appreciate your leadership.

You can plant and water faithfully, but only God can produce the increase.

Sometimes the response is not what we hoped because God is accomplishing something different from what we expected. We may be looking for a crowd while God is focused on reaching one person. We may be looking for immediate growth while God is establishing a strong foundation. We may be waiting for public recognition while God is developing our character in private. We may be counting registrations while God is counting our faithfulness.

Do not declare the assignment unsuccessful simply because the response was different from what you envisioned.

A small beginning is not necessarily a failed beginning. A slow response does not mean the vision lacks value. A closed door does not mean you are unqualified. Someone’s refusal to support you does not diminish the significance of what God placed in your hands.

Of course, releasing the outcome does not mean becoming careless or refusing accountability. Effective leaders evaluate their work. We must be willing to ask whether we communicated clearly, prepared adequately, promoted effectively, served people well, and executed the assignment with excellence.

If God reveals something that needs to be corrected, correct it. If wise counsel identifies an area that needs improvement, receive it. If the strategy needs to be strengthened, strengthen it.

But we must understand the difference between evaluation and obsession.

Evaluation produces wisdom. Obsession produces anxiety.

Learn from the experience, make the necessary adjustments, and then let it go.

You cannot continually torment yourself over the people who did not respond, the support you did not receive, the opportunity that did not materialize, or the numbers that did not meet your expectations. At some point, you must be able to say, “Lord, I have done what You instructed me to do. I have planted the seed and carried the vision. Now I release the people, the response, and the results into Your hands.”

This lesson also applies to difficult conversations and leadership decisions. You can communicate in love, but you cannot make someone understand you. You can apologize sincerely, but you cannot make someone forgive you. You can extend an opportunity, but you cannot make someone receive it. You can offer wise counsel, but you cannot make someone follow it.

You are responsible for your obedience, attitude, integrity, preparation, and execution. You are not responsible for controlling another person’s choices.

As a leader, your peace cannot be tied to whether everyone agrees with you. If you constantly need people’s approval to confirm that God spoke, their response will eventually become more influential than His voice.

Do what God told you to do. Prepare with excellence. Execute with integrity. Evaluate with honesty. Adjust with wisdom. Then trust God with the results.

A disappointing response does not automatically mean you missed God. It may simply mean that the seed has been planted and the increase has not yet appeared.

Relax. Release the need to control the outcome. Let go of the pressure to prove the assignment. Remain available for God’s next instruction and trust Him with what happens next.

You have planted. You have watered. Now, let God be God.

Dr. Kathy L. Amos is a marketplace apostolic leader, business and leadership coach, and the founder of Kathy Amos Coaching & Consulting Firm. Learn more at www.businessempoweredintl.com/kacc-firm.