When God Calls You to Plant Without a Harvest Date

On the farm, planting season is always an act of faith.

You prepare the soil, place the seeds, and water them in. You do your part, but you can’t control the rain, the length of the growing season, or the deer who make brunch of your zinnias.

Some years, the harvest is abundant. Others… the weeds win. Our first season, we planted rows and rows of flowers, but skipped a step in weed maintenance. Before long, the weeds had crowded out almost everything. All that hope, all that work — choked out by something we didn’t take time to address early on. It was a hard lesson: that even when you plant with the best of intentions, you don’t get to dictate the timeline or the outcome.

Can you imagine if, instead of a neat little number, the back of a seed packet simply read: “TBD days to harvest”?

That’s what this season feels like. Not my flower season, but this life season.

Lately, I’ve realized ministry is a lot like farming: you kneel down with seeds in your hand, not knowing how long it will take before you see green. I’m planting words, ideas, and connections in soil I can’t fully control, stretching beyond my comfort zone, trusting that even in unseen places, God is bringing life.

At She Speaks this year, Jennifer Dukes Lee said,

“You get to be terrified so that God can be glorified.”

Isn’t that the truth? Even seasoned ministry leaders who’ve been standing on stages for decades still feel terrified sometimes. And yet, that fear isn’t a signal to turn back. Ministry was never meant to be performance; it’s a daily “yes” to the One who called you.

When the “Who am I?” questions creep in, I remind myself: Anything I do that matters flows from Him; and without Him, I have nothing to give.

I think about Mary, that young girl in an ordinary town, handed an extraordinary assignment she couldn’t possibly explain to those around her. I can’t begin to imagine the weight she carried, or the courage it took to simply trust God and say “yes.”

I think about the angel of a doctor who, at my lowest point, cracked open my heart and led me to Christ. Shortly after that, when my health was so uncertain I truly thought I wouldn’t make it, I prayed a desperate prayer: Lord, if You save my life, I will give it back to You.

I believe this call to ministry - to writing in this way - is me making good on that promise.

If you were on my porch today, coffee in hand, I’d tell you this:
Quitting is easy, but no one who’s made a kingdom difference has quit because it felt too hard. God will not call you to something He isn’t willing to equip you to do. And the hard parts? They’re not punishment, or proof of your worst fears — they’re training.

You may not see the fruit today. You may not see it next week, next month, or even next year. But if God has called you to plant, plant.

Because this - right here, right now - is the season to sow in faith, not to rush the harvest.

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

Galatians 6:9

Today, say “yes” to the next thing He’s asking you to do. Then leave the harvest in His hands.