Do What You Can

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong…I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now)…” - Romans 1:11 & 13a

These verses hit me deep. Paul says, “I’ve tried. I’ve wanted to. I’ve longed to be with you. I know if I could just get to you, something incredible would happen. God would move. You’d be strengthened.”

And then in verse 13, he says, “I need you to know, I’ve tried so many times, but I just couldn’t.”

I imagine he says this filled with disappointment and regret.

There are so many things in my heart that I feel called to. Things I’ve said, “If I could just do this, it would make such a difference.” But life happens. I get busy, I don’t have the bandwidth, or maybe I just feel stuck. And when I don’t do it, I spiral. I feel like I failed. I start beating myself up.

I feel this deeply when it comes to animals, because I have such a deep God-given love for them. When I see a stray dog or a colony of cats, something in me flips. I don’t think, I just act. I try to rescue, try to help, try to save...but the truth is, I can’t do it all. I want to build systems, rally people, fix it all… but I can’t always show up in the way I wish I could; then, the ache of “not enough” creeps in.

Same goes for my family. My wife. My job. I think, If I could just do this, they’d know how much I care. I’d make more of an impact. Life would feel more aligned.

But I don’t always get to do those things. And it hurts.

Paul gets it. He felt that tension too. He had the desire. He had the heart. He made the plans. But it just didn’t happen. So what did he do? The only thing he could do...

He wrote a letter.

That’s it. And that letter? It became the book of Romans. Billions of people have read it. It has and continues to transform lives. It’s Scripture.

What blows my mind is Paul could’ve thought, “This is less than what I know I can do. I was supposed to be there in person. This isn’t enough.”

But God took what he could do and multiplied it beyond what Paul could ever imagine. So, here’s the encouragement: Do what you can.

It may feel small. Insignificant. Like it’s not enough. But God doesn’t ask us to do it all. He just asks us to be faithful with what we have.

Let me leave you with this story: one day, I saw two dogs in the street on a insanely hot day. I tried to help, but they kept running. I had to go to work. So I did what I could: I snapped a photo and posted it on a Lost Dog Facebook Group. I drove off feeling disappointed in what I couldn't do and spent the rest of the day worried for them.

Turns out, the owner saw the post. She had been looking for them, and after seeing my post, she immediately went to the location I said they were 5 hours ago and found them! But then she told me she had four dogs. Two big ones (the ones I saw), and two French bulldogs...When she said Frenchies, I almost lost all hope for her. People love to breed these dogs and sell them, because they are valuable. I wasn’t worried for their immediate safety, I knew someone must have picked them up immediately. I was just worried that she may never see them again.

So, again, I did what I could and made another post. That’s when someone private messaged me. This lady who messaged me days later just so happened to be driving at the exact time to see a FedEx driver stopped, picked up two dogs, and took off. Something told her to write down the license plate and truck number.

Long story short, we contacted FedEx to ask...and after a few days, the dogs were returned. The driver who found them was going to sell them, but FedEx made them return the dogs. None of that would’ve happened if I didn’t just make that post. I couldn’t save them myself, but I did what I could. And God did the rest.

So whatever it is, school, your job, your family, your dreams, your heartbreak, do what you can.

Not perfectly. Not completely. Just faithfully.

Even if it feels like a penny in a giant offering plate, if it’s all you have, that’s enough for God.

Prioritize faithfulness over perfection. Do what you can. That’s more than enough in His hands.