In my former life, I was a medical secretary for a busy cardiologist. The work was…well, work. But the blessing of the job was the people – the patients and my co-workers. I truly considered it an honor to serve and help those who came to our clinic with concerns about their heart health. I was also extremely fortunate to be part of a highly skilled, knowledgeable care team.

That cardiology clinic was where I invested a lot of hours – including a fair amount of overtime – for six years. The job could be pretty intense, but the rewards were sweet – comforting anxious patients, scheduling testing and procedures as seamlessly as possible to expedite treatment, and showing respect and dignity to the people I believe God sent my way. Every phone contact, every appointment, and every behind-the-scenes detail I attended to was a way for me to serve each patient through coordinating the best care possible.

One of my co-workers very soon also became one of my dearest friends and one of my most faithful prayer warriors. We shared our faith in Christ and spurred each other on to care for and serve the patients. Mary Alice was a registered cardiac sonographer, and she performed the echocardiograms ordered by the physicians in our practice. She was gifted in her professional skills, no doubt, but her people skills were what made her such an asset to our clinic.

Her job was to do the test and then pass it along to the ordering physician for interpretation and follow-up with the patient. Her training allowed her to see any defects, damage or weakness, but of course, she wasn’t authorized to share what she saw with the patient. As you can imagine, everyone who came into her exam room was anxious and worried.

My dear friend went above and beyond to provide a warm, reassuring environment. She was soft-spoken and welcoming, sensitive to the need for conversation or for quiet, and informative about each step in the process of the exam. Often during testing, patients would open up about various life situations and struggles. Mary Alice would minister to them with biblical truths and godly encouragement, promising to pray for them. And she absolutely did. She cared for both their physical and spiritual hearts.

The patients loved her for that, and the doctors appreciated the quality of her echocardiograms in helping them to diagnose and treat their patients.

I lost count of the number of times our patients commented on Mary Alice’s kindness and professionalism. For 24 years, she poured her life into caring for literally thousands of patients. And then she felt the nudge of the Lord to step away. The clinic she had faithfully served? They gave her a cake.

When I heard how the clinic had honored her (or in my mind, dishonored her), I was filled with indignation for my friend. But she just laughed! She said, “Twenty-four years. A lifetime. God blessed me. Although the clinic didn’t recognize me, God always did.”

Now she enjoys sleeping as late as she wants. She’s tackling home improvement projects and getting more exercise. Her yard is getting lots of love, and she’s able to spend precious time with family and friends. Her time with God in prayer and in the Word is long and leisurely. She continues to seek and serve Him, knowing that one day she’ll hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

Mary Alice’s goal was never to receive the applause of others or the appreciation of patients and doctors or anything more than a cake from the clinic. Her eyes were always and continue to be on pleasing her Lord.

It’s sometimes disheartening to continue to strive for excellence when your efforts seem to go unnoticed. You may feel unseen and insignificant. Those feelings are powerful, but they’re also powerfully deceitful. The One Who made you has never taken His eyes off of you. He sees your diligence and your labor. You can have joy along the way if your goal is to give your all for Him. Living for the applause of anyone other than your Creator is sprinting with no end in sight on a treadmill of disappointment. Run your race for God alone, and He’ll greet you at the finish line with open arms and the words you’ve lived your entire life to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”