She Did What She Could: A Leadership Lesson By Donna Bostick

Leadership, Loaves, and the Holy Nudge of God

There is something deeply freeing about the words Jesus spoke:

“She did what she could.”

Mark 14:8

Not what she couldn’t do.
It was also not what someone else thought she should do.
Nor was it what looked impressive to the crowd.

She did what she could.

A Pure Motivation

As Christian leaders, that verse speaks directly to the pressure many of us carry every day. We live in a culture that celebrates bigger platforms, faster growth, and polished success stories. Meanwhile, most leaders are simply trying to follow God faithfully while remembering their password, finding their reading glasses, and wondering why the printer stopped working five minutes before the meeting.

Leadership can make us feel constantly behind.

There is always another challenge, another meeting, another “urgent” email arriving suspiciously late on a Friday afternoon. Somewhere in all that noise, many leaders quietly begin believing this lie:

If I cannot do everything, then what I can do probably does not matter very much.

But Mark 14:8 reminds us that Jesus sees leadership differently.

Faithfulness Starts with Obedience

The woman in Mark 14 did not arrive with a strategic plan or a polished leadership presentation. She responded to the holy nudge of God.

While everyone else in the room debated and criticized, she obeyed.

And Jesus honored her for it.

Leadership often works the same way, not always with certainty or applause, but with a quiet prompting from God.

Call the person.
Encourage the team member.
Start the ministry idea.
Take the next faithful step.

A Holy Nudge

So much of Christian leadership is learning to recognize and trust the gentle nudge of Jesus, even when it does not make sense to everyone around us.

And honestly, those nudges from God rarely arrive at convenient times.

Like when you are finally sitting down at night with a blanket, a snack, and absolutely no intention of speaking to another human being, and suddenly you feel prompted to send someone an encouraging text.

Naturally, your first response is deep spiritual maturity.

“Lord, I will absolutely do that… tomorrow.”

But the nudge keeps coming.

So you send the message, and minutes later the person responds, “You have no idea how much I needed that tonight.”

Suddenly, you realize that what felt small to you was significant to God.

Other times, the nudge feels bigger.

Apply for the position.
Launch the initiative.
Have the difficult conversation.
Submit the proposal, you feel completely unqualified to write.

A Reality of Obedience

Sometimes obeying God feels inspiring and faith-filled. Other times it feels like hitting “send” on an email and immediately praying for divine protection over your entire career.

The woman in Mark 14 followed God’s prompting without knowing the outcome. She did not stop to calculate public opinion or ask the room for approval. She obeyed.

Meanwhile, everyone around her had opinions.

You can spend months discerning God’s direction, finally step out in obedience, and then hear someone say, “Hmmm… I wouldn’t have thought to do it that way.”

Leadership requires faith, courage, and occasionally very disciplined facial expressions.

Why Doing What You Can Matters

Many leaders today are exhausted because they are carrying expectations God never assigned to them.

We compare our capacity to someone else’s calling. Social media makes it look like everyone else is launching ministries, writing books, climbing mountains at sunrise, and meal prepping organic lunches while we are celebrating the fact that we found matching shoes before the meeting.

But Jesus never asked us to compete with someone else’s assignment.

He asks us to be faithful.

Sometimes leadership looks powerful and visible. Other times, it looks like quietly serving behind the scenes, encouraging someone, making a difficult decision with integrity, or surviving another Zoom call while pretending you were not talking on mute for two full minutes.

Some days “doing what you can” feels heroic. On other days, it feels like surviving on coffee, prayer, and leftover conference snacks.

Still, it matters. Do not ignore the holy nudges of God.
Make the phone call.
Send the encouragement.
Take the next faithful step.

And maybe most importantly, finish what God has started in you.

Just Do It!

Not every assignment comes with immediate clarity or applause. Sometimes leadership is simply continuing the work God placed in your hands long after the excitement fades.

The woman in Mark 14 probably had no idea her act of obedience would still be talked about thousands of years later. She was responding to Jesus in that moment.

That is what faithful leadership looks like.

It is not about perfection or performance, but completely about obedience.

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Donna Bostick serves as Manager of Conference Engagement at CLA. With 28 years of marketplace leadership and a passion for Christian leadership development, she supports leaders in growing, serving, and multiplying God’s light.

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