When Success Brings Loss

Can success itself bring loss? For five years and even more, I worked feverishly on a degree and dissertation. Indeed, my final work, the dissertation, was examined and critiqued by no less than professors/Ph.Ds from University of the Philippines, Fuller Theological Seminary, University of Southern California etc. They approved it with flying colors and granted me the degree. I felt as if I had worked with all my heart and mind and soul and strength for that project. But, soon after, I felt bereft, insufficiently recognized by those I look up to. A case of human flaws, politics, or a combination of some things. God reminds me I cannot ask for recognition. It's not the Lord's servant place. All a servant of God can do is to work with all his or her heart, even though success itself may at times bring loss. I went away consoled. God opens new doors that hold a lot of promise. That made me recover a faithful self beyond the success.