iShineInMinistry

Psalm 55:22

Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you...

Have you ever had one of those moments where if one more thing gets added to your "life list" you will literally combust? You are the 'go-to girl' for so many people that call you friend or trust you with sensitive information. You are the favorite cousin, aunt, youth leader, teacher (or whatever you are) that everyone loves to get prayer with and talk to Jesus about. You are working, volunteering, helping people in need, cleaning, trying to stay healthy and somewhere in all of that trying to find time to sleep or just have 10 minutes to yourself to regroup. You seem to have so many things in order and people love to be around you and tell you about all of their struggles. Your desire to lift them up in prayer and be a blessing to those around you has almost allowed you to conclude that your problems are menial and don't really need as much attention...so you just keep going!

This is a horrible trap to fall into in your walk with the Lord. Once you get to this place, you focus so much on everything and everyone else that you forget that your cares and burdens are also important to God; He wants to help and bless you as much as the ones He allows you to help in ministry. Once you get in this place, it becomes a conundrum of mayhem, where you are busy all the time, helping all the time, working all the time and draining yourself to oblivion. While it's great to be using the gifts that God has given you, you must also take time to restore the temple God has given you to use for His glory. Otherwise, you will be rendered useless for His kingdom and that is not what He wants for you.

Let's take the time to really balance out our lives so that we can fully do all to the glory of God. He will then be the one to sustain us as we go from moment to moment and we won't get to those places of total burn out. We must be diligent in each area of our lives, including times of rest and renewing our minds. We also need to tend to the areas of our own lives that need lifting up.

Don't add anything else to your overflowing plate until you cast you burdens on the Lord and allow Him to help you put it all into perspective. Ask God to search your heart and also help you in the areas where you struggle. Find your 'go-to girl' that can pray with you in these times and help you monitor when you may be doing too much.

As you trust Him with everything in your life and the lives of those around you, He will give you order in all of the chaos, bring all things to pass and give you a little bit of downtime to rest in the midst of it all!

Matthew 11:28

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Do you feel like you can't do one more thing? Are you completely overwhelmed? Every area of our life should be an act of worship to God, including times of rest because He wants us to have those times. How can you better balance so that He will sustain you and help to prevent those times of burnout? Pray about it...

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; On Wednesday night I couldn’t sleep.

On Thursday I was having crying fits. On Friday I lost my brunch (twice) while out with a friend. On Saturday, I had a nosebleed. After reflecting on all the stress-induced ailments I encountered this week, I concluded that I needed rest and I needed to CALM DOWN!

I think we get too frantic in ministry sometimes and begin to make ourselves crazy as we try to serve Him. We have the heart to do all unto the glory of the Lord, but our bodies remind us that we really are only human. We can’t get 72 hours worth of tasks completed in 24 hours and that is just a fact. Yet time and time again we want to make sure that everything is completed and that nothing falls through the cracks in the myriad of things involved with full-time ministry. Then our bodies go on strike and we are rendered useless anyway, drained, distraught and feeling dismayed.

Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Sometimes I think that we think we are being lazy when we have the nerve to get rest, knowing that we have not finished all of the things that cluttered our to-do list. It is biblical to rest and we need to be renewed each night so we can be diligent in the work of the ministry with happy, joyful hearts. I should have known that I needed to stop at day two, yet I had to get all the way to day four before I really sat back and realized what my body had been furiously telling me for the past few days. I hope to not let myself get to this point again before I decide to sit still; but I know that even in those times God will be faithful to speak to my heart and minister to me even in the busyness and mayhem. Then He will gently remind me it’s time for a time-out and that I need to sit still and calm down.

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God;

Are you stressed and feeling like you just can’t get everything done? Do you need rest and time to just sit before the Lord? How will you carve that time out today?

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

God has a way of truly being our strength as everything else crumbles around us. His presence and peace allow us to look at situations with a different vantage point and look for ways that He can move in the midst of trouble. I had to come to this realization as I was in the ER waiting area for the second day in a row. Watching someone have medical issues that don't seem to want to come to an end can be overwhelming, heart wrenching and admittedly frustrating.

In the times when it feels like the mayhem of life just won't end, our hearts have to remember the following and take refuge:

Mark 10:27... with God all things are possible.”

God can make anything happen! He rules and reigns, He is sovereign and amazing, so of course we can take refuge and He can be our strength when the problems before us seem so far out of reach. He is able and we need to be steadfast, praying and asking for Him to grow our trust as He shows us new ways to believe He can do all things.

We also need to let Him comfort and keep us. He wants to be the One we always come to- He's our loving Father...

Psalm 94:19 In the multitude of my anxieties within me,Your comforts delight my soul.

What attributes of God can we meditate on while trouble looms that will delight our souls? His faithfulness, His lovingkindness, how gracious and merciful He is, even when we don't deserve it? Let those truths melt fear, anxiousness and doubt as we rest in Him.

I know sometimes we just want the storms and the troubles to be over for ourselves and the people that we minister to on a daily basis...but we need to give God the opportunity to be our strength and remind us Who we belong to. He will be ever present, waiting for us to allow Him to work.

What problem is troubling you? Have you given it to God? Do you trust that He will fix it (in His timing and not yours)? How do you also give God things that you can't control in ministry?

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

It's only Tuesday and my body is on strike, ready for the week to end. The hectic pace of life is not looking to slow down any time soon; in fact, this time is typically the calm before the active season of serving that begins in the spring! I absolutely love this time of year...my body, however, is not a fan of the late nights, long days, absurd workouts, constant running around, international travels and jet lag, which then leads to summer, more travel and outreaches and culminates in Christmas shopping (yes this season stays this busy from Easter until December!).

While driving home and wondering if I was going to just start crying as a result of pure exhaustion, the verse of the day came through my radio:

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Whatever tear shed was on its way quickly dissipated and the Lord reminded me that everything I was able to do this week, starting on Sunday, was serving. Every time I woke up early, cleaned up something, went to a doctor's appointment, met with and prayed for a high school girl and carried a post-surgery child to the comfort of the couch in her home was a way to show the love of Jesus.

Sometimes the constant of being the hands and feet can be tough in these finite human bodies. Thank God for His reminders in His word and the promise of rest as we do His will.

Matthew 11:28

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

As we labor in the things of the Lord and show the love of Jesus in every action, He goes with us. Then when it's time, He will allow us that time to recuperate and be refilled with Him.

Exodus 33:14

And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Sometimes the pace of your season of ministry can leave you winded, but take heart in the fact that God has called you to be a blessing to others and glorify His name through your heart to serve, your giftings that He has placed in you and the action that He calls you to take as you see that a need can be met for someone struggling.

Don't lose heart, God is doing a work- and you get to see it first hand as He allows you to help make things happen in the lives of others.

Are you worn today? Meditate on these scriptures that remind you to stay encouraged and let God bring you rest. Ask the Lord to renew your strength and show you those times when you truly need to slow down.

Philippians 2:14-15 KJV

Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

There are seven things coming at you all at once- a ministry outreach, a mission trip, retreat planning, a memorial service, a meeting in five minutes, someone giving you a task to complete and someone just got transferred to your phone line because they are in need of prayer for their struggling marriage! There is never a dull moment in full-time ministry, someone or something is always placed before you. In all of these occurrences, you somehow need to find time to tend to your personal devotional time and possibly even eat lunch during the day...it all seems so difficult to take in. But be joyful in the fact that God has counted you faithful to be in this calling, no matter how incredibly hectic it can feel.

Talking to that same person for the sixth time in a week about the same struggle can get discouraging. Forgetting to put the handouts on the tables for the morning Bible study can temporarily frustrate you. Leaving your passport on the kitchen counter and realizing it after you have already reached the airport for your mission trip may be an aggravating moment, but don't lose heart. Do the things God called you to with a happy and content heart, so that the vision to reach a lost and dying world is always what directs your heart and in turn allows you to shine bright for Jesus in each situation that comes upon you.

When you are at a loss, take a moment, stop and pray. Don't complain, get annoyed or blame-shift in these moments. Tame your tongue and keep your flesh out of the mix of your ministering. Get your eyes on things above. Don't allow all the things that are going on to get your heart hardened or turn your attitude south. Remember that you are called for such a time as this to be that humble, ready vessel that gives glory to God. Let these frustrations be another opportunity to show your character, one that is pleasing to God, has the fruit of the spirit of self-control and stays the course as you cling to God.

Galatians 6:9 KJV

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Are you getting tired and frustrated? Are you losing hope because you feel like there is too much to do? Are you starting to complain or get flustered with others? How do you guard against these things when ministry gets too fast and busy?