Burnout

,This post was written by Clayton King. If you have been around Summit, than likelihood is you have heard Clayton speak, he was here about a month or so ago. Clayton is one of the most gifted speakers I have ever heard. When he preaches, people get saved by the dozens or even more. It's AWESOME!!

He also runs a great ministry for middle, high and college students. They do a summer camp that Summit takes our students to each year, fantastic!! His ministry also supports the ministry that I work with in India. It was on a trip with his ministry that I first went to India.

If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of this guy haha.

I loved the post that he wrote because it is so true.

He was writing specifically about pastors and other people in ministry, but I think that it applies to everyone. After all, we're all supposed to be in ministry. Our lives are meant to be a ministry.

I think that college students are particularly bad about the cycle that he was describing.

We get going and get super involved.

We get plugged into to a campus ministry and a church. We serve at both.

Before we know if, we are in 2 different small groups and probably leading one too.

We have internships and are on leadership.

Basically, our schedules are completely booked.

And we can sustain this for a little while.

But then we get tired. School work piles up. The kids in the class that we teach at church start misbehaving all the time.

We stop enjoying our small groups.

We stop spending the right amount of time with God, we just don't have time to get everything else done.

And before we  know it, we're burned out and ready to give up.

Can you relate to this?


So how do we not get caught in this cycle? How do we not let ourselves get caught up in doing too much?

If you're like me than its hard. I'm programmed that if I see something missing, I want to be part of making it happen.

I can't say no.

There are many problems that cause this cycle that we each have to sort out and deal with individually. When I started getting burnt out, the first thing that I had to do was put my priority back on having good time with God every day. And not just like 5 minutes before I run out the door or in between classes. I mean good, quality time.

The second thing that I did was ask Veronica to disciple me.

Having someone pouring into me has helped greatly to keep the burn out away. Taking the time to sit down with her and talk about things and learn from her has enabled me to in turn continue pouring into other people and other ministries that I am involved in.

We can't do this life alone. We can't do ministry alone. We need people pouring into us and replenishing us so that we can go out and serve more.

That's the way God wanted it to be.

I liked the way that Clayton ended his post: "Pace yourself. This is not a sprint. It is a marathon. The goal is to finish, not to finish fast."

If you feel overwhelmed, cut something out.

I know that hurts, its not fun to do, but sometimes we need to.

Our bodies, our minds, and our spiritual lives can't take going going going at all times with no break.

Then ask someone to help you.

Ask someone that you know and love. Someone you have a relationship with already to start discipling you. Or ask me and I will find you someone!!

Why we have to talk about it

I just want to take a second and explain a little bit about why I talk about boys and getting married on here so much.

Apparently, I've freaked my mom out a little bit cause she thinks that I'm really scared that I'm never going to get married. So I just want to talk about that for a second.

I'm not always worried, anymore. Some days I freak out about. Some days I get totally terrified about the thought of moving to India all alone. Some days I am totally worried. But on those days, I remind myself that God is in control of my life. He knew how my life was going to go long before the day I was born. He has a fantastic plan for my life and all I have to do is trust Him.

But.

That is so much easier said than done. ESPECIALLY in today's church. It is easy to get freaked out when I look around and see the shortage of men around me. (and I'm not just talking about at Carolina- that is a completely different problem) I'm not saying that all the guys in the church are wimps or anything like that AT ALL. I know great Christian guys who are going to be wonderful husbands and strong leaders. But, it just doesn't seem like there are enough of them. Or they won't take the initiative in the relationship. Or, for me, they don't want to go overseas.

I'm not trying to bash on the guys in Cornerstone or at Summit, like I said, I know some really great guys in both.

What I'm saying is that this is an issue that we are scared about. Girls my age are worried that there isn't going to be strong Christian men to go around.

We're scared.

But nobody wants to talk about it.


We NEED to talk about it. We can't carry it around inside or the worry and fear is going to build up and become an idol. That's what happened to me and that's why I talk about it so much.

I don't have a solution to the problem that we are facing. I am trying desperately to trust God with my life and my future. It's a day by day process.

What I do know is that this is something that we girls need to talk about. Girls need to know that they aren't the only ones who are scared about this. We need to know that its normal, but that it doesn't have to consume us. That there is a way out. A way to find peace about the fact that we may be single.

So I'm going to keep writing about it. Because I hope that by doing so, I will be able to encourage someone who is struggling through what I am going through and help them find a peace in our Father and to rest in His promises.