The
dictionary defines burnout as “ a person who is worn out physically or
emotionally, as from long-term stress.” Are you suffering from spiritual
burnout?
How do I know if am suffering from burnout?
Here
are some of the symptoms:
Do
you run out of energy before you run out of work?
It
might be burnout.
Do
you feel deep despair because you feel that the work you are doing for the Lord seems fruitless
It
might be Burnout.
Do
you feel overwhelmed by everything going on in your life?
It
might be burnout.
Are
you mad at or have bitter feelings towards God?
It
might be burnout.
As
a Christian you are no immune to burnout. If you take on more than you can handle
then eventually you will spread yourself to thin and will suffer from mental, physical and spiritual burnout.
Why should you think getting burned out?
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul tell us that we live in “weak bodies”. What this means for us is that we have to understand that we will get tired, weary, frustrated and even
confused at times. This is normal for us after all we are human.
In Isaiah 40:28-31 God tells us that He does not grow weary or tired as we do. Unfortunately we do not have Gods abilities; we have our abilities that we use for God but unlike
we grow weary. If we take on too many tasks sooner or later it will catch up
with us. We will become burned out mentally and physically.
How can I avoid burnout?
Isaiah 40:28-31goes on to tell us that God will give power to the tired and strength to the weak, but we
need to wait on the Lord. We cannot do it all.
Learn to delegate; remember you cannot so it all yourself. I
know if you are like me you try to do it all, but it never works. There is always
some task that never gets done or when it does it is not your best work. So learn
to delegate.
Read Exodus 18:21-23 and you will see that even Moses needed help and had to delegate some of the work.
Rest. It is such a small word but it carries a heavy load. Do not try to work 24/7. Give yourself
a day of rest. Even God who does not grow weary rested on the seventh day as
an example to us that we also need to rest. In Exodus 23:12 it says to work six
days and rest on the seventh.
Now rest means just that, walk away from what you are doing forget about it for a day this will refresh
you mind and body and you will be better prepared to do God’s work.
There is one final thing you can do to avoid burnout
Give it to Jesus?
If you are starting to feel weary and the burden is heavy laden then you need to pray about what you’re
doing and perhaps pull back on your duties to rest. In fact in times of great
stress and turmoil or in our case when we feel burned out we need to do as Jesus says In Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Him and
cast all our burdens onto Jesus. Let Jesus help you through, let Jesus show you
the way.
Do
you run out of energy before you run out of work?
Pray
to Jesus Let Him show you what to do
Do
you feel deep despair because you feel that the work you are doing for the Lord seems fruitless
Pray
to Jesus Let Him show you what to do
Do
you feel overwhelmed by everything going on in your life?
Pray
to Jesus Let Him show you what to do
Are
you mad at or have bitter feelings towards God?
Pray
to Jesus Let Him show you what to do
The
moral of the story as they say is to let go and let God be your guide or do not jump into anything without praying about it
first. This way you will avoid undo stress because God will tell you if you will
be able to handle it.
