I almost gave up on ministry
I remember sitting in my room one day wondering if i was going to make it another day in this life.
You see, I was told over and over again that ministry would ruin my life and when I saw the schedule piling up, it began to look like my biggest fear was becoming my reality… but the real problem was I didn’t know where I was headed.
Ministry is one of those things that you can only truly understand if you have lived the life. It’s like becoming a mom or getting married. People can say all types of stuff to you and give you all types of advice, but if they ain’t ever been in your shoes, baby… they’re just sharing their strong opinion at best.
So what do you do if you feel like you are at the brink of giving up on ministry?Well, let’s first name some reasons why people get there.
Maybe its because you are a pastor who is in charge of a congregation that won’t accept your leadership.
Possibly it is directly coorelated to your husband’s nonstop schedule as a pastor’s wife that leaves you feeling like the 3rd or 4th wheel.
Or maybe you have a big heart and you believed you would be farther in life, but the stressors of everything have become too heavy to carry on your own.
Whatever it may be, I believe that a self care plan can help you considerably… and I’m not talking about going to the spa… and it doesn’t have to include going to a women’s in ministry meeting where everyone complains.
So what are the building blocks to building that plan?
Well, it starts with CONFIDENCE
Sis… you have to know who you are! Our culture puts so much pressure on women to build our identity from everything else except self confidence. So you end up trying to clean your way to being enough, working like a girl boss, getting the hair and nails; and then, its still not enough. All it takes is looking on the internet one time to see someone’s highlights who looks like they have it figured out more than you.
So how do you build confidence? Well it starts with spending time with yourself, but not in isolation… in RECOVERY!
Sis, I’m talking about meditation, a warm bath or shower, and good old SLEEP.
It also takes opening up to someone about what you are going through. Nobody needs you to be a robot to be respectable, and if they do… bye bye boo boo…
… just say that to yourself in your head when people try you…
Because what we are pushing for involves spiritual warfare. When you take time for yourself, you are telling any evil force that you aren’t going to conform to the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2) that tell you your worth comes from DOING… naw sis… it comes from BEING.
And when I discovered this, it helped me TREMENDOUSLY! Now, that doesn’t mean everything was perfect… life still gets busy and sometimes we do need a shift in our environment to avoid burnout. But no matter if God wants you to move to a new assignment or stay where you are, remember this one thing:
BUILD CONFIDENCE FIRST INSTEAD OF TRYING TO DO IT ALL HOPING FOR APPLAUSE
Trust me sis… the work will follow. Don’t try to have it all. Receive the one that is ALL IN ALL (Rev 1:8)
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