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Burn Out: Community Disciplines


So we are currently on a journey, what do you do when you are burnt out and over it?  You have done all you can do, given all that you have, and you are left sleeping under the broom tree asking God to just kill you alone.  Well Elijah was there in 1 Kings 19 and burn out is real, and it is happening.  How we combat it is with the Holy Spirit and learning resilience.  Elijah took himself out of a bad situation and ran for his life. He went alone into the wilderness and he met with God. (Solitude)  and prayed and waited.  God spoke to him in a still small voice. So here is the question:  I have heard many sermons on Elijah and where he went wrong, but sometimes it’s not where we go wrong but where we go right that can put us in some hard situations.  Elijah day in and day out stood up for God, He stood alone against 400 prophets of bail, he remained obedient and he did everything the Lord commanded him.  No one can say Elijah didn’t serve God. Yet he is still human and we all have limitations. Elijah ran to God alone in his burnout, but he didn’t remain alone when he came back. He anointed the new king, anointed Elisha, his predecessor and God told him in 1 Kings 19:18 "Yet I reserve 7,000 whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him." God was telling Elijah "You are not alone."  
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. I think anxiety and depression have way because we feel we are alone. I have been there. People tell me now how much of encourager I am. What they don't know is when I was alone I knew I had a call on my life, and I knew that from where I was standing I was going to be alone. When I spoke out "I think God was calling me to speak" one well meaning women asked "You mean in front of men and women?" I replied "Yes," her reply "Why would you want that." I knew if I said "I surrender" I would be alone and yet just like Elijah, God showed me I wasn't alone and sent me people to do ministry with and life. Quit looking at who is against you, opposition always happens, and start looking at who is cheering you on. God within months of that prayer introduced me to Christine Caine, who changed my life. Propel Women was exactly for me and I have found a tribe of women rather than going it alone.
   
   But don't take my word for it,  Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment he replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul, with all your strength.”  Okay so everything you are, personal disciplines.  Then he added “The second is like it Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  You see Jesus makes very clear we need to see past ourselves. Life change happens in the context of relationships, and relationship's are the life blood of community. I could go on and on on why it is important to get into a healthy thriving community.   You see I can do the first one, in fact I love the Lord with everything I am and everyday I focus on him, and my personal disciplines, I can stay at home read books, float on social media and remain untouched throughout the day from the world. I struggle with loving people and God has been working diligently to help me daily overcome my “people suck” motto. Erin, my right hand told me I couldn’t say people suck anymore so I changed it to people suck….. The life out of me.  
    I was preparing for our Propel Women leaders night at my house, I spend all day praying over my house, asking God to speak to these women, and I heard him say “Bake bread and ask Holly to do communion.”  So I listened I baked gluten free bread, had little cups of wine, and set the table for communion.  I have been doing communion since I was a kid, like 4 are my earliest memories.  I loved drinking all the juice after church and eating the bread, so communion wasn’t a life shattering moment for me.  


Relationships: Love People
I sat around my kitchen table, with women I cared about more than anything and I began to cry as God began to show me relationships change us, and the real reason communion was so important.  You see Jesus broke bread and told men “Take this bread, it is my body which has been broken for you, and Take this cup it is my blood that has been poured out for you.”  Okay I know if you aren’t a Christian it sounds hokey.  But let me put this in perspective.  Jesus, the son of God, word became flesh, demons had to flee at his name, raised people from the dead, Jesus.  Yeah he broke bread with twelve men, who in the next seventy six hours were going to betray him, sell him out, doubt him, leave him, and deny him.  Jesus was breaking himself for those who abandoned him, he poured himself out for those who at the first sign of trouble would run and lock themselves away.  Communion is a reminder that we are in relationship with God but we are in relationship with people as well.  Compassion is found when our perspective shifts off of protecting ourselves to serving others. If you are like me and life has made you jaded towards people I can tell you that God can redeem and restore your love for others if you are willing to being honest and vulnerable.

Spiritual Disciplines
  Our purpose for putting the Spiritual Disciplines into practice is to be more like Jesus.  
So Community Disciplines are what you do in your community of believers.  You know the church, who is actually the bride of Christ not a religious organization or club.  Hearing God’s word together, worshiping together, serving our communities together, and evangelizing together.  Maybe it is no question as to why some of us struggle with with community disciplines.  Because it requires us to invite others into the process of godliness. Vulnerability is scary and as we are a world that is less connected intimately, we can try to get out of this and cheat the process.   I don’t know about you but worshiping together with other Christians is powerful, and it is my favorite thing to do.  I love worship, singing at the top of my lungs to Jesus, worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords with other brothers and sisters.  There is power in a mighty throng.  I love to hear God’s word through someone else and gain a different perspective, and allow God to use someone else to speak into my life.  I love to lead others to Jesus and work with a team who is passionate about seeing the lost saved.  Community invites others into your process of godliness, and I can tell you in order to decrease fatigue you need to find life giving relationships.  From a personal standpoint I am very free on giving others encouragement, lifting them up, and cheering them on.  But I am very selective in who I allow to do that for me.  In my line of work burnout isn’t a myth it is a reality.  Oncology nursing is hard on good days, add into my life my family, and ministry and I can spiral quick.  But take a weekend with my family, unplug from social media, go have dinner with my bestie, and I feel recharged and less insecure.   Find your tribe, find your people and pick healthy ones, then grow with them and build community.  It is here life change happens and guess what, you will decrease the risk of burnout.  

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