Restored Joy
My heart felt like the hard, cracked ground of the desert. In a rare quiet moment when the neighbors weren’t having a party on our shared, covered rooftop, I climbed the stairs slowly. My teammate and I had been living in a little border town in western Cambodia for less than six months, but it […]
A Slow Burn
Like many of you, my story– my overseas story– is full of complicated layers of stress, hope, survival, endurance, and resolve. There are highs and lows. We get tired, maybe lonely, or stressed out. We don’t try to burnout, in fact, we get trained on how to avoid it! But truth? Burnout is part of […]
There’s Hope After Burnout
“I feel like I have nothing to give.” I’ve scribbled these words in my journal in more than one season. The first time it scared me. I had been struggling through an intense period of personal and team stress, loss, confusion, and ministry barrenness. I was constantly irritated by situations and people around me, whether […]
Burnout Came For Me
Burnout came for me about six years into living overseas. It grabbed me without any warning. Sure, we’d had family stresses, team changes, moves, a medical evacuation, changes in responsibilities and much more. Yet, we were trucking along just fine, thanks. Then I had a heart attack. At least, that’s what I thought was happening. […]
This Week’s Theme: Burnout
Burnout: a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. We wish we didn’t have to go down this road, but we also know the reality is that many of you are currently dealing with burnout, […]
Waiting as Long as He Says
“God, the one and only—I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him. […] My help and glory are in God—granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—So trust him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for him. God is a safe place to be.” Psalm 62: 1a, 7-8 The Message “I will wait […]
Admit It . . .
Ten months ago I felt a slight pain in my left shoulder. I ignored it as I figured with time it would eventually get better. It did improve over the summer, but this fall it started hurting. Again, I just ignored it, but after two months it was worse. Christmas season was in full swing, […]
Trust God Enough to Take a Day Off
I began learning about rest by not resting. There are countless reasons I could list for why we should rest, why we need to rest, how rest is beneficial, but what is impressed on me most of all lately is that, truly, rest is an act of faith. But I didn’t see that at first. […]
Sleep in Peace
Worry, stress, struggles, pressures, sickness, fatigue, and the weight of overseas life affect us all in so many ways. Loss of sleep is possibly at the top of the list of affected things. When I am worried, I can’t sleep. When I have fears, I can’t sleep. When I feel overwhelmed, I can’t sleep. When […]
Salt Flats
We live in the desert. Hot and dry, our part of West Africa is home to large areas of salt flats. The salt flats are natural, flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white while the sun pounds down. There are random bushes, a few birds and generally a bloated […]
That One Time All the Power Ran Out Everywhere
If any time earned the title for a crisis, it was this one. The country’s petrol pumps had run dry. Power cuts increased to 16 hours a day. Gas for cooking was unavailable for purchase. Rice, milk, and even water were in short supply. The electricity was off when we woke up and when we […]
We Have Never Had the Power
My Ugandan daughter’s birth mom named her Power. We loved it so much we kept it in her legal American name because well, it is her name and gosh, it suits her so well. My little girl is feisty. Like energy and passion and emotion to the nth degree. And while it makes me a […]