“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9 NKJV
How do you go the extra mile when you’re tired? How do you put in the extra work when you want to give up? How do you stay consistent when your day seems to spin out of control?
I have given up many times. There are times I ask myself if I’m on the right path doing the right thing.
In June 2023, I took a break from the Daily Workaholic newsletter because the transition period I was in had so many emotions attached to it.
I serve in my local church in different capacities and in 2021, I approached my Pastor to inform him that I perceived it was time for me to leave the Church. I no longer found fulfilment in what I did and knew that God wanted me to explore another ministry gift He had blessed me with. I have served in this Church since my teenage years, so that decision wasn’t an easy one for me.
At that meeting, my Pastor advised on some actions I could take that could help me get my sense of fulfilment back and also help me pour myself into others so that I won’t create a void when I leave.
I never really got the fulfilment back, but his advice paid off because God took me on a journey of learning from January 2022 till my final Sunday on July 2nd, 2023.
As my final days in the Church drew closer, the reality of leaving was more evident, but so also was the burnout. For a long time, I knew I functioned in a role and capacity that I needed to step out of, but playing the role of second-in-command in the church made it difficult to take such a step. My submissive and sacrificial personality didn’t make it easier.
Burnout doesn’t just affect the body by stopping you from working well. It is also emotional especially when your heart ceases to be in the right place due to a lack of fulfilment or negative emotions. The worst part is it also affects your spiritual growth because you have almost no motivation to ask God for help. Your body, soul, and spirit could flatline. This was my state for a while up until June 2023.
Something spectacular happened before the end of that month. As I summoned the courage to reflect and understand why I stopped writing my newsletter (I felt guilty for the first few weeks), God gave me more clarity on the direction I was to take with it. He reminded me of my learning phase in 2022 (a story I hope to share soon) and I came up with the following statement that encapsulated it all.
“God fills us with His Spirit which gives us the power to do exceptional work so that we become all He wants us to be.”
This was God’s final act of ensuring I exited my local church the way He wanted me to, and not how the devil wished. It was a breath of fresh air and over the remaining few weeks, it became my guiding principle and by extension, the focus of what I write. Although I write about doing good work according to God’s will, I love this direction.
Being filled with the Spirit of God empowers us to do the impossible but also helps us know when to stop. It gives us strength to push forward but cautions us when it is time to reserve strength for tomorrow. It helps us do exceptional work and helps us know when to stay away from work that is not meant for us.
The goal for us all is to become all that God wants us to be in our different spheres of influence. When this happens, the results of the work we do glorifies God.
This is what I want for myself and everyone in my community, including you. There are so many parts of my transition story that I hope to share in a later blog and newsletter article, but this is enough to pass the message across for this post. Keep up the good work and subscribe to the daily newsletter if you have not.
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