Our first weeks of CGA have come and gone. We have been through countless numbers of introductions, sat through welcome courses, and official have started course training. All of the classes are very intentional times of learning that I already see will be essential once I reach the mission field. One in particular was a class on taking our sabbath rest. One part hit home and that was speaking about boundaries and sabbath.
One of the big things that cause missionaries to become ineffective on the field is burnout.
Missionaries can tend to have a “let’s do it all” mindset, but it will lead many of them down the path to burnout. I definitely felt this in my own life. On the World Race we caught a glimpse of how burnout can incapacitate people. When I got on the field, I wanted to do everything. No matter the mountain we had to climb to do it, I was there. I kept it up for awhile, but eventually I couldn’t do it anymore. What I needed were some intentional boundaries set up.
I had to take time to be filled up by God. Spending vital time with Him provided an energy that was beyond just physically resting. I was filled spiritually so I could do the work God had for me to do. This will be the same for long-term on the field. I’ll need to put away time to specifically spend with the Lord. This time will lead to an intimate time of learning, growing, and being filled by God.
Find time to spend with the Lord. We all need time with Him to learn and grow. Do not think you are too busy to do it. We all have time, we just need to realize the importance of our time spent with the Living God. Spend time with Him this week, take 10 minutes to just be with Him. I know for a fact that this will make a tremendous difference in the end.
