Wear and Tear

Ministry at times can be draining. Whether on the bottom end of things, where you're seeing no fruit, no growing relationships, and no opportunities - and yet also at the top end of things, where the required spiritual and emotional output of every day ministry leaves you on empty.

In both cases, the drain is more than likely the result of not abiding in Christ - focusing more on your efforts (or the lack thereof) instead of on intimacy with the Lord.

We're deep into English Camp follow-up (keeping in touch with students who are interested in spiritual things), and my awareness of my spiritual stability is often more apparent during periods of important ministry such as this! I seem to be at an eery stage now where everyday the pendulum seems to swing. Add in my sin, which often seems to speed up the back-and-forth/wear-and-tear of the bipolar extremes, and it usually leaves my world upside down.

Thank God, however, that the end result leads me back to abiding in Him - upon recognizing that He is the source of life - both at my low and at my high.

I praise God for his faithfulness. That he is devoted to me, and he offers me rest in the midst of it all...and how often (to continue the analogy) that He's the one who stops the pendulum - reminding us that only in Him we find peace, comfort, and rest.

Thank you for your prayers - and I pray that you too may find rest in Him today.