Feeling overworked?

You guys I am not going to lie... I typed out this entire blog post and then my computer deleted it... I did not have a hard copy so now I am re-writing everything, I was pretty upset about it but maybe that's God's way of telling me He had something different for me to write.

Ever feel overworked and overwhelmed sometimes? Yea me too! I know that feeling all too well actually; there's a million things on your plate (serving at church, working, maybe even taking care of the kids) yet you don't feel fulfilled. You might say you even feel empty. That's what we are going to talk about in this post.

My mom and I are doing a bible study together going through the book "Having a Mary heart in a Martha world" by Joanna Weaver. We meet once a week and go over the chapter we read the week prior. This book is so amazing, and I could write about it forever but that's not what this post is about. Though if you would like to find out more (which I highly recommend) check it out on Amazon. The brief description of the book is learning how to get out the kitchen (business of life) to go into the living room with Jesus to have an intimate relationship with Him. He longs for us to have that type of relationship with Him just as He told Martha. He says only ONE things is needed, and it wasn't all of the fancy preparing that she was doing. It was that she stopped and came to His feet to spend time with Him.

What I got from our chapter this week was that we can sometimes find ourselves taking on burdens and responsibilities that aren't supposed to be ours (specifically speaking about our service in the church). My type A personality and bossy nature can over take me and make me feel like I need to be in charge of everything. I find that I tend to have the attitude of "if you want it done right do it yourself". How toxic! Not just to my life but also those surrounding me. The book this week spoke about how the Lord asks us to do things and sometimes on the road to doing that we add in all of the extras, which then can make us feel overworked and not giving our all to the thing He actually asked us to do... that rang so true in my life! It is so freeing to know that the Lord doesn't care, He doesn't care if I am involved in every single thing that I possibly can be.... now does that mean that I shouldn't get involved?? Of course not! But maybe when I feel "lead" to a certain situation it's not because I'm supposed to be in charge but because I'm supposed to be a support system for those who are. Maybe I'm supposed to pray for them. Joanna Weaver also mentioned in the book that when we constantly need to be in charge we actually may be taking over something that the Lord has called someone else to do. I don't know about you, but that's not something I want to have to answer to Him about.

There are so many times where I have absolutely no idea what a verse I just read means, or what I am supposed to learn from it. But I love how clearly Jesus says in Luke 18:18-25 that there is only ONE thing that was needed. He may call us to different activities and ministries but truly the only thing that He longs for and desires is that we have an intimate relationship with Him. That we really know who He is, and how much He loves us. He longs for us to just slow down and sit at His feet; to learn from Him and then be able to show others His love through our lives.

So when we start to feel overworked we really just need to take a step back and ask ourselves, have we taken on anything that the Lord has not asked us to? Did we get involved into things that He hadn't planned for us? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, just take a min to prioritize your activities and pray about them. Take them to the Lord and ask Him which one's are the one's that actually came from Him.

"Lord, help us to always have a servant heart, but not to the detriment of our relationship with you. Help us to first have an intimate relationship with you and not focus on a "works" based relationship. We know that you truly only want us to come and be with you. You are so loving that there are no works that are needed, only to spend time with you. Help us to have decerment for when you are tuly calling us to do something. Thank you for helping us unload our burdens when we do find that we have put to many things in our wagon. Amen."