Jill Hart is a writer, speaker and coach, showing others how to follow the calling God has placed on their lives. She is the author of the new devotional book, Do Life Different. I’m excited to offer her book as a give away at the upcoming retreat for moms on March 22 (come join us, find out information here). She’s also giving away an e-version of her new book to one of you! Read on for details.
By Jill Hart
There have come times in my life when I have found myself weary, exhausted to the point of wanting to throw in the towel. To give up my business and volunteer work and just curl up in a ball and sleep for a week. Or a month.
I’ve learned over the years what the warning signs look like in my life. When I notice that I’d rather clean a closet than write, I know there’s a problem. When I find myself dodging tasks or meetings, I know that I need to start taking a look at my schedule because there’s most likely too much on the calendar. And when I find myself curled up in that ball, I know it’s time to take action.- Prune – God is the gardener and often we must allow Him to guide us in stepping away from jobs or ministries that we have over-committed to or that just no longer where we’re called to be. Be open to God’s leading as you seek what to keep and what to cut from your life.
- Take a sabbatical – Some of you are laughing hysterically right now, and so did I the first time someone suggested this to me. But, I’ve found that there is more than one way to take a sabbatical and it may just mean that you need to get creative. For instance, you can take a sabbatical from social media to allow you to take a deep breath and focus.
- Pray, Seek, Read – Some of the most soul-filling times for me are when I simply take time to make sure I’m in God’s Word every day. When I’m especially weary and worn I tend to pull away from the Lord. So, as I have become aware of this tendency, I’ve learned that I need extra time with Him during these dark days. It refills my tank, gives me hope and reminds me that despite my circumstances, God is still on the throne and I can trust in Him.
- Decide – One of the hardest things for me to do when I’m weary is to make decisions. I know that things need to change, but I struggle to make those changes happen. I recently went through a period like this and as I sought the Lord about it, I felt Him telling me to DECIDE to accept His peace and move forward. It felt weird at first, like I was faking a bit. But as the days have gone on, the peace has become more and more real as the Holy Spirit works in this area of my life.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8 NIV
Learn more about Jill at www.jillhart.com
Love the sabbatical idea. There are definitely pieces I could set aside. I need to pray about that one. 🙂
Spending extra time with God on those dark days… Jill, that’s one of those revolutionary “why didn’t i think of that myself” bits of advice. And yes, decide to believe Him. We need that, too. I think fear robs us of a lot of what He has for us.