Level burnout!

You might reach a point where you just feel drained and empty. You just feel as if all you are doing is giving, loving and serving, but you get nothing in return. You start feeling irritable and a little resentful towards other people and you might even think that no one really cares about you, but you just have to care for everyone. I will call it the “burnt-out” level. I think this happens to everyone once in a while and we need to learn how to handle it and take preventative action against it.

When we start our relationship with Jesus He expands our hearts. He gives us the ability to have and receive more love, so that we can give more love, it’s pretty simple. The problem is this, we get used to His overflow of love and we start giving more and more love and the people around us get used to taking more love (because we give more). Then suddenly we get busy, we neglect spending time with Jesus, but we still give, give, give, because we are so used to it and it is now part of our nature to give and love. What we do not realise is that we can only give what we have received and if we don’t spend time with Jesus and get refreshed in Him, we will end up with low levels of love and then resentment and irritation sets in and then suddenly everyone becomes too demanding and everything becomes too much for us to handle.

Don’t get me wrong, we have God is us, so we have all the love that we need in us, but spending time in God’s presence activates our love, it reminds us of who God is and how amazingly gracious and lovable He is and then instantly we just feel fabulous again. We feel as if we just want to burst at the seams with love. We realise that we don’t need to be satisfied by the people around us, but that He can satisfy our every need. He makes us feel worthy, appreciated and most of all incredibly loved. This then catapults us into the world to once again give, love and serve with a genuine smile.

It does not mean that we don’t appreciate or need the love and affection of the people around us, it just means that we don’t have to connect our sense of worth to the amount of love and affection that we receive from the world. God will always make us see how much we are worth and how precious we are and this is where our confidence comes from. God’s words to us are life and as children of God our spirits crave His words every day.

“But He answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” Matt 4:4

Remember to replenish the “love battery” as my friend described it today. Let us ensure that we spend enough time in God’s presence to prevent “level burnout” and this will enable us to constantly be a joy to everyone around us without feeling irritable or empty. You are SO incredibly loved, believe it!

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“This is real love--not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:10

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:1-5