Sunday Funday February 16
Prayers and Praises
We are trying to get into our routine of things—but I (Rachel) got sick on Friday! What a way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
But don’t worry, it isn’t even Valentine’s Day in Brazil—they celebrate something similar, but not until June 12. Hopefully I am not sick on our second try at Valentine’s Day.
Please pray for the rest of the family, as it looks like Jessica is also getting sick.
Prayers for our car—Sunday morning we headed to church and it started smoking. We have told it on many occasions that smoking is not permissable, but it didn’t stop. We parked at a gas station and returned home, where Caid will work on getting the car fixed when the mechanic opens on Monday.
Interweb Reads:
Note: all three of my reads this week are from Velvet Ashes. They focus on a topic each week end send out four or five e-mails through the week about it, including a book club and other links. I really appriciate it, but sometimes they really hit it spot on. This week’s topic was Burnout. Having our car break down on top of being sick on top of some unresolved issues on top of starting a new schedule on top of planning 18 different classes each week…the burnout topic hit me right between the eyes. Thank you, in advance, for your prayers.
Burnout Came for me: “While reviewing the results with me, the cardiologist looked at me with compassion. “I think what you experienced was a panic attack. Have you been under a lot of stress lately?” I was confused. “No, not really. I mean, we just hosted out-of-town guests a few times this month, ran a training in our apartment, I’m homeschooling, I just got back from a conference in another country, and we were supposed to move to a new city last week except that I ended up in the hospital. So, no. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Although my answer seems ridiculous now, it was fully sincere at the time. It didn’t seem like we’d been going through anything particularly stressful. …our expat community was filled with people doing life at 110% just like us. Everyone hosted lots of guests, everyone traveled, everyone homeschooled, everyone did super-wonderful-amazing things in the community, even more than we did. We didn’t look very busy by comparison.” (Velvet Ashes)
There’s Hope after Burnout: “In their book Expectations and Burnout, Sue Eenigenburg and Robynn Bliss said, “Burnout is a long-term, continual sense of exhaustion which affects a person so severely that she is often unable to carry on normal, day-to-day activities. A person might start to dislike others, feel apathetic and withdraw from ministry.” I told my teammate one day that burnout felt like my car had run out of gas. But because I needed to keep going, I was pushing the car around, trying desperately not to let anything fall through the cracks, yet it all felt like a heavy burden. Burnout wasn’t the end of my story, though, and it doesn’t have to be for you either.” (Velvet Ashes)
A Slow Burn: When trauma hit, or stressors piled up, I told myself to “buck up,” this is the sacrificial life God has called me to. Margin? Forget it. I couldn’t stop doing what I was doing, because who else would do it? After years on the field, thinking I was doing fine, I felt the burn; a slow, slow burn. I was really tired. Kind of numb. Irritated. I was anxious, and felt overwhelmed, even out of control at times. I started to feel resentful about all the stuff I was taking on. I found myself judging others for not diving “into the work” the way I thought they should (I chalk this up to the evils of comparison, and some misguided missiology)… I remember trying to reason with myself, burdened by the desire to “stay put,” and yet desperate to get away, to recover.” (Velvet Ashes)