Tag: rest

Practical Soul Care for the Busy Christian

Not so long ago, I unintentionally exalted ministry, obedience, and motherhood above soul care. I held it together on the outside but was bone-weary on the inside.

I don’t think I’m the only Christian who tends toward pouring out more than filling up. We, as Jesus-loving kingdom workers, desperately need to take the idea of soul care to heart. In fact, let’s do more than that — let’s take it to action with practices that help us slow down, internalize His word, reflect deeply and prayerfully, and implement new habits.

That all sounds grand, but actually getting there is a stretch for most of us. So, in response to my own need for soul care and my desire to help others along the way, I’ve created My Undivided Life: A Soul Care Journal.

This twelve-week guided journal offers original content, inspiring scripture, prayer prompts, creative space, and reflection questions to both usher you into deep places with the Lord and inspire you to live outwardly in love. It’s an invitation to live an undivided life — a life that truly loves Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Bonus material includes a weekly habit tracker, additional soul care ideas, and book recommendations to further your spiritual growth.

But what is soul care? Is it simply a spiritualized form of self-care?

It does share similarities with self care: both aim toward personal health and wellness. But the center—the soul, if you will—of that wellness is vastly different. Self-care’s impetus is, simply, the self; soul care’s impetus is 100% Jesus.

When we acknowledge that we are created beings, breathing because God first breathed life into us, moving because in Him we live and move and have our being, and loving only because He first loved us, then we realize that the only care for our souls is deep connection to our Creator.

The idea of soul has many delineations, and yours may vary from mine, but here is my working definition: The soul is the deepest, truest part of you that encompasses and integrates the whole of your person. It includes your spirit that communes with God, your heart or emotions, your mind, and your body through which all the above are expressed.

I’d like to suggest that an activity (any activity!) can be soul care if:

  • It connects you with the source of life — God.
  • It integrates your body, mind, and heart.
  • It encourages open-handed trust and a release of what you’re not meant to carry.
  • It allows you to savor beauty and the Giver of all good things.

As Dallas Willard writes in Renovation of the Heart, “Our soul is like an inner stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other element of our life. When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because our soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature; and all else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream.”

Your soul is invaluable.

Pause to consider Matthew 16:24-26:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Remember, soul care is much more than self-care. The aim is not to “save your life,” rather it is for your life to be swallowed up in Life Himself. In a way, it could be summed up in the idea of abiding in Christ. It’s one part position—you are in Christ—and one part intention—you keep yourself in Christ.

The following are some questions and prompts from My Undivided Life journal that you may want to sit with. See what they stir in you, and let the Savior of your soul guide you into ever-deeper places of abiding in Him.

  • What are you already doing that can qualify as soul care? Are there certain activities you want to invest more time in this week?
  • What’s one soul-draining task you can eliminate today?
  • What needs to change for you to intentionally partner with God in caring for your soul?
  • Sit quietly with the Lord. Ask Him to give you a picture of the state of your soul. Describe your soul as He sees it, and ask Him to shelter and care for it.
  • Rest today in the goodness of God. Inhale and exhale slowly as you breathe this prayer, and carry it with you throughout the day.

This post has been adapted from the first week of My Undivided Life: A Soul Care Journal created by author, teacher, and missionary Corella Roberts. To order a copy, click here.

How to Help Mom Take a Sabbatical (even with kids at home)

I recently had a conversation with Global Trellis Podcast to answer a listener’s question about moms needing sabbaticals on the field or during home assignments, and she wondered how to make that happen in the busy of life with kids.

The question reminded me of my days with three little girls at home. I was often running on empty, homeschooling, working, taking ministry classes, dealing with health issues, and just doing too much.

I remember asking another older and wiser homeschool mom how she fit in quiet time or rest time during her days while also being a mom, teacher, nurse, cook, and playmate. She answered, “You take the time right there in the busy moments of the day. Sit on the floor with the kids, read your Bible, journal, write, pray, study . . . let your girls see you taking that time for yourself and for Jesus.”

Her advice stuck with me, and I obviously still think about it today. Implementation of the advice took a little trial and error as I worked out how to make it all work while focusing, praying, or learning. I had to adjust my expectations, reframe what I thought quiet time or rest time could be, and really allow Jesus to walk with me in the moment.

As I continued thinking about the answer to this listener’s question, I thought about this advice and how it could also apply to a sabbatical. Yet I also recognized that the simple advice I’d followed as a young mom needed more depth to fully apply to global worker families in need of true sabbatical time.

Is it even possible for missionary parents, moms especially, to take a sabbatical? Is it possible for couples with littles to have sabbatical time together, or should they plan separate times?

In the podcast, I offered some tips, ideas, and layered ways to make sure young families or busy moms can also take sabbatical time. There’s a lot to consider, but here are the top seven things you can do to take a sabbatical as a parent.

  1. Redefine what sabbatical means for your season.

You don’t have to leave your home, your country, or your kids to rest. A sabbatical can simply be a slower pace, gentler expectations, and a little more breathing room. Think of it as a pause or a slowdown that shifts how you move through your days rather than trying to plan a dramatic break from your life.

  1. Set a few intentions, goals, or expectations before you begin.

Ask yourself what you want to feel at the end of this sabbatical. What do you want to accomplish, learn, pray through, or focus on during your sabbatical? What you need to release, what needs to be restored, and what you want to hear from God? 

These quiet questions can help you pay attention to what your sabbatical time is actually for, instead of arriving at the end of your sabbatical and wishing you’d been more intentional.

  1. Make small, practical changes at home.

A home‑based sabbatical is built on small changes from normal. This could look like simpler meals, lighter homeschooling, fewer ministry tasks, a daily anchor like a quiet hour or a walk, and/or one day each week where you don’t host, meet, or do any outside work. Even small pauses like tea outside, a slow walk, a quiet hour, or a creative moment will begin to add up.

  1. Choose what you’re pausing and what you’re keeping.

You can be strategic. Hospitality, team responsibilities, ministry output, language learning, extra personal goals, and discipleship of others can all be set down for a season. Basic parenting, simple family rhythms, and connection with God can become more normal during sabbatical. This isn’t quitting ministry or failing at global work. It’s choosing a time of sabbatical that fits what you’d like to have for a sabbatical.

  1. Bring your family into the process.

Let your kids know you’re slowing down for a little while. Let them see you develop a sabbatical that includes them in the intentional plans. Create a family “slow list” of restful activities the kids can do while you read or study or exercise. Build small rituals like quiet mornings or simple meals. Kids learn rest by watching you rest, and a sabbatical can become a gentle reset for everyone.

  1. Communicate clearly with your team or organization.

A few simple sentences of preparational communication can protect both your health and your ministry. You can say things like, “This is a temporary rest season,” or “This helps me stay healthy long‑term.” Most teams respond well when they understand the purpose behind your pause.

*I’ll add a caveat to all of this planning to mention that your organization might require special permission or approval for taking sabbatical time. Be sure to check in with them early in your process!

  1. Set aside dedicated time, if needed.

For some, having a very free-flowing, easy, laid-back sabbatical time is the perfect fit for you. If it were structured, it wouldn’t feel restful. Plan that way.

For others, having a structured, planned, and fully orchestrated routine is going to keep you on track and help you stay motivated to accomplish what you’d intended for sabbatical time. Of course, there’s a group in the middle that needs to plan for some of both options!

It’s important to understand yourself and be self-aware enough to know what will be best for your rest, renewal, and refreshing while also helping you grow and learn.

Additional Resources for Planning and Taking a Sabbatical

Velvet Ashes has many specific posts and resources about taking a sabbatical.

Right here at A Life Overseas, you can find more information about taking a missionary or ministry sabbatical.

Over at Global Trellis, there is a full Sabbatical Journey Course with downloads, videos, and guided discussions that can be used in personal journaling, with your spouse, or in a group. Global Trellis runs small groups through zoom calls with other workers who are going through the course. These are offered when there is a need for community. If that’s you, please contact Global Trellis about groups or other ways to find community.

As you research, plan, pray, and start to build your sabbatical, coaching or spiritual direction can be very beneficial in giving you dedicated time to focus on your own journey through a sabbatical. If it is scheduled and on your calendar, it’s more likely to happen.

If you’d be interested in one-on-one coaching, I know there are people who’d love to help. There’s something special about having someone walk with you in this. All of the websites above have more resources for coaches, counselors, and spiritual directors. 

If you’d like to talk with me specifically, please reach out!

Stop Burning Out for Jesus

by Valerie Limmer

Jesus once told a parable about ten bridesmaids — five wise and five foolish. I’ve often heard the parable taught in church as a lesson in being prepared to wait for Jesus’s return and not becoming complacent in the waiting. But is that really what it’s about?

All of the women fell asleep. There was no difference in their level of activity — only in their preparedness. One set literally burned themselves out and didn’t leave anything to replenish themselves with. The other set also fell asleep, but when their lamps ran low, they had brought extra supply. 

Which brings me to a new conclusion: This parable could just as easily be about not burning ourselves out as it is about waiting.

People in ministry love Jesus. They often dedicate their lives, their hobbies, their energy and resources to sharing the good news about Him with others, serving people in the name of Jesus, and advocating for the weak and helpless. This work can be all-consuming. We do it “for the sake of the Gospel.”

But is that what God really asks of us?

I’ve written before about how giving up more than God asks of us can be just as bad as giving up less than He asks. When we do more than what He asks, we risk a different type of disobedience. After all, if a farmer asks me to plow a certain field, and I plow both that field and the one beside it too, am I being helpful—or did I just destroy a crop that wasn’t ready to be harvested?

Missionaries and pastors seem particularly susceptible to the lie that working ourselves to exhaustion is somehow a demonstration of godliness. It may be a demonstration of dedication to our work, but not of our dedication to God. So what does this parable tell us about the right way to approach our work? 

  1. We need to be prepared for Christ to take longer.

He is not — and never was — going to come according to our schedule. He is our leader. We are not His.

If God has called us to ministry, it may be for a lifetime, or it may be for a season. If it’s for a season, He will redeploy us somewhere else when we’re done. In either case, we cannot afford to pour an entire lifetime of energy into only a few years before we burn ourselves out.

Once we burn out, there’s no guarantee we will ever come back. Some people’s personalities and mental health are changed forever.

  1. The things we do may look similar to what others do.

The work of a Christian advocate for the poor might look very similar to that of the work of someone who’s not a Christian, but the nuances will be different. The motivations will be different. The spiritually-holistic approach will be different.

If we anchor our sense of accomplishment and well-being in Jesus rather than the results of our work, our mental and spiritual health will also be different. Jesus can give us the stamina to keep going, to live an entire lifetime of faithfulness. It’s that longevity that often stands out more than anything else to the people who observe and come after us. 

Our testimony doesn’t just consist of what we do. It consists of our faithfulness in doing it. Not just for a few years, but for a lifetime.

  1. We need to leave ourselves enough resources to last, so we can keep burning.

Our lives and ministries should consume those resources at a sustainable rate. In other words, we shouldn’t be constantly edging towards burnout, even if we don’t quite get there. We should always be engaging in self-care practices and rest that replenish our resources.

This “leave enough resources” principle isn’t just intended for the person in ministry, but for their family as well. If we don’t leave ourselves enough to take care of our spouses and families, then, as Paul says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

This may mean that as we age, our activities diminish somewhat, apace with diminishing energy. 

It also means that we make rest a part of our rhythms of ministry. Depleted, we may be able to put on a good show for a while — perhaps falling back on old journals and moments of learning during times when we were less worn — but eventually our depletion will show itself in our ministries. 

This could be in the form of ever-decreasing nourishment in the things we teach. It could also be in the form of a fall into sin. Depleted people are more likely to stumble and fall. Rest is not just required for our own refreshment. It’s required to sustain godliness.

If our rest is insufficient, we won’t have the energy to pursue God—really pursue Him in devotions. Sitting in silence takes focus and energy. Meditation takes energy and creativity (another thing that turns off in fatigue). Intensive prayer takes loads of energy. 

Is it any wonder, then, that taking a Sabbath rest is one of the Ten Commandments? That commandment is a fundamental undergirding, a support for our obedience in every other dimension.

In contrast, how many people have become shells of their former selves, have lost their faith, or caused their families to lose their faith because of their obsession with serving with no thought to wisely stewarding their time, efforts, and energy so they’ll be sustainable through the long haul? 

I now think that Jesus’s admonition at the end of the parable of the lamps in Matthew 25 to “keep watch” (“be on the alert,” the NASB says) is actually an admonition to take care of our own resources so that we can keep burning — no matter when He comes.

Originally published here; reprinted with permission.

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Originally from Canada, Valerie Limmer lives in Okinawa, Japan, where she’s served as a missionary with her husband since 2011, partnering with the local church to focus on outreach and discipleship. Their Japanese pastor calls them “bridge-makers,” facilitating relationships with the community. Valerie is the author of Captive Set Free: How to Find Freedom Through Forgiving and On the Potter’s Wheel, a memoir of disability on the mission field. To learn more about her work or to read more of her articles, visit peterandvalerie.com/OurBlog.

5 Digital Rules for Missionaries

by Naomi Johnston

In a world of increasing busyness and distraction, even in the missional sense, the digital world pulls us into its steady stream of consciousness, asking for as much as we can give, and then some. We are sorely mistaken if we think that as ministry workers we will avoid this. In fact, I find it more common that as we lose control of much of our surroundings and personal choices, we tend to try to take some control back by allowing ourselves freedoms in our personal time.

I personally struggle with my tendency to finish all my jobs, tidy my house to a reasonable standard (sometimes), and then flop onto my couch, phone in hand, for some “well-deserved me-time.” Far be it from me to discredit the comfort that provides. Rather I would like to challenge the lack of conscious thought around this and how we can implement healthy boundaries to perhaps better enjoy both the distraction itself and the life we lead outside of the screen.

I’ve been reading a lot on this in a general sense, and I liked some of the boundaries given by people who are thinking and working in this space constantly on behalf of the church. John Mark Comer has wrestled through this problem himself and seems to have found himself in a better place, if not on the other side of this possible addiction. Strahan constantly calls the wider church to return to contemplative practices regularly in life, sometimes more clearly calling us to leave our screens behind for a time. And there’s an ample supply of writers calling us to spiritual disciplines that ask us to ‘step away’ from normal life to encounter silence, and sometimes perhaps God’s voice.

So here I’ve collected a few of these and applied them to the missional life. I hope it comes as a call, an encouraging hand held out to help you set up some boundary lines around your life, as I continue to attempt this myself.

 

1. Take digital breaks as self-care.

Personally, struggle street for me is what I have fondly nicknamed ‘witching hour’—the hours before sleep when the child has settled down, the jobs and the eating have been done, and what’s left is to relax and settle in for the night. This is usually when the doomscrolling happens, sometimes eating away literal hours of my evening, to my deep shame.

One of the habits that has allowed me to reclaim some of this time is the action of ‘putting my phone to bed.’ I first learned this phrase through Comer and mistook it to mean that the phone goes to bed when I do. But actually in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, he writes about the practice of ‘parenting your phone’ which basically means putting your phone to bed before you do and making it sleep in—giving yourself time both in the evening and morning to live without your phone in hand. Insert horrified gasp here. But when this constant action becomes a habit, the spaaaaaace you feel mentally turns it into a self-rewarding habit.

Another digital break I have been regularly applying is the deletion of the doomscroll apps. I do this semi-regularly when I notice my use starting to creep up again. And by creep up again I mean when hours have literally been wasted over a month or so. I’m no saint; I haven’t been able to apply this discipline constantly and liberally, but it does work, and I have just now done it again. The relief is almost as immediate as the regret, but the regret doesn’t last as long.

 

2. Put your family first.

It’s tempting to get into a habit of always having your phone in hand, especially in the family moments. Nothing is more attractive to our newsletter readers and social media followers than a casual picture of the children playing in a foreign playground with tasty cultural differences littered around the scene. And yes, we should do that on occasion.

But what’s more difficult is that once the phone is out, it remains out for longer than we would like. And we get distracted by the notification that just popped up. And someone’s gran just replied to the last picture and all of a sudden you’re sucked back in.

One of the ways around this, I mentioned previously, is to remove the socials from your phone. It will allow you the chance to take the picture, save the memory and then get straight back to the family.

But another way to help is to have ‘Family Focus Hours’ where the screens once again get packed away, and that next hour or hours are spent with your family, paying attention to them and their needs.

Lastly on this note, don’t take everyone with you on holiday. Again, the memories are good to keep, so take the photos and videos, but don’t let the screens and the social media buzz that we get when we share exotic and new locations pull you back into that space while you’re there. Save it for afterwards if you must.

 

3. Consume wholesome content.

Now I know that when the word ‘wholesome’ comes out, we immediately move to thinking that I’m about to warn against unwholesome R16 or R18 movies and content. But I also want to warn against the impact of staying online ingesting miles and miles of newsfeed about what’s going on in the world.

A common note around digital and screen use is that mostly it’s all good, but the amount and the pace of ingestion are not always good. Staying on top of the news and keeping informed, great. Letting it inhabit every waking thought and scroll? Not so great.

The amount of mental and emotional energy I’ve given to the state of the world’s affairs has been a little over the top. I now limit myself to the occasional post by well-regarded journalists that might show up in my email inbox or on my Instagram. But I don’t scroll, and I don’t allow myself to wander down the rabbit hole . . . very often. Of course we will have times we want to follow the scent, but we need to limit when and where.

Our jobs as missionaries and cross-cultural workers rely on our ability to be in hard situations and be able to focus on the good. The news cycle often works in the opposite spirit. Our job is to unify cultures in one way or another; don’t allow yourself to be dragged over to the other side.

 

4. Purpose before play.

Don’t spend your online energy on junk content before you get around to doing your work.

Some of us have the privilege of representing our work to the countries we have been sent from. We have to take what we are experiencing in terms of the work God is doing where we are, and we are privileged to share that with our sending churches and communities.

But sometimes, when it comes time to write and share, our mental capacity for that has been slowly leaking out through the days and weeks in other online interactions, and we have no energy for the supporting communities that have been partnering with us to get us there!

This is yet another reason why ‘parenting your phone’ is a good boundary. Save your screen time for when it matters most. Don’t squander time on entertainment or disengaging. Use it wisely—it’s not a never-ending resource.

 

5. Be where your feet are.

We have given up so much to be where we are. Some of us have given up dreams, homes, family, possessions, relationships, potential relationships, the list could go on.

Why should we now get to where we are and use that time looking back over our shoulder at what was, or looking over someone else’s shoulder at what they have, or the state of the world where they are?

Guys, be where your feet are. Invest in the community you have. Share meals with the people who live next door. Run your child’s daily energy out at the playground and look other parents in the eye.

We have been given such a great gift, and to squander it on digital disengagement is frustratingly normal. Let’s push back on that and continue to strengthen the discipline of being present.

We’re not truly honouring the place we are and learning from the new culture if we’re constantly disengaging and disassociating. Dig your toes in. Plant firmly. Put your phone down.

None of us will do this perfectly. Screens and social media are woven deeply into our work and our lives now. But small boundaries can make a big difference. A few simple habits can slowly return our attention to the people, places, and calling God has placed right in front of us.

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Naomi Johnston is a photographer, designer, and writer from New Zealand serving in Europe with One Mission Society. Together with her husband and daughter, she is part of a missionary community working across Europe and the Middle East. Through photography and writing, Naomi shares stories from the field and reflects on faith, culture, and life in cross-cultural ministry. She writes regularly at www.thejohnstonjourney.com and can also be found on Facebook and Instagram as @thejohnstonjourney.

Aching for the Promised Rest

After this hectic season of (fill in the blank), things should slow down.

Once I complete (name your project), I’ll be able to catch my breath.

Someday, (choose your goal) will be finished, and I’ll take a vacation.

Name your taskmaster, but you’re likely spinning the same story to your tired self that the rest of us are. This is just a season, we tell ourselves as we trudge on. 

And maybe it is. After all, God has woven cyclical patterns into all of His creation, including the seasons of our souls. We’re designed to grow through the newness of Spring, the productivity of Summer, the release of Autumn, and the stillness of Winter. One season without the others equates to dormancy or death.

Or maybe it’s not merely a season, it’s habitual drivenness and overproduction. It’s the drumbeat of Western culture, much of Christianity included: Just a little more. Just a little more. Bigger. Better. Just a little more.

This is one of those Psalm 139:23 moments where we ask the Lord to search our hearts and expose our motives. Yet even if you discover that your exhaustion is of a self-inflicted kind, you still have the same human ache for rest as those who are keeping in step with Jesus.

“There remains, then, a sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Heb 4:9) We aren’t free of the burden of toil just yet, are we? Our true rest is yet to come.

This struggle reminds me of the iconic feeding of the five thousand portrayed in Mark 6:30-44. What comes to your mind when you think of that story? 

Loaves and fish? Hungry crowds? Twelve basketfuls of leftovers? Yes, all those. But did you consider Jesus’ weary followers? The disciples had just been sent out on a preaching tour. They left with a buddy, a staff, and the clothes on their body. That was it. They returned, apparently, with all kinds of stories:

“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” (v. 30-32).

I can easily imagine their joy and relief as they settle into the boat with Jesus, headed for a time of retreat. These fishermen and tax-collectors now turned traveling preachers had been stretched to the max on their journey. If there was one thing their bodies and spirits needed, it was a snack and a good nap! That, however, was not to be.

You already know what happens next:

“But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (v. 33-34).

Am I the only one who feels a twinge annoyed at Jesus for His response here? Sure, teach the crowds, Lord, but how about after that getaway You promised the disciples? What about compassion for them?

Obviously, I identify with the weary kingdom workers. But I also recognize that their season with Jesus was in full-on summer: the harvest was plentiful, and they, the few workers, had an invitation to partner with Him in it. In fact, while Jesus was the miracle worker, He used his disciples’ own hands to provide the abundance of bread.

And what an abundance it was! Five loaves and two fish fed over five thousand people, and how many basketfuls were leftover? Twelve. How many disciples were there? Twelve. They received back much more than they gave. 

Yes, I mutter, but what about their promised quiet time and rest with Jesus? When will they get that?

Apparently the moment for retreat is gone, because according to Mark, Jesus “immediately” sent his disciples off in the boat again where they were buffeted by a storm before Jesus joined them by walking on the water. Nor do they rest when they reach Gennesaret on the other side, for people recognized Jesus and “ran throughout that whole region” to bring the sick to him.

It would seem that Jesus has forgotten His promised rest for his followers.

Here, I’m tempted to tie a nice little bow on this apparent point of tension and tell you that surely the disciples were nurtured and sustained in Jesus’ presence and through His words in ways that go far beyond a merely physical nap. After all, if He could miraculously multiply the bread and fish, surely He could suffuse his followers with supernatural energy.

And perhaps He did. But I also want to acknowledge the everyday struggle of living with willing spirits yet weak flesh. We’re holistic beings, created to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. From the very beginning, our Creator designed a day of physical rest for us through the sabbath. He doesn’t discredit our bodies and our weariness whatsoever. 

How, then, do we balance both work and rest with Jesus?

I’m left with the conclusion I often land at when finding a lack of clear biblical prescription about a topic. The answer is in abiding. 

I must align my life so tightly with His that I’m not shaken when our course changes–He’ll get us where He wants us to go, even if it seems to be a total shift from the original plan. I trust His compassion for both those I serve and for me–He will provide abundantly for my needs, as well. And I thank Him for His patience–that none should perish, that more souls will one day enter true Rest alongside me.

This life of hardship, hard work, and heaviness is a blink. Let’s cling to Jesus in it, and let Him lead us through.

 

Walk with Me and Work with Me

The field lies fallow, great clods of earth in rich cocoa hues. Yet there’s a furrowed channel – a crease in the brown bosom ready to nurture her young. And in it, a man walks. 

His skin is deeply tanned, his hair like the earth below his sandaled feet, and his clothes the simple attire of a farmer. When he looks up, the light and joy that emanate from his eyes, his smile, his countenance, leave no doubt to his identity – it’s Jesus. The sun with skin on. He surveys the land, almost as if waiting. Is he catching his breath or holding it? 

A child calls from behind him, and Jesus’ breath escapes as laughter, ringing out in harmony with the young voice beckoning to him. He turns expectantly, and the boy takes off toward him full-tilt, stumbling over mounds of dirt and finally crashing into an awkward embrace of Jesus’ leg. 

“Can I work with you?” he asks between heaving breaths. “I want to help!”

“Of course, my child!” laughs Jesus, giving his hair a playful ruff. “You’ve gotten so big. I’m sure you’ll be a great help to me.” Jesus looks as delighted as if twelve able men had stepped onto his field. He loosens the cord at his waist and slips off the satchel of seeds. “There, see if you can carry that while I show you how to sow the seed.”

The boy nods and stands up straighter. “I can do it!” He grins, grabs the satchel the size of his head, and reaches in to scoop a handful of seeds.

“Now just a moment,” cautions Jesus, still brimming with joy. “There’s a bit of technique to it so that the seeds spread out properly.” He dips his hand into the satchel, then sprinkles the seeds ahead of him in short, rocking bursts. “See? Now you try.”

The child jams his hand into the bag and brings it out with such force that dozens of seeds spill out at his feet. Ashamed, he looks up at Jesus with puckered brow. “Ah, it’s okay,” comforts Jesus, “my Father will cause the growth.” 

Jesus nods encouragingly, and the boy tries to sprinkle the seeds as Jesus did, but he opens his hand too wide, and most fly out on his first shake. Jesus laughs and bends to squeeze his shoulder. “That’s wonderful! Keep trying!” Brightening, the child tries again, this time with a somewhat better result.

They carry on like this, sprinkling seeds, laughing, and bumping into each other playfully for some time, but when the child looks back over his shoulder, he sees birds descending on the field, gobbling up many of the seeds they’ve just sown. “Oh no! Look, Jesus!”

“Yes, sometimes we feed the birds, too, my child. But don’t worry. My Father will cause the growth.” Jesus notices the boy wiping his brow, still looking concerned. “I think it’s time for a rest.” 

They walk to the shade of a large tree together and lean against its trunk. From somewhere, though the child hasn’t a clue where, Jesus produces a flask of water and some fruit. They lean back together, savoring the serenity of the moment while dreaming of the harvest.

“Are you ready?” Jesus eventually asks, that irresistible twinkle ever dancing in his eyes. “I think you might be the right size for this now.” He reaches behind the tree and grabs a hoe.

“I … I don’t know.” The boy looks skyward from his seated position at the long-handled tool. “Are you sure?”

“Why don’t you stand up and give it a try?”

The child rises and finds himself now at the height of Jesus’ shoulder. He begins to open his mouth to comment on the change, but Jesus leans in and whispers, “See? My Father is causing the growth.” With a wink and a chuckle, Jesus hands him the tool. 

The young man tests its weight, swinging it easily in his hands. Jesus feigns being impressed, and they both laugh. Stepping back onto the field, the young man swings the hoe at a clump of dirt, and it cleaves beneath his blow.

“That’s it!” Jesus claps him on the back. “Now you can soften the soil before the seeds are sown.” The two take on a new rhythm, punctuated with heaves and thwacks between the easy flow of conversation and laughter.

Eventually they pause to rest again, this time at the young man’s request. Jesus seems pleased. The two have become steady companions, and much of their time in the shade is shared in silence.

Two figures move on the other side of the field. They’re small, possibly children, and their direction seems aimless. Jesus and the man rise to get a better look, and they’re nearly the same height now. “Should I …?” The man glances at Jesus.

Jesus beams. “Definitely.”

The man strides across the field, earthen clods now submitting beneath his weight. He approaches the two children, sees their confusion, and drops down to one knee. “Hey,” he begins, keeping his tone gentle as he often heard Jesus do, “are you lost?”

They nod and cling to each other.

“Well, good news. This is my friend’s field, and he said you’re welcome to join us here. In fact, he’d love it if you’d help him plant some seeds. Want to meet him?”

The children nod, giggling and pointing behind the man. He turns, curious, and lets out a belly laugh himself when he sees Jesus hanging from the tree branch like a monkey, waving at them. 

“Come on, I’ll race you!” he says, and the three of them tear across the field toward Jesus, who drops down to crouch in the grass with his arms spread wide, ready to embrace his new children.

The man runs just behind them, playing as if he can’t keep up, lost in the joy of the chase. Their small feet barely make an impression in the soil, but each place his foot lands is enfolded by the earth, and as he lifts his heel, a tender shoot unfurls her head. One sprout after another races to grow skyward in each footprint like an emerald sea-wave rippling after him.

The children tumble into Jesus’ arms as the tree rustles in applause and the field waves her green plumage. Taken in wonder, the man drops to his knees, enveloped in the impenetrable light of Jesus’ laughter.

And the field is fallow no more.

Inspired by Matthew 11:28-30, The Message
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Putting one foot in front of the other

Years ago in a training session in Beijing, my colleague Joann encouraged us with what has become for me an iconic phrase from 2 Samuel 18: “Come what may, I will run.”

I’ll tell you more about the Biblical context in a moment, but first I don’t recall the details of what was going on in Asia. No doubt there was something unusual about the season . . . because, let’s face it, life on the field is often more unusual than usual. So when Joann quoted Ahimaaz saying, “Come what may, I will run,” the phrase and the heart of completing a task resonated with me.

In 2 Samuel, Ahimaaz, son of Zadok the priest, was stationed near the battlefield, waiting to run news of the battle back to the king. The battle was between David’s rebel son Absalom and the Israelites. When news came of the victory Ahimaaz said to Joab, the field commander, “Let me run and carry news to the king” (2 Samuel 18:19 ESV).

But Joab replied, “You are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” (v. 20)

Ahimaaz’s request—and assumed job—was denied and Joab asked a Cushite to run instead. Have you ever been confused when what you thought was “your job” was given to someone else? 

While many would understandably give up in frustration, disappointment, and hurt, that’s not what Ahimaaz did. 

“Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” 

And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?” 

 “Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” 

So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran the Cushite.” (verses 22-23).

His response, “Come what may, I will run,” has been running through my head and heart in this season. What does it look like to run when . . . 

—When you may not be in a location you want to be?

— When you may not have been able to leave the field for a break or to attend a conference because once you leave you might not get back in? 

—When schooling is different . . . and hard . . . and beautiful? 

—When visas are slow or nonexistent?

—When you are studying a language that is not spoken by anyone for miles and miles and maybe an ocean away?

—When your kids are unsettled by all of the unknown and loss?

I don’t have specific answers. But when I think of Ahimaaz, what did it look like to run? 

It looked like putting one foot in front of the other. He did not seem as focused on what happened after he ran, or that he didn’t have all of the information. Looking at the text, when Ahimaaz arrived, he told the king of the victory, but couldn’t answer David’s question about his son Absolom. Just think, Ahimaaz ran that hard without all of the information! He ran it knowing that he would inform a king and a father of a battle between them without a key piece of information. 

He stood there panting, waiting for the Cushite to arrive with the news that Absalom was dead. And as his breathing returned to normal and his heart rate slowed, he bore witness to the king saying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (vs 33)

Being called or compelled to run as Ahimaaz was doesn’t guarantee that the Red Seas of life will part and everything is going to work out. Maybe you will run and bear witness to death . . . of a dream, an opportunity, an open door. But when you run, you can still experience FLOW. In Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram, FLOW is described as:

Free — able to let go of the false self reactions

Loving 

Open to your head, heart, and gut

With God and reality as it is

This is what I like about the idea of FLOW when it intersects with “Come what may, I will run”: that you don’t have to like reality. You can live in the messy middle of the unknowns and loss that this season may hold. Who wants to be “working remotely” in a basement in Houston instead of walking the streets of Mozambique? Absolutely no one! Or trying to do the work of three people because you are the only one in country? Again, no one!

But FLOW means that you can run without all of the information, without knowing the destination, without running where you want to be running . . . and still run. You can experience freedom, love, an open head, heart, and gut, and be with God and reality. It might not look like you want, it might not be where you want, but you can still put one foot in front of the other and say, “Come what may, I will run.”

P.S. Running requires resting. Here is a free workshop on the 7 Types of Rest Every Cross-Cultural Worker Needs. It’s free through the end of July 2023. Get the workshop here.

This article first appeared here.

Do I Deserve to Rest? (and other questions about the command we should never neglect)

by an anonymous worker

In a world of chaos, what are we supposed to do about rest? 

We look around us at all the need and work that should be done. Rest just doesn’t seem like an option, especially for those of us in full time ministry. So, we push it off again and again until we burn out from pure exhaustion.

Of the Ten Commandments, rest is the easiest to ignore but one that should never be neglected.

Here are four questions about something that should be so simple but that we have made so complicated. These concepts and quotations are from the book, The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan.

 

1. Why do I rest?
“The worst hallucination busyness conjures is the conviction that I am God.”

We work day in and day out. We become tired, bitter even, and the joy we had once felt about our calling dissolves and decays before our eyes. We feel that everything is dependent on us. If we stop for just one minute, everything we’ve fought so hard for will be ruined. 

We’ve fallen into a lie. The same lie that tempted Adam and Eve in the garden: we think we can be God.

Rest is not just obedience to God’s command (Exodus 20:8). It is much more than that. When we rest, it forces us to stop. It forces us to take a step back and practice trust. And when we open our eyes and let them adjust, we realize that the whole time, God has been working in so many more ways than we could have ever imagined.

 

2. How do I rest?
“We mimic God in order to remember we’re not God.”

No, rest is not just an excuse to shut yourself away and veg-out in front of the tv or your laptop. It is not a sin you are committing by allowing yourself to breathe. And true rest is not a checklist of rules about a specific regimen you keep one day of the week.  

True rest is purposeful, but be careful not to fall into the extremes of leisure or legalism.

Relaxation and leisure are beautiful gifts that God allows us to enjoy from time to time, but if those are your only forms of rest, you will come out of those experiences more drained than ever. But if you become legalistic about how you keep the Sabbath, you might just find yourself slaving harder than ever before.

No. Rest is not a science. It’s an art form. That’s what makes it so difficult and at the same time so freeing. 

Rest is a mindset that one must have. A trust and reliance on God that He will complete the work that you are too exhausted to continue. So strive to change your mindset and live in an attitude of rest.

 

3. When do I rest?
“Unless we trust God’s sovereignty, we won’t dare risk Sabbath.”

Schedules get disrupted and adjusted. If you limit your rest to a scheduled time, you will grow all the more angry each time you are interrupted or your plans change. You will feel cheated when every minute is not used to the fullest. 

Rest cannot be restricted to a specific time or day. You cannot force rest. It is a heart change. A release. It is a new mindset of living in complete dependence on God as the one in control. He is sovereign over your work, your loved ones and even your time. 

 

4. Do I deserve to rest?
“Sabbath is refusal to go back to Egypt.”

When you say no to a commitment because you’re already too overwhelmed, or when you leave your dishes in the sink to chat with a friend instead, you may experience a feeling of guilt. 

How dare you limit yourself? Don’t you realize all that needs to be done? You become a frustrated Martha rebuking Jesus for allowing Mary to sit at his feet.

You hear the same accusation again and again. “You don’t deserve rest.” 

And the truth is — you don’t. 

But that is what makes rest so beautiful. You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to pay for it. Rest is a gift and it’s one that God offers to us.

No, you don’t deserve rest, but it’s been given to you anyway. So, stop trying to earn it. Stop gripping the taskmaster’s whip when freedom has already been won.

Rest is coming out of Egypt and being free for the first time in your life. Rest is leaving the taskmaster’s whip behind. Rest is recognizing that you cannot save the world, but your Father can. He already has and he calls you to himself and says, “Be still.”

 

Learn more about rest and the sabbath mindset by reading The Rest of God (this is an affiliate link which helps to support the A Life Overseas blog).

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The author serves in a small, mountainous village of Guatemala where she teaches English and works alongside the local church with their community outreach and discipleship ministries.

Ouch! I think I strained my life!

You know what I’m talking about, right? The moment it catches up to you (mid-thirties, usually) and you realize you’re going to have to stop and get gas.

I bent over to field a grounder and couldn’t walk for 3 days.
I sneezed too enthusiastically and my neck wasn’t right for a week.

Or

I filled up my schedule and now I don’t have time for my kids (aka “Cats in the Cradle”).
I’m so busy serving everyone else that my soul shriveled up like a desiccated fish in Djibouti.

Or

Honestly, I don’t know how to stop.
I’m just waiting until ___________ (fill in the blank) and then it’ll get better.

This strained life should lead to a pause, a re-calibration, perhaps a realization that our failure to rest wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world. Often, however, a strained life leads to guilt and shame and a redoubled push to do harder. Everyone else on Instagram seems to be handling life perfectly. (It’s amazing what filters and curating can do, btw.)

And besides, our work is IMPORTANT! Important I tell you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The greatest act of faith a man can perform is the act that we perform every night. We abandon our identity, we turn our soul and body into chaos and old night. We uncreate ourselves as if at the end of the world: for all practical purposes we become dead men, in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection.” G. K. Chesterton, In Defense of Sanity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would it help you to consider sabbath as an intentional act of faith?

Would it be easier to enter into regular rest if you saw it as an act of defiance, a railing against workaholism and works-based salvation? Because it is.

If you’re feeling the strained life, please pause.

Breathe.

It might not have to be that way.

How long can your soul take it, this incessant work and pressure? How long can your relationships take it?

Seasons of higher stress are normal (um, transition?!). Seasons of less sleep are normal (infants, anyone?). But even so, the thing that folks seem to miss is the turning of a season into an age; a winter turning into an ice age.

If any of this goes twang, pay attention. And maybe read an article or something.

But first, breathe.

 

Some articles:

 

Some books:
At various times of my life, God has used these books to slow me down, to re-center my soul, and to draw me, once again, into the secure, peaceful, presence of the King.

The book descriptions are from Amazon, and the links are affiliate links. In other words, any book purchased through one of these links helps A Life Overseas stay afloat, so thanks!

 

 

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, by Dr. Richard Swenson

Margin is the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits. Today we use margin just to get by. This book is for anyone who yearns for relief from the pressure of overload. Reevaluate your priorities, determine the value of rest and simplicity in your life, and see where your identity really comes from. The benefits can be good health, financial stability, fulfilling relationships, and availability for God’s purpose.

 

 

 

 

Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians, by Ed Cyzewski

What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous?

Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us?

In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Ready to shed the fear of the false self and the exhaustion of a duty-driven faith? Flee. Be silent. Pray.

 

 

Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest, by Bonnie Gray

Running on empty with no time for rest, yourself, or God? Soulful author Bonnie Gray shows how to create spiritual whitespace in the everyday for God, refreshment, and faith—right in the midst of our stress-frayed lives. She guides you to discover a better story for yourself, one that feeds your soul and makes room for rest.

 

 

 

 

Death is right around the corner. So live!

I’ve always thought like this.

I’ve always believed my life was going to be very short. Nearly every time I publish an article or preach a sermon, I think, “Well, I said it, I guess I can die now.”

I don’t have a desire to die, it’s just that I live with a gut-level realization that I could die. Any minute.

It’s not morbid. At least it doesn’t feel morbid. It feels realistic. And frankly, ever since I was a teenager, I’ve been amazed at how people can not live this way.

Thoughts of imminent death don’t fill me with dread or motivation. They don’t scare me into action or inaction. You know what they do fill me with? You know what they do generate in me? Gratefulness. God’s got this world, and it’s his job to run it, to save it. I show up as long as I can, obey as best I can, love every one I can, and then leave. Soon, I’ll exit stage right and the whole thing will keep going. The curtain won’t go down. Grace will keep going.

So how do we live with an awareness of our imminent mortality? How should that awareness impact our lives and ministries?

Well, what did Jesus do when he knew his time was short? He spent time with his friends, he washed feet. He said some things. He prayed.

He spent some very “unproductive” time at his favorite hillside garden retreat. He didn’t race the clock or yield to a flurry of last minute ministry activity. He walked. He prayed.

As cross-cultural Christian workers, we often allow the specter of death (ours or others’) to fling us into frenetic activity. But I love what C.S. Lewis wrote about living with an awareness of death. In his case, he was writing to those living under fear of death by atomic bomb, but his broader points apply here too.

He said,

“The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things — praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts — not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.”

Living and working cross-culturally is hard, and we often forget the joys of the little things. We need rhythms of rest and Sabbath to restore us, to remind us of how much we need the “sensible and human things.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We’re one month into a four-month trip Stateside, and before we got here, Elizabeth and I made a purposeful decision to do the “human things”: we decided to set aside the first month to reconnect with family, to play together, to travel a bit for fun, and to rest. And I’m so glad we did.

This first month back has been precisely what we needed. I’m sleeping better. I’m seeing a counselor to debrief our last term in Cambodia. It’s wonderful. One of my kids noticed the change and said, “You’re different, dad. You are laughing more.” The kid was right.

The job is hard. The ministry is hard, and we all need to remember to slow down, to live.

We all need to work hard and we need to Sabbath hard.

Remember, regular times of rest are evidence of discipline, not laziness.

Regrouping, reconnecting, restoring, recreating, are godly endeavors, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I would talk more, but I’m busy. I’m busy laughing with my kids, playing in the grass, reconnecting with friends and family, and remembering that there is good in the world. Do you need to do that too?

After all, Christ is Risen!

 

 

More resources:

Can humor be a spiritual discipline?

Please Stop Running

Margin: the wasted space we desperately need

Regarding Burnout (and some ideas for avoiding it)

Check out this collection of our most-read articles

Consider this the Table of Contents for a book on missions, cross-cultural living, grief, TCKs, MKs, missiology, common pitfalls, transition, short-term missions, relating to senders, and a whole lot more.

I figured it was time to compile our most-read posts and present them to you, organized by topic. So here they are, 85 of our most-read posts ever.

My hope is that this article, this Table of Contents, if you will, would serve as one massive resource for those of you who are new to our community, those of you who’ve been hanging out here all along, and even for you, our future reader, who just found our little corner of the internet. Welcome!

Many thanks to the authors who’ve poured into our community, aiming to build and help (and sometimes challenge) the missionary world and the churches that send. If this site has been helpful to you, would you consider sharing this post with your friends and colleagues and missions leaders?

A Life Overseas is loosely led, with a tiny overhead (that covers the costs of the website), and a bunch of volunteer writers and tech folk. Why do we do it? We’re doing this for you! We’re doing this because we like you and we want to see cross-cultural workers (and their families!) thriving and succeeding and belonging. We’re doing this because we believe the Lamb is worthy. We’re doing this because we believe that God’s love reaches beyond our country’s borders, extending to all the places, embracing all the peoples.

I hope you are encouraged. I hope you are challenged. I hope you are reminded that you are not alone. This can be a hard gig, for sure, but you are not alone.

If this is your first time here or your thousandth, stick around, browse around, let us know what you think, how you’ve been helped, and what you’d love to see in the future. We’d absolutely love to hear from you!

 

With much love from Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
Jonathan Trotter

 

Third Culture Kids / Missionary Kids
10 Questions Missionary Kids Would Love to be Asked
10 Questions Missionary Kids Dread
To the Parents of Third Culture Kids
Funny Things Third Culture Kids Say
8 ways to help toddlers and young children cope with change and moving overseas
6 Permissions Most Missionaries’ Kids Need
An Open Letter to Parents of Missionary Kids
3 Ways to Care for the Heart of Your Third Culture Kid
10 Ways Teachers Can Support Third Culture Kids
Sexual Abuse on the Mission Field
3 Ways to Care for the Heart of Your Missionary Kid
My Kids Are Not Little Missionaries

 

Rest / Burnout / Self-Care
margin: the wasted space we desperately need
Please Stop Running
Ask A Counselor: How in the world can we do self-care when . . . ?
Living Well Abroad: 4 Areas to Consider
8 Ways for Expats Who Stay to Stay Well

 

Family / Marriage
Missionary Mommy Wars
A Christmas letter to parents, from a kid who doesn’t have any
Nine Ways to Save a Marriage
The Purpose of Marriage is Not to Make You Holy
Why “Did You Have Fun?” is the Wrong Question
Failing at Fatherhood (how moving abroad ruined my parenting)
When the Mission Field Hurts Your Marriage
Dear Single Missionary
I’m a missionary. Can I be a mom too?

 

Cross-cultural living & ministry
3 Kinds of Selfies You Should Never Take
Missionaries are supposed to suffer . . . So am I allowed to buy an air conditioner?
Introverts for Jesus: Surviving the Extrovert Mission Field
To My Expat Friends
What Did I Do Today? I Made a Copy. Woohoo!
The Teary Expat Mom, Shopping
One-Uppers
A Cautionary Tale: Expats & Expets (What not to do)
The Introverted Expat
5 Tips for Newbies About Relationships with Oldies (From an Oldie)
The Aim of Language Learning

 

Missiology
Please Don’t Say, “They Are Poor But They’re Happy.”
Let Me Make Your Kid a Buddhist
How to partner with a poor church without screwing everything up
Rice Christians and Fake Conversions
Responding to Beggars
10 Reasons You Should Be a Missionary
There’s no such thing as the “deserving poor”

 

Theology in Missions
The Idolatry of Missions
When the Straight & Narrow Isn’t
Rethinking the Christmas Story
But Are You Safe?
When Missionaries Starve
Why I Will Not Say “I Never Made a Sacrifice”
The Gaping Hole in the Modern Missions Movement {part 1}
Is Jesus a Liar?

 

Cautions
10 Reasons Not To Become a Missionary
In Defense of Second-Class Missionaries
The Cult of Calling
Want to see what a porn-addicted missionary looks like?
Telling My Story: Sexual Abuse on the Mission Field
When Missionaries Think They Know Everything
Visiting Home Might Not Be Everything You Dreamed
Misogyny in Missions
The Proverbs 32 Man
Stop Waiting for It All to Make Sense

 

Grief & Loss
Outlawed Grief, a Curse Disguised
When Friends Do the Next Right Thing
Ask a counselor: how do we process loss and grief?

 

Transition
What If I Fall Apart on the Mission Field?
Beyond Culture Shock: Culture Pain, Culture Stripping
Dear New Missionary
5 Mistakes I Made My First Year on the Mission Field
Why I Quit My Job as a Missionary to Scrub Toilets
Jet Lag and Heart Lag
When You Start to Pick Your Nose in Public…
You Remember You’re a Repat When . . .
Going Home

 

Short Term Missions
What to Do About Short Term Missions
Stop calling it “Short Term Missions.” Here’s what you should call it instead.
Your Short-Term Trips Have Not Prepared You For Long-Term Mission
The Mess of Short Term Missions

 

Relationships with those who send
A Letter to Christians Living in America from a Christian Living Abroad
Dear Supporter, There’s So Much More I Wish I Could Tell You
Staying connected with your family and friends when you live overseas
How to Encourage Your Overseas Worker
When Your Missionary Stories Aren’t Sexy
Facebook lies and other truths
Please Ask Me the Non-Spiritual Questions

 

If your favorite article didn’t make the list, put the title and link in the comments section and let us know why you love it. Thanks again for joining us here. Peace to you.

 

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

7 Signs You Need a Sabbath Break

By Karis Piawong

There’s a race that we inevitably sign up for when we answer the call to mission work. Whether we like running or not, we find ourselves a part of a marathon. The race goes on for many years, and it’s all GO, GO, GO. We are careful to live as good Christians. We are careful to follow God’s commandments, communicate clearly and be a living example of His love. However, the commandment we often forget is His commandment for us to rest. This is both a right and a MUST for us as missionaries. We have given up our lives, died to our own desires and taken up the cross to follow Him to another country or culture, but resting is one thing that God has NEVER asked us to give up. Sure, we might get a chance to lie down in all the busy-ness of ministry, only to have someone turn up at our door who needs to talk. On a daily basis, we do need to give up our right to rest when we want to rest. The Holy Spirit will often convict us to go out and love. However, when looking at the big picture, God does not ask us to give up our right to rest in Him. In fact, He commands us to rest!

I have lived in a community-based culture since 2007. I got married in 2008 and my husband and I have lived in community with others since marriage. How do we find rest when living as missionaries, while many of us are probably living in a community-based culture, and how do we feel resting while people all around us are calling out for God? It is HARD to take a break! However, it is absolutely necessary for us to break if we want to function physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Let me share with you seven ways I believe can help you see that you need a rest, or a Sabbath break. If you can relate to any of these signs, you might benefit from a longer break than one day per week.

 

1. You feel stressed daily.

Why do so many missionaries struggle with stress and stress-related problems? Many of us enter the field with high expectations. We expect to save lives, to rescue, to make a difference. In fact, this isn’t really our job. There is something more important than living as a missionary, and that’s living as a child of God. God has called us into His work because He loves us and wants us to be a part of His (our Father’s) work. He doesn’t call us to missions because He demands we give ourselves to save the world. That’s His job.

 

2. You are often irritated with your family.

What many of us forget all too often is that loving our family is the first ministry. If we are out “serving” God all day and come home tired and stressed, what message is our partner going to receive? What message are our kids going to receive? Being a missionary kid is HARD, and children need their parents’ love to get through. More so, children need their parents to be in love with each other in order to feel secure. God calls husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and wives to respect their husbands. If you are on the mission field with your family, then your family is who God is calling you to love. As you love your family, the way you live your life will touch the people around you.

At the end of the day, you can be replaced in your ministry. However, no one can replace your role at home. No one can stand in as partner or parent for you. When you move to the field as a family, God is calling your whole family into a new lifestyle – not just one member of the family. If being in missions means that we are often irritated with our family when we come back home, then it’s time to look at our priorities again. What does God want for our partner and children, and how can we have a part in that?

 

3. You feel better about yourself when you’re busy with ministry.

This is a red flag, and definitely something I’ve struggled with over the years. As missionaries, we often find ourselves worshiping our ministry rather than worshiping God. When we stop doing ministry, we feel like we have nowhere to go. Our value diminishes. In reality, however God would rather we stop doing ministry for a time so we can sit at His feet and listen to Him. Jesus Himself took long breaks from ministry to spend time recharging His battery. If the very Son of God couldn’t spend hours and hours on end with people without taking time out with His Father, why do we think we can do it? Why do we feel like God is calling us to do it? Our value does not lie in what we do, but it lies in who we are: Children of God. Our Father just wants to spend time with us.

 

4. You’ve been in the same place for many years

When we stay in the same area and focus on the same kind of work for years on end, it’s hard to see life from a different perspective. However, with our commitments and responsibilities it’s often hard to take a step back or get a change of atmosphere. But if we are willing to take a step back, in God’s timing, there are so many love-filled lessons God wants to teach us in doing so. He wants us to see that our ministry is not our own. He wants us to see that our ministry can go on without us. He wants us to see that ministry is not the most important thing. If we can’t step away for a month or even a week, we need to be asking ourselves why. Remember, God doesn’t need us to do His work. He chooses to use us because He wants us to have a part. However, He doesn’t want work to fulfill us – HE wants to fulfill us.

 

5. You feel like you’re not growing spiritually.

This is another red flag. If we aren’t growing spiritually when doing mission work, then something’s wrong. We spend our whole lives stepping closer to the perfection that God has for us in eternity, but why is it that the more work we do, the fewer steps we take? When we try to make things happen, we go dry. When we try to get numbers of believers and baptisms to report back to supporters, we go dry. When we stay in the same place for a long time and do the same kind of work, it’s easy to go dry. Sometimes I feel like God calls us to the mission field in order to do something in OUR lives, to bring us a step closer to humility and love. If we are on the mission field and aren’t growing spiritually, adjustments need to be made. Spiritual dryness is NOT a cost of discipleship. It’s a season we all walk through at times in our lives, but it’s NOT a cost we have to pay to be missionaries. Being spiritually dry does NOT make God happy with the sacrifices we are making.

 

6. You’ve lost your passion.

God does not desire for mission work to cause us to lose our passion. He calls us to do His work as His children because when we do it His way it will bring us a special kind of joy that we can’t experience when doing work in our own strength. We learn about ourselves and others through doing mission work. Most importantly, we learn more about who God is in our lives, and when we lose our passion for God or the people we are reaching it is a sign that we aren’t taking enough time to just be with God and sit at His feet. Losing our passion for Him is a symptom that there is a greater issue inside. Priorities need to be realigned. How can we run back to God if we have lost our passion? No, the question we should be asking ourselves is: How can we run to God if we are facing our ministry and our backs are turned to Him? If we find ourselves losing our passion for God, we need to turn around.

 

7. You are often unwell (due to minor illnesses).

I’m not a doctor. However, I’ve lived through years of transitions, living life in constant community and experienced multiple (minor) health problems. As someone with no history of mental health problems, I’ve experienced anxiety attacks which have woken me up in the middle of the night and stalled me in my tracks. I’ve experienced unexplained fatigue (starting from when I did youth ministry at 16 years of age) which comes up in times of stress. I’ve had multiple health check-ups for worrying symptoms only to find out that everything is fine. At the same time, I’ve had infections and inflammations at a younger age than I should.

I learnt that God didn’t desire for me to sacrifice my own health to “serve” Him. Don’t get me wrong, His call sometimes takes us to dangerous places where we are exposed to diseases and death. This IS a cost of discipleship. However, He doesn’t desire for us to fall into all kinds of illnesses because we’re too busy serving Him that we don’t eat properly, or because we need to be affirmed as a “good missionary” to the point where we volunteer to eat or drink exactly how the locals do. It’s about where our heart is. I learnt this the hard way. Sometimes, we have no choice, and in those times we take what we have and pray for protection. But other times, we have choices and the freedom to choose to take care of our bodies.

 

Whether we can relate to these signs or not, we need to come to a point while doing missions where we ask ourselves, “What drives us to do God’s work?” Do we do it because we feel that He will love us more if we do? Our answer to that question will tell us whether it’s time to take a step back. His love for us is unchanging and not dependent on what we do. God desires intimacy much more than He desires sacrifice. In our hearts, He belongs above the ministry. Are we willing to lay down the ministry, for a time, for the sake of our personal relationship with Him? Ministry is work, and it will one day fade away. An intimate relationship with God is life, and it has the power to touch the people around us in more ways than we know. We need to remember how precious we are to Him. When we allow that realization to sink deep into our hearts, that in itself will become a ministry orchestrated by the hand of God.

 

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Karis Piawong is an Aussie who moved to Thailand in 2007 to find her future husband waiting for her there. They were married two years later, and as a family they currently work to raise up future Thai leaders through worship, family, training, and sports ministries. When Karis isn’t rounding up their two wild sons, she can be found writing, playing keyboard, eating chocolate, or dreaming of Australian desserts. Karis has previously written three devotionals in the Darling, Be Daring! Devotional book. She is currently publishing their family’s first book about her husband’s transformation from a gang leader to a devoted Christian, titled Because You Chose Me. You can find out more about their story and work on their website.