Top Posts for 2014 - The Truth About Burnout!

2015 is just a few days away, so I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of my Top Posts for 2014 . . . today I'm sharing, "The Truth About Burnout!"

I was recently invited to write about burnout for K! Magazine/KidzMatters; so since they posted the article on the KidzMatters site, I thought I'd share part of it with you and provide the link for the full post.

"I do not believe burnout is really a problem in children’s ministry. Stay with me for a minute as I explain. When we, or a volunteer, are tired from serving, instead of identifying it as, 'we are tired', we call it burn-out. Or, when one of us experiences frustration because we are serving on our own or took too much on for us to be able to handle, instead identifying it as we are doing too much on our own, we call it burnout. 

There are other examples, but the point is, burnout is not really the problem. Misidentifying, or even not identifying, the problem is the problem. When we fail to correctly identify the problem, we can’t solve the problem and sadly, the end result is, people leave ministry and do not experience the joy God has for them when they serve. This is a true tragedy.

God, in His amazing generosity, has given each of us gifts to use in our service to Him! He doesn’t give these gifts for them to be a burden to us. He doesn’t give these gifts for them to bring us stress or frustration. Quite the contrary. When we identify and use the gifts God has given us, in addition to receiving the awesome gifts, we also receive a most amazing bonus . . . we receive an incredible joy! 

Clearly, Satan doesn’t want us, or the volunteers in our ministries, to use these gifts and most definitely does not want any of us to experience the joy God has for us. So, if he can sidetrack us into believing we are burned out, he can not only get us to quit using the gifts, but he is able to successfully rob us of joy."  

Please follow this link for the rest of this article where you'll find five steps to freeing yourself and your volunteers so you all can experience the joy of serving as well as a prayer for you and your volunteers. 

Remember; as I say, "It really is a battle for our minds and hearts. If we believe we’re overwhelmed, overworked, taken for granted . . . burned out, we’ll act accordingly and quit. We won’t have God’s joy. If, however; we think about things which are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise, we will stand firmly in God’s peace and joy! . . . Focus on the joy and burn out, will burn out!"