3 Ways You're Contributing to Your Overwhelm in Ministry [EP:105]

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you feel like your time and energy is being taken over by all there is to do? Is the pressure from <strong><em>all the things</em> </strong>weighing heavily on you? Do you feel like you’ve lost control? Are you in a constant cycle of putting out fires and feel like you’re trying to keep your head above water. </span>Do you sometimes feel like it is just too much? </p> <p>That's overwhelm.</p> <p>Now, I realize that overwhelm is a word that you may not use readily in your vocabulary.  In fact, you may shy away from it or flat out deny that you are dealing with overwhelm. The idea of overwhelm has been connected to weakness because one of the definitions of overwhelm is to be overpowered by something that is stronger. And we like to think we’re in control, even when things are out of control. We think that as long as we manage the mess, we’re not overwhelmed. </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let me share for a moment, a bit more about what overwhelm can be.</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">To bury or drown beneath a huge mass</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">To defeat completely</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">To be inundated</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">To be too much</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some similar words are: swamped, saturated, overloaded, overburdened.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That is a place that many of us find ourselves. We are swamped. There is too much. We are inundated.  </span>You may be buried beneath the heavy load of tasks to complete, projects to manage, events to plan and execute, staff to encourage and equip, sermons and bible studies, helping people in the midst of difficulty. We carry the responsibility of raising our kids, loving our spouse, serving our neighbor...there are so many roles and responsibilities that you carry. You may be buried beneath the heavy load of watching the devastation that many are experi