Yesterday, I fell under the grips of what felt like smoldering burn-out. I was locked down, imprisoned, unable to climb out of this mental funk that was fogging up my usually optimistic attitude.

The everyday struggle and the mundane had me feeling colorless and weary. My zip and zeal was at zero! So…I crocheted a few rows on a crochet project, read a couple of chapters in my current read, and turned into my warm bed for sleep. I was hoping that a good 6 or 7 hours of temporary unconsciousness would reset my melancholy mood.

This morning my craving for a hot cup of “get up and go” roused me to my Bunn coffee machine. While priming the glorious-mechanical-giver-of-dark- and-steamy-eye-opening-elixir for my waiting cup, the words “renew my strength” was running through my mind like a loudspeaker.  And no, it wasn’t the great brew resonating, although it is a really good coffee…it was the Holy Spirit beckoning me to God’s word.

“Yes, Lord,” I answered while sipping that first glorious bit of coffee, “I do need my strength renewed.” So… while fueling my still-waking body with caffeine, I opened my bible to my favorite passages. Here’s what jumped out at me first:

28  Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

29  He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30  Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31  but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

We all get weary. Sometimes the weariness isn’t physical; our minds are overloaded or our spirits are exhausted from life’s sorrows. We need wings. Only the Lord can provide this remedy from the heaviness we fall under. God lightens our loads. He helps us to soar above our troubles. This relaxing picture of me soaring effortlessly over what had bogged me down was renewing my mind already. Why is it that we forget to fly? We let ourselves get grounded in discouragements…we struggle until we feel stuck in a rut, imprisoned and resentful. Its only when we look to God for our strength that we find our “wings” to soar above our circumstances.

The other verse that the Holy Spirit reminded me of was II Corinthians 4:16-18:

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner

self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is

preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look

not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things

that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

The earthly struggles and trials that we see daily can wear us down if we let it. But, thankfully, they are temporary; they’re mere passing afflictions not worthy of taking us over. We have so much more in store for us in eternity with God. This pours refreshing hope all over our mundane moments and extinguishes our smoldering bouts of burn-out!

As you can see, I take a lot of pictures of beautiful skies. I love to look back on them to remind myself on the gray and dismal days that there were and still will be beautiful days. God’s word reminds me also that there is “better things to come” on days when I am dangling by the last thread on an already frayed rope.

My prayer for you today if you are experiencing that burned-out, discouraged, and weary feeling is that you will rise above it with the power of God’s love. Open the word, read, pray…embrace his promises. I pray that you find renewed strength in our loving Father and his ever present help. So, breathe…Go ahead, do it now- take a nice easy deep breath in and then slowly out… now repeat after me: “do not lose heart… God is my strength!”  Now… let Him be the wind beneath your tired wings, and soar!

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