Winter this year has dragged on so long that even the most positive of people are complaining and feeling low. ,"Always look on the bright side of life," we used to sing (thanks to 'the Life of Brian' - sorry about the controversial reference!!) and as an Aussie I've always welcomed rain knowing that our reserves need to be filled.
Some see these climatic changes as a consequence of our bad management of the earth's resources (cf Genesis), others as natural, others as a punishment that God is bringing upon us .....
Putting these debates to one side, my husband and I are feeling low - low in energy, in motivation, and feeling solitary in our vision for our churches here. In fact, we have simply being doing too much and our reserves are not being refilled (inspite of all our rain!!). So officially on the borderline of exhaustion, we are cutting down on our initiative type actions and just maintaining the daily work. We have been able to fix our summer holiday dates (in July).
Thank you for praying for those of us who work in the Northern Hemisphere - our school year ends beginning July and many of us are in recess (not necessarily on holiday) for July and August. Pray that the summer period will help recharge our batteries. Pray that we will discern God's priorities for our work and that we don't get caught up in a sense of 'all-powerfulness'. We can confuse our personal identity with our ministry and can also fall into the trap of thinking that because we are capable (and trained for doing something) we should be doing it! Our job as missionaries is discipling and empowering others, as well as being a responsible model. We are also part of the Body of Christ - a part, with many others around us ......
Oh - a ray of sunshine - quick - I have to get my washing out!!
