More About Burn Out

This is another excerpt from my presentation on the Exhausted Leader at the Baptist World Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii at the end of July 2010.

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands.
You may be on the road to burnout if:
• Every day is a bad day.
• Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy.
• You’re exhausted all the time.
• The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming.
• You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated.
The negative effects of burnout spill over into every area of life – including your home and social life. Burnout can also cause long-term changes to your body that make you vulnerable to illnesses like colds and flu. Because of its many consequences, it’s important to deal with burnout right away.
We must trust that God has the power to see us through our exhaustion. We must trust God that He can give us faith when it is low.
Our God has the power to see us through our fiery furnaces. Our God has the power to see us through our lion’s den. Our God has the power to walk us through our Red Seas, provide manna in the morning, provide meat for the wilderness, provide conquering power for Jericho’s walls. Our God is able to see us through.
Burnout on the other hand is about not having enough. Being burnout, exhausted means we feel empty and devoid of motivation. People who are exhausted often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. But God has the power to change every situation.