Exhaustion Part 2

Emotional Exhaustion
Emotional Exhaustion is a lot of times a side-effect of physical exhaustion but is a lot different. While physical exhaustion is like an out of body experience emotional exhaustion is an out of mind experience. Now you might be saying "no duh!" but let me explain what I mean by that. I usally don't know that I was emotionally exhausted until the day after or until I get a good solid chunk of alone time (which I enjoy very much). The reason for that being is that in the moment I don't really know if I am emotionally worn out. I think that my mind is working fine. But in reality, I am off the wall. I do and say things that I normally would not, I make decisions that I normally wouldn't make, even my speech and how I articulate things is completely different. I'm letting my emotions control me.

Now I'm not saying that one should be logical about every situation (because I surely am not) but to let one's emotions take control of them that much is not good and affects our lives negatively.

The truth is that we control how we feel. You can choose whether or not to be pissed at the world because you hit 23 red lights in a row, or because your coworker blamed you for their mistake. Instead of choosing anger or sadness one can choose JOY! Why? Because we always have something to be joyful about.

Psalms 94:19

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

I freaking love that verse. Whenever I am feeling stress or anger or sadness, I think of that verse and it reminds me to talk to God. This usually means going somewhere by myself and my bible and praying. After that I feel emotionally relieved.

Now I don't think that repressing ones emotions is a good thing either. We're always going to have times when we are just plain mad at something, or upset about something. God doesn't want us to just let that bottle up and eventually explode. He wants us to confront those feelings and bring them to Him.

Emotionally Exhausted? Talk to JC. Emotional Relief. Hallelujah.

Exhaustion Part 1

Who doesn't get exhausted sometimes?? Have you ever been so exhausted thats its like an out of body experience. Your mouth doesn't say what it usually says, your mind doesn't think the way it usually thinks, and your body doesn't move like it's supposed to move. It gets the best of us and sometimes there is no amount of coffee in the world to cure it.

There are three types of exhaustion and they all affect us differently.
1. Physical Exhaustion
2. Emotional Exhaustion
3. Spiritual Exhaustion

Physical Exhaustion
Physical Exhaustion is probably the most common of all these but in my opinion has the least amount of negative effect on our daily lives. In fact some people love this feeling as long as what they did to be physically exhausted they feel was a worthwhile task.

Around ten o'clock on a Sunday night is when I feel this the most. After being at church for 10-14 hours I am absolutely spent. My legs feel like jello, I feel sick to my stomach because of all the junk food that I ate because I didn't have the time to eat healthy, and my back is hurting from lugging around heavy objects all day. Now while this is not the most pleasant feeling in the world, its affirmation that I worked my butt off and it all came together because of all my aches and pains. I would be disappointed if i didn't feel this way at the end of a Sunday.

God calls us to work. God calls us to the point of physical breakdown. He didn't expect this whole Christianity thing to be soft and cushy. Paul is a perfect example of this. In 1 Corinthians 12:23-27 Paul describes his sufferings.

23 Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm

Paul was torn to shreds and yet he still worked HARDER! The more he was tossed around the harder he worked. Then in verse 29 he says this.

29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

Who is weak without Paul feeling that same weakness? Paul did not feel weak. He felt empowered. He worked harder and harder. Physical exhaustion is a sign that we are working for God. He's not going to give us easy tasks all the time. I'm not saying that we should always to it the harder way even if there is an easier way that produces the same results. But a lot of the time the hard way is the ONLY way. But after you are done all you feel is a sense of accomplishment. Your back may hurt and you may be barely able to keep your eyes open but you will come out all the better.

Now I told Frank at the beginning of this week that I would have three blog posts by the end of the week. Seeing as this is the last day of the week, I'm going to separate this into three parts so that Frank can't give me grief for not putting up three posts.

What inspires you?

So obviously, being a musician requires being open to inspiration. But where does it come from? Where do you get inspiration from?

For me I am most open to inspiration that inspires me in my music or in different service elements and design. And it usually doesn't come from me seeing something or hearing something. Some of my favorite parts of my day are when I am completely alone. Just me and my brain, chillen, thinking about everything thats going on in my life, why these things are happening, and how amazing this whole journey is going to be.

I get the biggest chunk of my inspiration from my thoughts. I'll start thinking about something like my dog Maggie. Then from that I'll think about how much it must suck to eat the same thing everyday and how getting a dog biscuit is worth drooling over. Then I'll start thinking about what is the one thing that is a treat to me that I drool over (sometimes literally). Is this thing really good for me? Should I fast from this certain thing? Why does thing certain thing excite me so much? How will fasting from this help me physically? Emotionally? Spiritually?

So from thinking about my spastic dog I had made the decision to fast from a fairly popular internet networking site *cough* Facebook *cough*. It was a great decision and I am all the better for it.

So my inspiration comes from my seemingly useless thoughts and the tangents that come from that. Where does yours come from?

Going along for the ride

My first six weeks in this ministry of mine have made my mind do some whacky stuff. One minute ill have complete confidence in myself and how I'm doing things and then for some odd reason BAM! it changes. I question every thought that goes through my head and I spend most of my time thinking about why I'm doing something instead of the actual production. And if I ever make it to the actual production stage, I might question myself so much that I start all over again. Maybe this is just what happens when I get more responsibility. What looks like me procrastinating is really just me doubting myself (and maybe a little bit of procrastination). This has been one of the biggest hurdles working at a church so far, but I’m starting to love it.

When I realized what was holding me back I did what every good little Christian boy does: PRAY! What I realized was that I was not only doubting myself but I was doubting God as well. He put me in this ministry for a reason and there is a reason he gave me the gifts and abilities that I have. And I know that one of the abilities he blessed me with is the knowledge to make my OWN decisions! I need to be confident in myself because I am confident in God. This doesn't mean I won't mess up. I fully expect to have some pretty bad mess ups. But God will take care of me and this ministry (plus, since I’m an intern, Ben and frank would get more crap about it then I would ;)

So this blog is going to by my hitchhikers guide through my ministry experiences. The hopefully many ups and few downs that I go through on this journey. I’m very excited to see how this ministry changes because of my involvement and how I change. I don't know if any of you have seen the movie A Hitchhikers’ Guide Through the Galaxy but the lessons that the main character learns aren't learned through his own self reasoning and knowledge, but through learning from all the mistakes that he made while chasing something he couldn't quite wrap his brain around. I expect to do the same thing. So saddle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!