I’m not going to lie, this last week for me was pretty tough. I had (and still have a little) major anxiety and lots of thoughts of discouragement. I was down on myself, on my leadership, on what I was doing and had the thoughts of “What am I even doing? Is all of this time I am putting in even worth it?” They are not fun thoughts to have. The thing is, I feel like ministry is going great! I can’t put my finger on why I was feeling this way. Chances are at some point, you have felt like this too. 

So what do we do when this happens? How can we get out of this thought process?

Dive into Scripture – I’m not one to over spiritualize things but chances are when you are feeling discouraged, the enemy is probably at work. Any foothold he can get into what your doing to discourage you he is going to use. We need to dive in Scripture because this is what Jesus did when being tempted. Every single time Jesus would use Scripture against him. It’s amazing to me that every time I started to read the Bible, a verse or passage would always come up that would lift me up. We have to remember that even though we feel a certain way we always have to go back to what we know is true, that our God is faithful. Pray through it because you will get through it.

Call your go to people – There is  a group of people I call or text when I am feeling discouraged. They are people who I know who will listen, encourage and pray for me. Many times we feel discouraged because we feel like we are alone, don’t fall into that trap. We can’t help how we feel sometimes but we can help who we surround ourselves with when those feelings come. 

Take the day – There are some days where the office is the last place where you want to be. Sometimes you just need to get away and go do something you really enjoy doing. Yes, there might be things that need to get done, but getting out and about doing something you like will only help better your productivity when you get back into it. Don’t be afraid to take the day (or at least part of the day) to clear your head. For me, it’s a good meal. So some friends and I went to Chickfila and got some of that holy chicken. It was a good break.

Keep going – Even though we might feel discouraged and it might feel like we are not making a difference, we need to keep going. We know our calling. We need to remain faithful to our calling because the Lord has always remained faithful to us. We have to remember that in ministry, we will never be “done” with our work. We might ever see the fruit in a student’s life while they are with us, but we keep going because students are coming to know who Jesus is. 

I don’t know if this helps you. I hope it does. I know as I think back on this week, this has helped me get through this week of discouragement. How do you beat it? what are things that you do?

 

@justinknowles3