Are You Tired?

Hello everyone! It has been foreverrrr and I miss everyone! Thank you for reading this it really means a lot to me. This blog post is a little long, but I haven’t written in a long time so bare with me!

“Are you tired, Deanne?”

I subconsciously ask myself this question a lot. I work, I go to school, I do poetry, I workout, I have Bible studies, I often feel like God bombards me with some incredible ideas that my overly passionate self can’t seem to contain. I have this drive that makes me go 100 miles an hour and I almost feel like I can’t stop because I haven’t arrived at the place God has shown me yet. God has given me some amazing friends and they deserve my time as well as my Family. I have some wonderful mentees and I am constantly thinking about their well being and the importance of me checking on them. All the while, I still have to make time for Jesus and do laundry, calendar dates fill up, events increase, meetings take more time, and trying to quiet my mind doesn’t happen as fast as it did when I was in high school. It take me over an hour to fall asleep sometimes because there is always more work to be done. My logic is if I sleep then I have missed out on work that needs to be done. I often see myself trying to CATCH ME TIME. By the end of the week I am frustrated because there was a time where I stayed busy on purpose and now I look for an hour to myself to unwind.

As I was transparently writing this, I found myself overwhelmed. In the midst of my rant, Jesus immediately reminded me of Himself. He reminded me of His schedule. The Savior of the world STAYED BUSY okkk! He was healing the sick, raising the dead, fighting the enemy with the Word, had a flock to lead, and He had to equip His best friends so that He could leave the earth knowing they were in good hands. He had to have been the BUSIEST person ever!

Luke 5:15-16 (NLT) says, “But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”

As I read this I could feel the demand of Jesus’ responsibilities that were placed upon Him. He was in the crux of His ministry at the time. Jesus was in high demand and I can only imagine how overwhelmed He felt, but even in the midst of the demand Jesus often WITHDREW to Pray.

“While it was still night, way before dawn, He got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with Him went looking for Him. They found Him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”

Mark 1:35-37 MSG

In the same vain, Jesus made time to isolate Himself to PRAY. Though Jesus was sought by His disciples, He made solitude a priority because of the call that was on His life.

I started to see that I have to make solitude a priority. I must protect the gift I have been given no matter how many responsibilities I have. Our jobs, family, friends, organizations, projects, etc are gifts from God, but they were never meant to take the place of God. In the midst of the busyness, God is calling us to a place where we can be filled by Him.

I have struggled with this for so long and even now I have to watch how many things I take on because the less of God I consume the easier it becomes for me to fall into old habits and cycles. I leave myself unarmed and under attack.

Ask yourself this question, “How long have you been attacked because you have nothing to fight with?”

We are EXHAUSTED and depleted from the responsibilities that have served as major distractions in our lives. The enemy has used busyness as a tactic to take us away from a true relationship with Jesus. Our life depends on this relationship to survive. We have to find the well that never runs dry. If we don’t pull away and get refilled, we miss out on true strength.

Let me tell you all something, I, Deanne Brodie-Mends, stay in control! I want to handle it all because I think I can do it all and God doesn’t want me to do it all! He wants me to depend/rely on Him for everything! He didn’t give me my life for it to overwhelm me! He gave it to me to first, give it back to Him and to use it wisely. Some of us have taken on things that God has never told us to do, but if we spent time with Him we would know that.

Our lives were never meant to take us away from our relationship with Jesus Christ.

So I urge you to Run to that place of solitude. Protect yourself by getting true strength that only comes from the Lord. Make spending time with God a priority. This means sacrificing time to talk to Him, read His word, pray, etc.. The more we realize that we need Him to survive and that He gives true rest, it will change the way we live our lives.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-30 msg

I Love you ALL!!!!

Treat yo' self today!