Have you ever been so overwhelmed and exhausted that sleep and rest did not help? You go to bed tired and you wake up tired. You have hope for a while that “today will be different” but it isn’t. You go through the motions of your daily tasks but nothing satisfies, even the things that have always satisfied.

I am one of the fortunate people who get to do what I love as a career. I am a mental health and addiction therapist and I literally get to see miracles everyday. I watch my clients gain insight into their issues and change their lives. I’ve been fortunate enough to do this for more than 7 years. But earlier this year I was burned out! I could not see the hope and miracles that were continuing to happen all around me, or maybe I didn’t care. I was still showing up, I was still doing good ( thank God for my training and education and the grace of God to fill in the gaps) but it was hard. I wanted to give up. I felt like Elijah in the story of 1Kings 19.

If you don’t know the story, go read the whole story for yourself starting in chapter 17. But the synapsis is Elijah was a prophet of God and was able to perform many miracles through the power of God. He predicted a drought, miraculously made a jar of oil and flour never dry up, brought a child back to life, performed burnt offering sacrifice drenched in water and called down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice to show the power of the living God over the Baal gods. As if this were not enough for Elijah, he cut down all of the Baal prophets by hand with his sword. The Bible says there were 400 Baal prophets that he slaughtered. Then he sends rain to end the drought. After all of this, he becomes afraid of one woman, Jezebel. This is where our scripture verse comes from. Elijah becomes tired and runs away and prays for God to kill him (1 kings 19:4).

That’s not how the story ends. An angel was sent to feed him and minister to him. That’s how I got out of my burnout mode too. I ran away figurately by taking a vacation, I was fed and ministered to by reading my Bible and letting truth sink into my soul, I worshipped God and remembered all that he has done for me and through me. I reminded myself that “I get to be a coworker with Jesus!” He chose me (John 15:16). He will equip and empower me to finish what he started. He gave me rest, rest in him- soul rest!