Hey, is it time to eat yet?
(This picture has nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about today. I just felt like posting it)
Book of the Week: "What Missionaries Need To Know About Burnout And Depression", by Esther Schubert
This is one of the books that I purchased at the DAR debriefing and one of the many that needs to be a part of my library as I continue down the path of learning to care for others. I've begun to work through the stack that I already have and am beginning to understand that this is going to be an emotional undertaking for me. When you combine the fact that I'm already very concerned about caring for missionaries, with reading more and more about the needs in people's lives, and hearing people's general lack of understanding of the extreme needs out there and why we need to have people to care for missionaries, well, you can see how I might get a bit overwhelmed.
This book deals with the links between burnout and depression and the different types of depression that are experienced. It also talks about the things that we carry from childhood into adulthood, which then effect the outlook that we have and how we respond to everything around us. It goes hand and hand with what I've been going through in the "Caring for the Emotionally Damaged Heart" workbook, which is one of the prerequisite workbooks for the counseling program I'll be doing. In the workbook, emotional pain has been broken down so it's easier to identify ways you've been hurt, by whom, and to what degree. Some of the emotional issues that are addressed are: abandonment, neglect, being ignored, someone who is insensitive or emotionally detached, rejection, disownment, humiliation, disrespect, betrayal, etc. It deals with pressure patterns in our lives and why be behave the way we do. Did you live with someone who had high expectations, pressured you to perform, was dominant or controlling, was angry, critical or judgemental? Because of that, did you become extremely task oriented, self-disciplined, focused on self, etc? It also covers various areas of abuse and how we most likely have hurt others just as much as we ourselves have been hurt.
A lot of those really painful issues from our childhood or teen years are then carried through into adult life and can turn into patterns that lead to burnout and depression- whether you do it to yourself or you cause it to happen to someone else because of your expectations.
There was a lot of great information in the book and several statements that stood out to me:
*God is more interested in us than in our work. If we abuse our bodies and minds, they will eventually wear out.
*When we begin to see others in terms of what they can do, not who they are, we deface humanity and damage the missionary community. God's order is grace first(relationship) and work second(even His work). When we reverse God's order we get ourselves into trouble.
*Willing slavery brings joy and peace. A great breakthrough came when I realized the tremendous freedom that could be mine in choosing to be a servant of Jesus Christ- a son of God who chooses joyfully to be a slave....what is important for us is that in being both a child of God and a slave of God we are identifying with Jesus. We are free "to be abased, and...to abound"(Phil. 4:12). We can enjoy without guilt and we can serve without drivenness or compulsion, and without a need for achievement or recognition. Identifying with Jesus, in both His position as Son and servant, we receive infinite renewal, healing, and strength.
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