It's Dry Season
It’s dry season in Tanzania, donation dry season, and I’m in a dry season as well.
After much prayer and hearing clearly from God, I am laying down my cape! I am taking an 8-week sabbatical so that I can go with Jesus to a quiet place and rest.
Mark 6:31 Then because so many people were coming and coming that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Since I started FFHC in 2008, and for decades before, I’ve worked and acted like I’m Wonder Woman. I have expectations about myself and Food for His Children that cannot be accomplished with human power and I’ve had a revelation. I am NOT superhuman. It’s only with God’s help, and God’s will, that I can accomplish these things. Mere humans are not created to work 60-100 hours a week. Jesus took a sabbath day. Even God rested.
I am spiritually dry and physically and emotionally exhausted. Completely burnt out. Fried to a crisp. And I can’t take care of others if I don’t take care of myself. It’s too much to do on my own and God never intended it that way.
God has been asking me to stop. It started as a whisper, then a nudge, and then He made it abundantly clear that a sabbatical isn’t a choice, it’s His will and it will be done. I have surrendered, acknowledging that he alone is God and I am NOT. I handed Food for His Children back to Him. It was always His.
As soon as I did that, He opened the floodgates and poured out blessings. Go God! He’s been speaking directly to me in devotion books and so many other ways the last couple weeks. He’s been doing it all along, I was just moving too fast and talking too much to pay attention to Him.
What are you doing for summer vacation?
A sabbatical is NOT a vacation. It’s more like 8 weeks of therapy with God. It will include rest and recovery- doing what puts energy back into my tired and weary soul, mind and spirit; reflection, refocusing and refilling- going deeper with God and myself and asking God if there is anything He wants to say and digging deep into why I am such a workaholic; and realigning- seeking God’s will and asking what changes in ministry and life He wants me to make.
Who will run Food for His Children?
First and foremost, God will. Second, the work of Food for His Children in Tanzania is in very capable hands with our Tanzanian employees. And finally, FFHC Board Members and volunteers will assist with tasks that must be done while I am gone.
Food for His Children teaches families about having right relationships. With God, self, others and creation. When these relationships are broken, we experience different forms of poverty. Spiritual, relational, physical, emotional or material to name a few.
When I put work before God, my family and friends, pets and the space God has given me, I have poverty in many of these ways. I am spiritually dry. I am emotionally drained. My relationships are hurt. I'm physically ill. And my home office is in chaos!
If you've ever had a similar experience, maybe a mini sabbatical would fill you as well. Here are a few of the things I pray for you (I would love for you to pray them for me too!)
Prayer requests:
That you would fully and completely surrender to God, giving Him complete control over every aspect of your life.
That you rest and find new ways to play.
That you would have moments of deep intimacy with Christ.
That God will provide for while you take care of yourself.
That you would feel refreshed and renewed upon your return, ready to serve God in all He asks of you. That you would consistently pray: Lord, I surrender fully and completely to you!
And that you would be healed spiritually, physically and emotionally.
With Christ at my side,
Kerrie Holschbach, mere human
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you ill abound in every good work.
