Good News! It's Tuesday! Seek God for security.

Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV). It’s hard to feel secure in a world where so many bad things happen. It’s hard to feel secure when we don’t know what the future holds. And it’s hard to feel secure when we experience Post-Adrenaline Depression, or fatigue, or any other kind of sadness or grief. Even the most confident among us can feel pretty insecure at times, whether it’s on a small level (am I really prepared for this song?) or a grand scale (What if I lose my job?). Sometimes, insecurity just comes.


But here’s the thing – insecurity does NOT come from God. Neither does fear. However, God gives us the antidote to these things – Himself. This doesn’t mean that if we had more faith, everything would just be ok. If we were better Christians, we wouldn’t feel this way. If we just prayed more, or better, or harder, we wouldn’t experience Post-Adrenaline Depression or any other negative feeling. I don’t agree with this at all, and sometimes, Christian platitudes just get in the way, rather than helping us grow closer to God.

The Christian walk is not to see the world through rose-colored glasses, filled with pithy sayings and trite remarks. Rather, the Christian walk is spiritual warfare. It is a fight to the finish. It is hard work. It means we will face difficulty. It means we’re in the trenches of war each and every day, but Jesus Christ is right there with us. Fighting insecurity means that rather than beating ourselves up because we don’t have peace, we instead make a conscious decision to put our faith and trust in God in spite of our feelings.




Never feel badly because you have anxiety or fear – when we read the book of Psalms, we see how much the Psalmist experienced all sorts of emotions: fear, insecurity, despair, joy, and hope…. King David was known as a man after God's own heart, and yet, he still experienced fear, despair, insecurity, and sorrow. Psalm 55:17 (NIV) says, “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” King David isn’t saying he’s never afraid, but he cries out to God when he IS afraid because he knows that God will hear him. God loves it when we call on Him! And He loves it when we choose to put our trust and hope in Him even when we are afraid or insecure.

Next time Monday comes, and you feel afraid, or tired, or depressed, or insecure, don’t beat yourself. Instead, cry out to God! Make a conscious decision to put your trust in Him no matter what your feelings tell you. 

The Monday Blues: Separating Fact from Feelings

Feeling frazzled? 

One of the strategies that I use for coping with the Monday Blues is to separate out the facts from what I’m feeling. This type of logical self-examination helps me figure out if I truly have a good reason to be upset, or if it’s really just the adrenaline let down talking. And then I can make a conscious effort to extend extra grace to myself for my unhappy feelings and to those around me so I don’t hurt them.

For example, because of the adrenal let down, I might be more likely to be short-tempered with my spouse on a Monday. This translates to me being annoyed when he doesn’t live up to my expectations, or me getting frustrated or irritated at something that normally doesn’t bother me at all. Before I snap at someone else, I try to rehearse my feelings to myself first:

I feel…. But the fact is…

I feel irritated because he left dirty dishes in the sink. But the fact is, the dishwasher was in the middle of a cycle so there was no place else to put the dirty dishes. There is no reason for me to snap even though I’m feeling upset. I might still feel stressed, but at least I can stop myself from putting that stress onto someone else.

Other examples…

I feel too tired to work out… but the fact is that the endorphins from a brisk walk will help to improve my mood and give me energy. (I probably should do it anyway!)

I feel frustrated that the worship service didn’t go as planned. But the fact is, some of that was out of my control, so I’ll fix what I can this week and let the rest of it go.

I feel sad and I don’t know why, but the fact is, I felt really good yesterday so I’ll try to focus on how God worked through yesterday’s worship service. It’s ok that I’m sad, but good things happened, too.

I feel overwhelmed by the work week ahead, but the fact is that I will feel better about it tomorrow, so I’ll try to tackle some easier tasks today and save the more complicated things for when I’ve recovered from the weekend.

I think it’s important to acknowledge those feelings – feelings aren’t wrong or bad, they just don’t tell the whole story. Separating out fact and feeling helps us to deal with what we’re feeling right now without allowing it to damage people or programs.  

No matter what we’re feeling – sadness, frustration, exhaustion, tiredness, joy, or gladness or even fear – God cares. He knows our hearts and He cares about what we’re feeling no matter what the facts are.

Hang in there- it might be Monday, but Tuesday is on its way.

Monday Morning Blues: God is Good even when I don't feel good

I struggle to see the silver lining when Monday morning rolls around… the headache, fatigue, and low mood is sometimes so pervasive that I don’t want to look on the bright side. But there is one.

The Monday morning low teaches me to be wholly dependent on God. It’s easy to trust God on a good day. When there is smooth sailing on Sunday, a solid sermon backed by a chorus of “Amens” and “Hallelujah,” sweet strains of musical praise, and sweet treats after church, it’s easy to pat each other on the back and say that God is Good. And He is! He is good in the good times.

But God is also good in the low times. When I am discouraged, God is good. When I am physically tired and weak, God is good. When I am annoyed at my spouse, God is good. When I feel like failure has conquered me, God is very very good.  And so it becomes a discipline, this Monday morning that comes every single week.  My calendar doesn’t lie. There is never a Sunday that isn’t followed up by Monday.  There is never a day of ministry that isn’t followed up by a day that needs a healthy dose of “God is still good even though I don’t feel like it.” There is never a day of discouragement that my Lord and Savior is absent from.  And so I practice my praise, I remember that no matter how lousy I might feel, God is good.

There is no quick fix for this weariness, no easy answer to the lost feeling that comes with the post-Sunday let down. I wish that I could read the perfect combination of Scripture passages and feel perfectly fine. I wish that I could wake up in the morning, meditate on the correct mindset, and be ready to face the week. It’s just not that simple, there is no ‘super-Christian’ response to Monday.

What I do have is the assurance that God loves me. I have the promise of Romans 8:28,that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes. That God heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147), God’s loving kindness endures forever (Psalm 136), and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).

Monday morning may not be a good time, but it is the right time to exercise the truth that God is good even when I don’t feel it. And then, when the good times come, I’ll know the difference between “my circumstances are good” and “God is good.”  So for today, even though Monday doesn’t feel so hot, I’ll keep practicing that God is good. Not because I feel good, but simply because it’s true.

Do rainy days and Mondays always get you down? Let's start with sleep.

The incurable Monday Morning Blues; it’s that post Sunday fatigue and discouragement that comes on late Sunday night or early Monday morning.  It’s probably going to show up week after week, so we really need to create a game plan to keep this regular bout of discouragement from bringing us to the point of burn out.  I don’t see this Monday fatigue as any sort of spiritual lack, but rather, our human bodies’ response to stress and adrenaline. Great preachers, such as Charles Spurgeon, and even the prophet Elijah, suffered from depression or discouragement, so why wouldn’t the rest of us struggle at some time or another? It happens to the best of us. We can’t avoid it, but we can be prepared for it.

Pastors and ministry workers are caregivers, constantly in touch with the needs of others, and finding ways to meet those needs. But rarely do we stop and consider our own needs. This is the time to care for our own souls and bodies just like we would care for someone else in a similar state.  Creating our own soul care plan will help us work through these difficult days.

For me, a good night’s sleep is a total game changer. My outlook greatly improves when I can get some good, solid rest. It’s like an emotional reset button. Of course, it’s hard for me to unwind on a Sunday night, so going to bed early is almost impossible. Sleeping in would be marvelous, too – but with small children that need help getting to school, that’s generally not a viable option.  Instead, I try to make Sunday nights as relaxing as possible, so I can unwind and get to bed at a normal hour. I also get up as late as possible on a Monday morning, even if it means rushing a bit to get out the door. That extra half hour of sleep in the morning is totally worth it.

I also try to build in some moments of rest throughout the day on Monday.  For example, if my toddlers fall asleep in the van at some point, I’ll spend some time just resting in the presence of God. Not sleeping, but relaxing with God on my mind. Maybe I’ll read a little Scripture or meditate, but mostly, I just rest in God. Think of it as praying without words. It is a peaceful time that has a soothing effect on my soul, and I always come away feeling more inspired and energetic than I did before.\

My last hope for rest is to sneak in a nap either Sunday or Monday afternoon. I usually crash somewhere around Sunday afternoon, and fall asleep on a heap on the floor, underneath a handful of small children.   It isn’t graceful, but it is effective.

What do you do? How do you give yourself the extra rest you need to deal with Post Adrenaline Depression?

Links to consider

 M. Scott Bashoor has a great explanation of the Monday Morning Blues: The Pastor’s Weekly Wreck.  

Rick Warren talks about Dealing with Discouragement.

Jimmy Smith talks about the different effects of Monday on Pastors.