—By MariaMaria #227DO 29399/94

(The following jewels were given by Mama over the last few years: )

Take It Easy & Don't Get Overburdened!

1. I've been reading about a number of Family Members, not just leaders, who have been having near nervous breakdowns because they are under too much pressure & have too much to do. It's sad to think of what can happen if you get overpressured to the point that you have a nervous breakdown. That's what intense pressure over a long period of time often leads to if you don't rest in the Lord & take it easy.

2. You've got to slow down & trust the Lord & just decide that you can only do so much & no more, & if it doesn't get done, then it doesn't get done! The Lord won't give you more than you can bear, so there's got to be some solution.—Or if there's not some solution, then the answer is just to let it go & not get it done! The Lord will take care of things even if we can't do it. It's the Lord's Work, so you certainly don't need to try to take the whole burden on yourselves!

3. It's good for all of us to keep in mind that if we get so burdened & so pressured that we get sick, or run down or have a nervous breakdown, then we're going to be completely out of action & not be able to do anything! So isn't it better to take it a little slower, & even though you won't get everything done, you'll still be able to get quite a bit accomplished while staying healthy & happy. That's certainly better than trying to do everything & cracking up! Why get so burdened & so pressured that you just finally crack or come down with some kind of illness or something?

4. When we get too tired or too pressured, a lot of us get headaches; some of us even get migraines, which puts us completely out of action, & then we can't do any work at all! So you might as well slow down, decide where your limits are & just do so much & no more, according to what you can handle, & just leave the other until later. Because if you try to do too much‚ all the work you do is going to suffer! Even if you don't have a breakdown or illness, you're going to be cranky & grouchy & you're not going to get enough time in the Word, so you'll suffer one way or the other.—And others are going to suffer too; the Lord's Work is going to suffer!

5. So one way or the other, you'll have to slow down.—Either because you wisely choose to, or because you're forced to because you get sick physically, mentally or spiritually. So why not slow down & take it a little easier before things get so bad? Why not do it because you know you need to instead of waiting until you have to? Don't wait till you're forced to do it, until you get so pressured & burdened that you crack up & you find yourself flat on your back in bed where you can't do a thing except talk to the Lord! It would be so much better to take that time of rest & fellowship with the Lord now, under much more pleasant circumstances.

6. Some of you have a wonderful sense of responsibility, but sometimes you almost feel too responsible. You feel responsible for much more than you should be responsible for. It's too much for anyone to try to constantly bear such burdens! All of our jobs are too big for anyone to handle, so we just have to give them over to the Lord & let Him do it. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord & He shall sustain thee. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you!"—Psa.55:22; 1Pet.5:7.

7. I used to think that I had to do a lot more, too. I was carrying too heavy a load & I thought that I had to do it. I had so many things that I absolutely had to do—until the Lord forced me to stop doing them, & then I found out I didn't have to do them after all. I found out that there actually were things that others could help me with & things I could train them to do. I also found out that everything I was doing didn't absolutely have to be done, & that if I didn't do some of it, we would still survive.

8. We tend to think we're a lot more important than we are!—So sometimes the Lord has to disillusion us & eliminate our delusions of grandeur‚ of our own importance‚ so we'll back out a little bit & tell the Lord‚ "You have to do it. You take care of it, I can't!" Then He'll get more of the glory & credit for it too, & that's what He wants. He knows we're not capable of much, He knows we're frail & just dust, & in us dwells no good thing (Psa.103:14; Rom.7:18), so He knows we have our limits.—And He wishes that we would wake up & realise it. He not only wants us to be aware of them‚ but He wants us to let others know also—and then the Lord can get the credit for anything that gets done. Praise the Lord!

Prayer for Fellow-labourers to Rest in the Lord!

9. Thank You, Jesus, for those sweet faithful ones. Give them faith & peace in the midst of their many jobs & responsibilities. Help them to get done the things that really need to be done. I guess they all need to be done, but help them to know what the priorities are & what should be done first & what should be done second & third‚ etc. Help them to just take one day at a time & do what they can that day, & not worry about the other days, Lord.

10. We know that if You want us to get these things done, then You're going to give us time to do them without us rushing around in a frenzy & getting so worried & uptight that we get sick, weary & exhausted to where we can't accomplish anything. So help us to decide with Thy wisdom what are the most important things, what we need to do first, & then help us to do that, & not worry about the other things, because You're going to help us to get them done if that is Your Will.

11. So help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Give us all peace & calmness & confidence & quietness in You. Give us wisdom & anointing & inspiration for our jobs, all of which are so important to You. Each person is so important to You, no matter what they do; they're all a very valuable part of Your Kingdom! Thank You for each one! Bless them in all their trials & afflictions, that they may learn what You're trying to teach them through these times‚ so they can become better vessels for You & for Your service, in Jesus' name!

Go at a Slower Pace Day by Day!

12. So many of our precious Family Members go day after day after day, high-strung, nervous, on call 24 hours a day, moving practically at breakneck speed with one problem after the other knocking at their door. Maybe they're even faithful to take little Word & Rest days or a vacation every once in a while, but that's not enough. Even if you take a day off every week‚ or every ten days, or every month, it's not enough. That constant strain & pressure is not sufficiently relieved by a day or two off every once in a while.

13. I believe the solution is for everybody to slow down & go at a slower daily pace. I can't go at a rapid pace at breakneck speed. It's just too much for me. I'm extremely weak & almost an invalid, & the Lord forces me to go slowly through my physical weakness. He gives me the strength for my day so that I have enough strength every day to continue to do my work, but not enough to do any more than is absolutely necessary. I work every day & I very seldom take a full day off, but I can do it because I work at a slow, steady rate, day by day.

14. Also, I like my work. So as long as I don't get burned out on it, as long as it's not such a pressure & a burden & a terrible drain & strain, & as long as I pray desperately every day for the Lord's strength & health, then I can do it every day. I usually have sufficient time to sleep & pray & rest, & I can pace myself at a calm pace, & because the pace is slow & peaceful & comfortable‚ I'm at least able to take care of the timely matters without too much strain.

15. But I think of our poor people & poor leaders, & I wonder how they stand the pressure. I don't know how they do it! I think the only solution is to slow everything down on a day-to-day basis & just decide not to do some things. I don't know if that's going to work or not, practically speaking, but the Lord does have a solution, & as far as I can see, that's the only good solution to the problem.

16. Maybe we could find ways to slow everything down by putting guidelines or restrictions on things, like trying to reduce the number of meetings people need to attend, or the number of reports they have to write.—Not just for the top leaders, but for everybody. Maybe those who are doing too much could be scheduled with less work, & those who aren't doing as much as they could be or need to be doing could be scheduled with a little more work to share the load & even things out. You may be able to save a lot of time just through proper scheduling & shepherding, & everyone would receive the benefits.

17. It will require a great expenditure of rescheduling & effort in the beginning, but it's probably more possible to slow things down that way than it is for everybody to take a full day off every week.—But even if people can take a day off, many of them probably have no quiet, restful place to go, so they don't get that much rest from it anyway. I'm not saying you still don't need a vacation once in a while or a day off each week—you should still have your free day—but if we can slow things down on a regular basis you won't drop & collapse when you finally do have your free day!

18. I didn't think I could slow down & do less, but the Lord stepped in & made me slow down because of my eyes. I wouldn't have done it on my own, so He forced me. So I understand what an "impossible" situation it seems to be to say "slow everything down," because I couldn't slow myself down. I didn't even see the need to, but I do now! And I think we should try to help the Family to slow down somehow & not try so hard to accomplish so much. Perhaps breaking up the blobs & scaling down our huge Homes would do much to improve the situation.—And we're going to be working on that, God willing.

The Family Expects Quick Results!

19. In the Family we really expect quick results! In our witnessing, our memory work, training of people, in almost everything, we think it all should be zip zap, abracadabra & it's done! That's the way we train people! We give them a two-hour class on some computer program & think that's all they need. From then on we expect them to know it. Or we train someone for a couple of days in the kitchen & we think that by then they ought to be right in the stream of it with no problems or mistakes.

20. We think when new babes come into our Home that after they've been there a month they should be model disciples just like the rest of us who have been in the Family for up to 25 years! We go out witnessing & we think all we have to do is wave our magic wand & presto!—Everybody will get saved, filled with the Spirit & be on fire! And we expect our catacombers & our kings & queens to be able to understand things that it's taken us our whole lives in the Family to learn. We pray for healing & we expect to be healed right away.—And we often are!—Thank the Lord! We think our kids should be potty trained at 8 months, walk at 9 months‚ & read at one year. If they don't, we think we've failed! We get discouraged & frustrated! We think something's wrong with us or something's wrong with them.

21. This quick-results attitude contributes to having a lack of patience‚ & even a lack of diligence & faithfulness. It's good that we do get some quick, miraculous results‚ but when we don't get them we think something's wrong & we get impatient, disappointed, discouraged, frustrated & condemned, which isn't good.

22. I grew up in the church hearing of wives who prayed for their husbands to get saved for years & years! Or you hear of someone praying for years for some wayward relative to get saved, & then on their deathbed the person would get saved. The church world figures if you're going to pray for somebody to get saved‚ then you should pray & pray & pray for years!

23. But we don't look at things that way! We go out & we find the receptive sheep, the ones who are already ripe. The Lord has already worked on them & we just reap them. We're often reapers much more than sowers. We go out there & find a harvest ready to be reaped & we reap it! We're used to reaping‚ bringing in the harvest, picking the fruit, but we're not so used to sowing & cultivating & nurturing, etc. So when we have to do some sowing & tending‚ we're impatient & not so diligent or faithful sometimes, because we want quick results.

24. The Lord's given us this reaping ministry, so we don't want to belittle it, but we do need to understand the other side as well. We need to understand that, although we have mostly one kind of ministry‚ we shouldn't despise the other. When things don't move as quickly as we're used to, we shouldn't get impatient or frustrated or condemned or worried or feeling that something's not right or not working right. Because not everything moves as fast as we're often used to, nor is it supposed to.

25. Often, when we don't get healed miraculously, in a few hours or a day or two, we question the Lord. "Something must be wrong with me, Lord!" Or, "Something's wrong with our prayers, something's wrong somewhere!" Sometimes it is, & it's good to ask that question, but if you've asked it & you haven't found anything wrong, it's not good to keep insisting that there must be something wrong. Maybe nothing's wrong‚ maybe the Lord's trying to test your faith! Maybe you have lessons to learn through it.

26. Everything goes so fast in the Family! We're living in the Time of the End & we want to accomplish so much, & we feel we've got to get everything done right now because time is so short! That's not a bad attitude in some ways, because it's true; we are living in the Time of the End, we don't have much time & the Lord does want us to get a lot done. But we need to see the other side & have the proper balance! We must realise that some things do take time & patience.

27. Some of our most fruitful Homes have been those whose members have "shtuck" in the same place & have slowly & methodically cultivated a solid & fruitful work. They have faithfully ministered to new converts, day after day, week after week, month after month, who have eventually become close friends & supporters. They've built good relations with the neighbours & the local community by gaining the reputation for being there when needed, volunteering to help, & not being a "fly by night" organisation—"now you see them‚ now you don't!" They don't expect everything to happen overnight & they keep faithfully plugging along day after day.

28. I would venture to say that most of the people in the Family haven't learned this lesson yet, & they're chomping at the bit to accomplish everything immediately. They're in such a hurry, & if things don't get done immediately they think something's wrong. God help us to learn the balance & to remember what Dad said in "Squeeze, Don't Jerk"—that it takes time to accomplish some things, & if we're too busy or going too fast, we'll miss some of what the Lord is trying to teach us!—And we may end up with a nervous breakdown!

Going Slower, Not Letting Yourself Get Pressured!

29. Many times, either we leaders or others put the label of "urgent" or "this has to get done right away" on decisions or things that need to get done. But I wonder if most of these time demands are really necessary? Are they really that urgent? Does it have to be done right away? Do we have to do it right this minute? Can't it wait a little while so we can decide on it prayerfully & carefully? These things do have to be attended to, but do we need to be governed by what are usually unnecessary time pressures?

30. People often think their project can't wait another minute & has got to be done right now! We can't let those demands get to us. We can't only listen to everybody's clamour, we've got to seek the Lord about what needs to be done first, what the priorities are. Like Dad has so often said‚ the Lord doesn't put burdens on you that are too heavy to bear; you put them on yourself‚ or allow someone else to place them on you.

31. The alternative to slowing down & taking quiet time with the Lord is to try to do it in your own strength, which means you'll rush, rush, rush & go crazy trying to get everything done, which may eventually result in your having a nervous breakdown or your getting very sick. In either case, you'll be completely out of commission to the point that you can't do anything. The choice seems to be between slowing down & only doing part of what you've done before, but still getting something done, or keeping up a frantic pace until you collapse either physically, mentally or spiritually & you can't get anything done! So which do you want to choose? If we would look at it that way, I think it would help us all to understand that it's better to slow it down & still get a number of things done.

32. Unless we're willing to just do what we can at a calm‚ moderate pace & put the rest aside until tomorrow or next week or next month, then we may end up not being able to do anything at all. This is a very good reason for slowing down.

33. If you're overburdened & simply can't take on any more, you could tell people, "I'm sorry I can't answer you right now on this, but I can't at the moment. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. I've got much more than I feel I can handle right now, & I just can't do it all. I might be able to take care of part of it or help counsel on part of it, but if I take on too much more I'm afraid I'll get sick from overwork or have a nervous breakdown & not be able to do anything. I don't mean to be rude, but I think I've just about reached my limit."

34. Perhaps part of the problem is that we sometimes tend to think a little more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We feel that if we're not right there in the thick of the battle that things won't operate properly. We tend to feel rather indispensable. But if you carry on in that frame of mind, trying to do it all‚ answering all the questions & not only keeping your finger in every pie but trying to be the chief pie cook, you'll soon find out just how indispensable you are!—As you'll be laid up sick in bed somewhere. And when you are, you'll find out that things will go on without you.

35. When we heard that the pressures of the job were getting too demanding on Abi when she was shepherding one of the Training Centers, we told her to tell the Home that we commanded her to take more time alone in her room with a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door to rest, sleep, & get alone with the Lord.

36. I told her that even though the Training Center hadn't been doing so great before she got there, at least they had been surviving without her, so it wasn't worth her getting under so much pressure to change everything all at once that she would wear out from exhaustion & collapse! Even the little help she could give them would be an improvement over what it was before she got there. I told her she shouldn't feel like she has to do everything. There was so much to be done, & much of it she couldn't delegate to others because in a new training situation like that‚ you have to train people before you can delegate the jobs to them, you have to first show them how to do it. Abi was delegating what she could, she was doing fine on that, but the simple fact was that there was just so much to do! So I told her that she just couldn't do it all at once, she'd have to let some of it go undone, even some things that were necessary. They'd just have to be put off till later, & she'd have to trust the Lord to help them carry on without their taking care of those things.

37. It's very difficult to slow down because there are so many demands‚ & they are legitimate demands. But if you don't voluntarily slow down & do less, you may find yourself forced into a position of not being able to do anything! If something really is important & necessary, the Lord will help you to get to it in His time. But, as we've all found out, sometimes when we can't get to something that we think has to be done right away, the Lord will take care of it without our interfering. A lot of times when we wait, & when we pray‚ the Lord will take care of things that someone said needed attention right this minute.

38. It's like when I couldn't use my eyes any more, then I found out that all the things I thought I had to do, I didn't have to do them after all. Either somebody else then had to do them, or they just didn't have to get done. So if we don't take the hint or come to that conclusion before we get put out of commission, then we'll sure learn the lesson when it happens, but we'll have to learn it the hard way.

39. It's like when one of our CROs got hepatitis. He was going at such a frantic pace & he thought he was going to completely change the country he had just moved to in the space of just a few months. Then he got hepatitis & he could barely do anything. He was completely out of commission. But things went on fine without him! He actually got a lot more done by spending quality time with the Lord & by using paper power than he did by running around in his own strength. The Lord had to show him that he was not indispensable!

40. We leaders should explain this to those with whom we work. We need to ask them, "Would you rather have a little of me than none of me?—A little of my help or none of my help?—Please don't keep pushing me for immediate answers or help. I'll do what I can, but you've got to calm yourself down & slow down. You've got to be willing to wait, or get some answers from the Lord on your own." In other words, everybody down the line has to try to slow it down a bit. If they come knocking at your door demanding an immediate answer & you say, "Well, sorry‚ I can't give it to you right now," that will make them slow down too.

41. Of course‚ there is a balance to this. You shouldn't all of a sudden say, "Well, they told me to slow down‚ so now I'm just not going to do anything!" It requires a lot of prayerfulness & wisdom to know where the balance is.—In everything, not just in this matter. I think that's one thing that makes good leaders, the ability to discern the proper balance in things. Like the Bible says, "A false balance is an abomination, but a just weight is His delight!"—Pro.11:1. Finding the right balance in things is what we need to be doing constantly. Amongst all the different sides of every story & the different aspects of things, we're constantly trying to find out what the right balance is‚ what's the right degree, where on that scale does the right answer lie. That's what helps to make a good mature Christian—the ability to find the right balance.

Top Leaders Forced to Slow Down; Leaders' Responsibility to Help Their People to Slow Down

42. In the last two or three years the Lord has done something in the lives of a lot of our top leaders to force them to slow down. Slowing down is one of the most difficult things for Family Members to do. They see that the harvest is so white & the labourers are so few & the job is so monumental & there's so much to do & so many emergencies on top of their normal jobs & responsibilities. When faced with all that, slowing down is one of the hardest things to do, & I guess that's why the Lord has had to force a lot of us to slow down.

43. I was thinking of Gary & his nervous breakdown, & Sharon & her nervous breakdown, which slowed both of them down. (And now, another one of our CROs was in a wheelchair for two months because of a back injury. Another one has heart trouble which forces him to go much more slowly.) Also, myself with my eyes, which makes it impossible for me to do some of the things I thought I had to do. But the thing is, maybe some of the things that we think are essential for us to do personally, really aren't essential!

44. Dad gave me a lot of hints. He was always telling me, "You don't have to read so much. Why don't you relax, you don't have to do so much!" But I didn't listen‚ I thought I had to do that. But when I couldn't do it any more, the World went on & I saw that it really didn't have to be done after all, at least not by me.

45. Isaac injured his foot at the HCS, & for months he couldn't walk on it. It took a full year to completely heal, but it caused him to really slow down. He realised that he couldn't go so fast, so he started relaxing & trusting the Lord more. So sometimes the Lord uses physical afflictions to slow us down, & sometimes He uses the mental, emotional & spiritual strain to do it.

46. In Juan's case, the Lord seemed to use Abi to slow him down. Juan is quite gifted in business matters‚ whereas she has a harder time understanding business, so he had to be patient & explain things to her. He had to slow down, because all the decisions they made had to be made jointly, so he had to make sure she understood things in order for her to help in making the decisions. That was a very big major factor in his life to get him to slow down in his leadership.

47. Marianne recently wrote about some lessons she was learning along these lines as well. She said,

"A while back I sprained my ankle, & then I had a bout of mouth sores, which came at the same time as I was weaning my baby. I was feeling quite drained & run down. The Lord was trying to get through to me so I'd see that‚ with all there is to do, trying to push more in my own energy was not going to work. I just have to take more time to get His strength, His power & His Spirit through His Word & time in prayer & communion with Him.

"On my birthday a few days ago, some of us had a little special lunch together‚ & they said a prayer for me & asked the Lord to speak & give something special for my birthday. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful present to start a new year! It was all about the Lord wanting me to come unto Him & delight in His Word, & how He desired to have more intimate fellowship.

"It was quite a beautiful prophecy & very encouraging, as lately I have felt such a desire to give more to those around me. I see there's so much that needs to be done, so much training that needs to be passed on, so many that need to have personal shepherding & counsel & guidance, both among my own children & those in this Home. But of course, of my own self, in my own energy & carnal mind, I just can't do it‚ & the Lord even allowed me to be slowed down physically so I can get that strength & energy of spirit."

48. It seems that the Lord usually has to force us into it. Now, if the Lord has gone to such an effort to force top leaders into slowing down‚ doesn't it stand to reason that He considers going slower to be pretty important? And if He wants our leaders to go slow‚ then don't you think that's the way He wants us all to be? Don't you think that He's trying to teach that to all those who love Him & live for Him?—Not just the leaders? Don't you think He wants everyone to go slower & wait on Him & not depend so much on accomplishments as our standard of success?

49. Of course, there's a little difference in practice & operation. Some of our folks can more freely schedule themselves than others, who are more restricted in their jobs. You can't say clear across the board that whenever any Family Members need to stop & pray about something that they can drop everything & take a few hours in their room.

50. But since they can't always stop & rest & pray any time they want to, then it's the responsibility of their over-shepherds to see that they have the time they need, & they'll be held accountable to the Lord‚ because the Home members can't do it on their own. They can't just take off whenever they want to; they're under the Home's schedule & restrictions. But if we don't give them that time, if we don't let them slow down to where they can hear from the Lord, so they don't get into the same busy‚ frazzled, hurried state that the Lord's trying to get us out of, if we don't allow them that, then we're going to be to blame. The Lord's going to hold us responsible for their not doing what they should do!

51. I thought Marianne had the right idea when she recognised the need to make sure that those who are under the constant stress of running the HCS had some time off. She said,

"On a weekly basis our over-shepherd Teamwork at the HCS meets to discuss the overall needs of the Home & the flock & the progress of the Work. In one such meeting, the Lord impressed upon us the need to give the Home Teamwork a chance to pull away & rest & fellowship together in the Word. The HCS is a big operation, & being on the Teamwork is definitely a 24-hour-a-day job! Besides their Teamworking responsibilities, they of course have a shepherding role with their families, & all this takes time.

"They also rarely participate in meetings away from their work situation. They may attend a few sessions, but then they're back to work.

"So we felt it would be a blessing to pull the Teamworkers away for two days, invite them to a separate location to sleep there, have nice meals, & just relax together & get away from this very busy situation. It was a real fruitful weekend. Everybody had plenty of extra sleep & time to go swimming. The first day we read together the whole Letter 'The Meekness Dream' in two sessions, which has so many terrific leadership points. We read it & pow-wowed it together, & it led us into a lot of really good lessons. That night we had a nice meal & dance together & then watched the movie about 'Boys Town,' which brought out a lot of other very good leadership & shepherding lessons.

"The following day we read some Word on leadership, hearing from the Lord, organising your time so you can rest in Him & pray‚ etc. As the time progressed & the Word was sinking in, everybody shared beautiful lessons & asked for prayer. At the end of the two days everybody had asked for prayer for something, & we felt we had all broken together & melted together through the united reading of His Word, fellowship & prayer. Praise the Lord!"

52. Because of the intricacies of our Homes & multitudes of interconnecting responsibilities, a Home can't really give each individual the luxury of scheduling themselves so they'll have a lot of rest & prayer time. About the only ones who can schedule themselves are the leaders‚ who have a little more leeway & freedom in their scheduling & who really do have heavy leadership responsibilities. But all our Family have some kind of leadership responsibilities, & they all need rest & time with the Lord. If the Home is deciding their schedules, then the Home Teamwork is going to have to schedule them wisely, giving everyone the time with the Lord that they need & an opportunity to go at the proper pace.—Or the Teamwork is going to be at fault if they don't, & the Lord's not going to take it lightly!

53. If He shows us leaders so much mercy & keeps the burdens from being so heavy on us, & helps us to slow down to be able to do the job as we should, & we don't in turn pass that on to others, we're going to be in trouble! So we'd better not only try to get ourselves going at a slower pace & listening more to the Lord, we'd better work on helping everyone achieve this. It's not some special dispensation or special treat for the leadership only!—It's meant for all the Lord's people. As I said earlier, for the majority of the Family it has to be put into practice in a slightly different way than for our leadership, but that's what wise leadership is supposed to do—to help their people learn how to properly utilise the blessings & gifts of the Lord‚ as well as the rules & restrictions, to help guide them in their living for the Lord.

54. Of course, if the Lord does give you time for rest & prayer & study of His Word, you must be faithful to redeem that time & use it wisely, realising how very precious it is. If you need help in organising your time, please ask for it. Maybe you can do better two by two. Word time can often be more profitable when it is taken in a team, with less temptation to daydream & more motivation to seek for answers. If you're not getting enough sleep, you may have a hard time concentrating on prayer & the Word, so if you need to sleep, don't condemn yourself. Go ahead & sleep & don't worry whether someone is going to think you are wasting time if they know you're sleeping. God made us to need sleep, & if you are so tired you can't concentrate on the Word or prayer, then you obviously need to sleep! However, you can't have all sleep & no Word, or all Word & no sleep. So pray for the proper balance & the time to do both, & work toward this goal.

55. Dad has taught us that the worker is more important than the work—and that includes how you care for & treat yourself! (See 1Cor.6:19.) So you owe it to the Lord to set a moderate pace for yourself, don't push in your own strength, & get the proper balance of rest, Word, & time with the Lord. Rest in Him! And take care of yourself—and others. You belong to Him!

Copyright 1996 The Family