Aligning Yourself With God's WillSample

The Journey to That Sacred Pace

I missed out on a lot during the years I chased success. My family paid the biggest price. Things between Doris and me had been strained for a long time, to say the least. In my obsession with work, I denied what I was doing to us and blamed her for our problems. But Doris was focused on what really mattered—our girls. She never felt good enough in those days. What woman would, with a husband who treated her as I did?

I understand now that at the root of my perpetual discontentment was the perpetual fear that no one could ever accept me unless I kept achieving and accumulating. I had entered myself in an impossible race with no finish line and no water breaks. The only break I ever took was when I would pause long enough to attend Bible class and church with my family. This wasn’t a matter of heartfelt commitment; it was more about appearances and trying to gain favor with God (and maybe with my wife too).

As I went faster and faster on this track, Doris saw me deteriorating before her eyes, but she was helpless to stop the madness. I hit the wall one life-altering Saturday. Emotions frayed, mind completely fried, I somehow managed to crawl onto my knees, more scared than I’d ever been, and cry, “Lord, I can’t go on like this. I’ve done a miserable job of trying to run my life by myself. You need to take control, because I’ve screwed everything up.” I reached out to the God I knew, though I barely knew Him at all. 

Clearly, my issues ran deep. Doris and my sister found a therapist who, providentially, turned out to be a man of strong faith. In those post-burnout years, my life underwent a rebuild from the wheels up. While I was “in the shop,” God was retooling me with a different way of thinking and working. He reset my priorities altogether and helped me settle into a new pace that He promised would cause much less wear and tear than my fast-track pursuits had.

Particularly for the first year or so, with my foot off the gas pedal at home and at work, everything felt like an experiment because I was trying to unlearn lifelong patterns and develop new ones. Fortunately, I found that as long as I stayed within the parameters that are in every Christian’s owner’s manual (the Bible), my life not only ran more effectively, but I started seeing the kinds of results—relationally and spiritually—I’d been seeking my entire life. Probably what surprised me most during this tentative time was how much I grew to love Scripture. The Word of God was undeniably recalibrating my heart and mind, breathing life into my soul. Jesus had clearly done a work inside me. 

That Saturday was a turning point. My day of salvation. I assumed I’d been a Christian for most of my life. But I lacked the kind of transformation that only Christ can produce: a change of heart from the inside out. I began operating at a slower pace and actively sought the Lord for my next move. I learned to rely on His Holy Spirit to lead the way. I became ambitious for God’s will, not my way.

Respond

How have you been impacted by burnout—either yours or someone else’s?

What resources do you have available—family, counselors, relationship with Jesus, the Bible, book and devotionals—to help you get on track to seek God’s pace in your life? What priority does reading the Bible hold in your life?

What transformation do you need God to work in your life?