Fueled

Things have been pretty hectic in our household recently as my husband has begun his second job. After a particularly tough couple of weeks when he was attending orientation every single day, we finally got a Saturday afternoon to ourselves with no obligations. Fueled by the muchneeded down time my husband offered to take care of the baby when he woke up in the middle of the night so I could get the first full night of sleep in two weeks.

I went to bed early, excited at the prospect of sleeping uninterrupted for seven hours and drifted off quickly for the first time in a long time. At 1:15 I heard the baby start to fuss and I opened one eye to see if my husband had heard. Sound asleep. I gently nudged him and groggily said, "Baby". He rolled over and slowly pulled himself out bed as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again. Minutes later I noticed the baby was still crying and opened my eyes to see my husband standing in front of our mirrored armoire. "Trav?" I pleaded, "The baby is crying," I urged. He turned and walked towards the door and I drifted back to sleep. Moments later I heard my husband's voice, "Here ya go baby." I opened one eye, then the other, and then sat straight up in bed. My dear sweet husband was bending over me cradling a large hurricane lamp trying to hand it to me as if it were our son. Needless to say, I took care of the baby that night.

Isn't it amazing how powerful the influence exhaustion can have over our senses? The same is true of our spiritual lives; if you aren't taking the time to refuel your spirit by being in the presence of God you are leaving yourself open to Satan's deceit. I had the privilege of attending a leadership conference several weeks ago and heard Wayne Cordeiro give a very poignant talk called "Dead Leader Running" in which he talked about the danger of running on adrenaline instead of serotonin. He explained that leaders so often give to the point of depletion and don't take the time to "refuel their tank". I think the same can be true of anyone and now find myself consciously working to make sure that both mine and my husband's tanks are getting refueled.
How do you refuel?

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:28-31

Your thoughts?