Discipline
Discipline is obedience, a lifetime process that brings us to a state of order by training and controlling our behavior. Discipline is focusing and eliminating, zeroing in on what is important in every area of life. Discipline not only leads to right thinking and right behavior, it produces healthy and balanced emotions as well.
Emotional health is like a bank account -- withdrawals and deposits determine the balance. Ministry is running over with lifeless places in which to invest emotional energy. When we value programs over people, success over obedience, or comfort over character, the result is a life without balance, and a ministry without purpose. As women in ministry, we must, with diligence and obedience, monitor emotional withdrawals and the impact they will have on the ministry to which God has called us.
Each day of ministry is filled with emotional withdrawals, many of which are good, right, and ordained by God. I will never forget the night we found a broken and defeated young pastor standing at our front door. With tears streaming down his face, Hugh told us that his wife was having an affair and wanted a divorce. Certain that his ministry was doomed, Hugh poured out his pain in emotional bankruptcy.
For months, Dan and I ministered to this stellar young man, loving him, encouraging him, making him part of our family, while he tried desperately to save his marriage. When it became clear that his wife had made her decision, we repeatedly assured Hugh that God would once again use him for kingdom work.
Today, Hugh is married to a beautiful, godly young woman and has two incredible children. The church he now pastors is exploding in growth, changing lives, and impacting the world for Jesus Christ! The time and energy we poured into this broken young man was a worthy emotional investment, to say the least.
-Mary Southerland
Emotional health is like a bank account -- withdrawals and deposits determine the balance. Ministry is running over with lifeless places in which to invest emotional energy. When we value programs over people, success over obedience, or comfort over character, the result is a life without balance, and a ministry without purpose. As women in ministry, we must, with diligence and obedience, monitor emotional withdrawals and the impact they will have on the ministry to which God has called us.
Each day of ministry is filled with emotional withdrawals, many of which are good, right, and ordained by God. I will never forget the night we found a broken and defeated young pastor standing at our front door. With tears streaming down his face, Hugh told us that his wife was having an affair and wanted a divorce. Certain that his ministry was doomed, Hugh poured out his pain in emotional bankruptcy.
For months, Dan and I ministered to this stellar young man, loving him, encouraging him, making him part of our family, while he tried desperately to save his marriage. When it became clear that his wife had made her decision, we repeatedly assured Hugh that God would once again use him for kingdom work.
Today, Hugh is married to a beautiful, godly young woman and has two incredible children. The church he now pastors is exploding in growth, changing lives, and impacting the world for Jesus Christ! The time and energy we poured into this broken young man was a worthy emotional investment, to say the least.
-Mary Southerland
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