When You’re Running On Empty…

This post is written to link with Five Minute Friday: write for five minutes on a one word prompt.
The prompt today is “empty,” and I am also incorporating last week’s prompt, which was “enough.”

Last week I missed taking part in FMF for the first time in several months.  I smiled to see that the prompt was “enough” because that’s one thing I felt I lacked last Friday:

• enough time
• enough energy
• enough wisdom
• enough patience
• enough ability

Most of the day I felt empty of all that was needed.

I won’t go into all the details, but on Thursday I had been thrown into an extremely difficult work situation.  It was demanding on several levels: leading a team of people I hardly knew to run an event that was very different from what I am used to, working with a high proportion of young people with additional support needs with minimal information about how best to support them, managing challenging situations with young people from very chaotic home backgrounds, supporting people who were upset over the unforeseen circumstances that had led to me being thrust into this role.

My recurring prayer that whole day was, “God,  I can’t do it.  I don’t have enough.”

And yet somehow, when we come empty, he loves to fill us.  When we have nothing left to give, he supplies just what we need to keep going a few moments longer.  Like the widow with a handful of flour and a drop of oil, we may never have an abundance, but somehow we always have just enough.

If we’re looking to God, we are never completely empty.  When we come to the end of ourselves he steps in, and fills in the gaps, supplying all that is needed.

Someone asked me last Friday if I felt in control.

I almost laughed in their face.

I don’t think I have ever felt less in control, but maybe that was God’s cunning plan.  When we realise we don’t have what it takes, it causes us to turn to him, allowing him to fill us as only he can.

And as I made it to the end of the event last Saturday, while I felt empty of energy and eager for rest, my heart was also full as I saw God’s faithfulness and provision and could testify that, despite the challenges, it was enough.

If you’re feeling empty, or in need of some encouragement, please check out yesterday’s post for a review of the book “Hope When It Hurts” and a giveaway with the chance to win a copy!