I've been pretty quiet here. It feels like I'm staring at a new gate, despite being assured that this is a valuable resource. Well. I need prayer for wisdom and maybe a little hand holding or uplifting or perhaps I'll just take what I can get. And I think I'll dispense with the specifics and ask this question. Have you ever been sure in your soul that being the voice of wisdom was the wrong thing to be? When you witness something so personal and devastating happen in the family that you know the right thing and you know the best thing and that's all anyone can see but you can see a "way through" that provides for a best case scenario that includes he wrong outcome and the wise thing is to pray through it with hope for what should happen but all the things that you can see scream "prepare for the worst because it is part of the path to the best? Is this too convoluted to get the gist? I can throw in some gruesome details- but I think the question is present, Do you pastor the wisdom you give or do you just advise to the best someone will receive it.

A friend sent me an article from Tara Beth Leach- 'Why Do You Feel Spiritually Numb (and What To Do About It) (4/21//26) - I loved the vulnerability in it. I loved the words she put to the feeling... it's not depression, its not burnout, its not laziness. It is Acedia - an oppressive enemy-- The demon of acedia is the most oppressive of all the demons. He attacks the monk about the fourth hour and besieges his soul until the eighth hour. First of all, he makes it appear that the sun moves slowly or not at all, and that the day seems to be fifty hours long. The instruction to deal with acedia is to sit with it...no fight, no pressing through, no sweat it out. Tara Beth says in giving this enemy a name, we can reduce its power. she goes on to give three postures to defeat acedia... Stay in your cell, stop trying to feel, let someone feed you. She describes each step in depth. Each is intriguing in its own right. One of my key phrases to weary ministers is 'you're not 'alone.' I realize God's gifting to kathy and I is to support and encourage others. We also recognize the need(s) to let others minister to us. There are times I need to be supported and encouraged. How about you? How do you receive support or encouragement? How do you fight the long days? https://open.substack.com/pub/tarabethleach/p/why-you-feel-spiritually-numb-and?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web