Feeling Out of Balance? How to Reset (Part 1)
by Drenda Keesee
How many things are you juggling in your life right now?
What pressures and demands are weighing on you?
We live in a fast-paced, high-demand world. Pressure has become a normal way of life. If we aren’t careful, we can be busy ALL of the time.
I know how easy it is to fall into the trap of running through life trying to manage priorities. I’ve found myself exhausted by all of the things calling for my attention on more than one occasion.
When Gary and I first started television ministry, we had also just made a commitment to a huge building project for our growing ministry. Even though our church jumped on board to help us carry out the project, we personally felt the immense pressure of making this commitment and seeing it through. At the same time, God spoke to us about starting a television program and confirmed it in so many ways that we didn’t dare say no.
But we had very little knowledge about television, let alone experience, and we dealt with some complicated issues. We were being pressed on all sides. Finally, we could take no more. Even though we were willing to stay the course, we needed a break to hear God’s voice.
So, on the spur of the moment…
after a Sunday service, we jumped in the van with our family and headed west.
The drive was a welcome break from the demands and pressures weighing on us. But the best part was that, as we camped and reconnected for three days as a family, we were able to be in a quiet place of prayer, and spend time with God.
Sometimes the demands are so great in our lives that we need to physically get away in order to get in a quiet place of prayer and spend intimate time with God.
But getting away doesn’t have to mean at a campground in the mountains. As a busy mom, I’ve hidden under the covers in my bed and in the bathroom many times in order to spend a few quiet minutes with God and His Word.
Jesus taught his disciples how important it was to pull away to a quiet place to seek God and be renewed. In Mark 6, the disciples gathered around Jesus and told Him the things they had done and taught, and Jesus said, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest for awhile.”
We were designed to live out of our spirit, and we were created with the desire for intimacy with God. Oftentimes, it’s difficult in today’s world of instant-everything and quick fixes to find a quiet place and be still with God, but we have to.
Drawing life-giving nourishment from Him and His Word must be our priority each day.
Everything good that has happened in my life is a result of prayer and quiet time with God.
As you pray, ask God to show you how to manage your priorities and those of your family as well. I have had God speak to me about my children and specific needs they were experiencing on more than one occasion. He would direct me to spend some extra time with them or show me that we needed to pull away as a family and take a break.
Over the years, we developed a pattern of flow that helped our family manage our life together and stay refreshed. Your family pattern may not look anything like ours, but having a pattern you stick with will guarantee you’re living your priorities.
Watch for next week’s blog where I’ll share the “personal protection plan” that has worked for me, and my family, over the years.
~Drenda
Excerpt from “The New Vintage Family” by Drenda Keesee
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide, and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary, and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesees have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
