Just Three Things

Feeling blue? Frustrated about feeling blue?

It’s disheartening, right?

Especially when we are working hard to trust the Lord and live in His strength.

Sometimes we look for answers in Google, try to relax, bury ourselves in a good book, or cry in our pillow…but nothing changes.

Ever feel that way?

I have.

Here is something I learned. It’s not super spiritual, it’s just kind of simple.

Three Things

Three things can make a big difference.

Just.

Three.

Things.

But they are important things.

So important, in fact, that it’s worth stopping to ask yourself if you are doing these three things before telling yourself that life is hard and that your situation is impossible. Are you ready for this?

Here it is:

Am I sleeping? Am I drinking water? Am I reading God’s Word/Praying?

That’s it.

Really.

Sleeping

Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep.^⁠ Are you aware enough of how your own body works to know how much sleep you need? I know that I can function well on eight hours of sleep. I can function for a few days on seven hours, but I can’t sustain that for long. I need eight hours. 

I have seen friends/colleagues who move overseas only to adopt crazy sleeping hours. Sometimes it’s the malaria medicine they took. Sometimes it’s the time difference and they are staying up until the wee hours to talk to family back in their home country. Sometimes it’s the new roommates or housemates: they are all staying up late to hang out together, or perhaps staying up late to have alone time. It can be for many reasons, but lack of sleep can adversely affect our outlook on life. If it is within our power to do so, we should get enough sleep.

Drink water

I’m not joking. H2O. I’m not condoning other drinks. Just water. It’s the best. Drink it. It’s probably the same even in a familiar country, but  I know for sure that in a new country with strange foods or a different climate and a completely new schedule, it’s easy to forget. 

Here’s a few fun facts about water: 

• • Humans are about 60% water^⁠. 
• • The average adult should drink about 2 liters of water a day. (The amount depends on a few things)^⁠. 
• • Without water we can suffer various adverse health conditions like dehydration, stomach ulcers, constipation, digestive issues, joint pain, chemical imbalance, and long periods of illness^⁠. 

Read (the Bible) and pray

I grew up singing the kids’ song “Read your Bible pray every day.” Do you know it? “Read your Bible pray every day and you’ll…” do you know? GROW! GROW! GROW! If you are a child of God, you need to be spending time with Him every day. So do I. There are a million ways to do it and a gazillion resources out there to help you out. 

If you don’t know how to find those resources and you don’t know how to spend daily time with God, ask your pastor or someone at church or someone at a Christian Bookstore…but don’t NOT do it just because you don’t know what to do. You need Jesus. We all do. We all need to be focusing on Him every day.

Lesson from Elijah

I can’t help but think of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. The prophet Elijah had just experienced a great spiritual victory in chapter 18 but by chapter 19 he was discouraged, afraid, and running for his life (v. 3,4,10). The Lord had Elijah take two naps, eat and drink two times, and spend time with God.

See that? Sleep, drink, spend time with God!

What I’ve Seen

In my experience of mentoring young women who are new to life overseas, the absence of one or more of these three things is very often the culprit of a stinky outlook on life or at least of great discouragement. I suspect it’s the same no matter where we live. When these three things are rocking along smoothly and you are still feeling discouraged, then it’s time to look beyond. But first, see me meeting you at the door of my house and saying, “Wait, stop. Are you sleeping? Are you drinking water? Are you spending time with the Lord every day?” If you aren’t, let’s work on fixing those first.

What About You?

What do you think about these top three priorities?

What others would you add to the list?