Tamara shares 5 empowering actions to take when you're feeling drained, exhausted, worn out, and just feel you can't go on.

Drained? Take These 5 Empowering Actions

Today I want to talk about something that I feel is so needed in the world today. I don't know about you, but I look around and I see a lot of discouraged, drained, exhausted, and worn out people. This has been a physically, emotionally, and mentally challenging year. It's been challenging because of the changes.

I have seen so many people who are depleted and I have felt that way myself. And so because of that, I thought, Tamara, you need to talk about this.

God Changed My Object Lesson

I have to go back to April of this year when I was feeling the need to teach this "feeling drained" concept to my children. They'd been home from school for a month and they just found out school was canceled for the rest of the year. So they were feeling frustrated and bummed out.

How do we replenish that inner supply of strength when we're feeling down? How do we do it?

So going back to this lesson that I was trying to teach my kids: I started trying to think about how I could teach refilling our souls with an object lesson. In my brain, I was picturing taking a water pitcher and filling it one cup at a time as I talked about each of the things you can do to fill yourself up.

And as I was thinking and praying about that concept, God said, "That is not how it works Tamara." Ha! I love it when when God tells you--Nope, that's not quite it. Anyways, the good news is, He gave me a visual picture of what would work better than that object lesson.

The Real Object Lesson

And so let me tell you what I did. I ended up getting a big empty plastic juice bottle. I rinsed it out and I took a big drill bit and I drilled a hole in the bottom of it. And then I screwed the hose to our house outside into the bottom of it.

Then I turned the water on and the water filled this bottle up until it was overflowing.

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So God taught me and I taught my children that when we are tapped into the correct power source, we have enough inside that we can fill ourselves and then share and give to others. I love the symbol of Christ being living water. But really, I think what we're tapping into His light.

Our Spiritual Umbilical Cord

And I've come to visualize it as kind of a spiritual umbilical cord which ties us to God because I believe that every person born on this earth is a child of God. We read about that in the Scriptures.

As the Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, observed, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

And spiritually, we are tied to God. We are His children, and He can connect with us. And He can fill us with whatever it is that we need. So let's get on to these five empowering actions we can each take to tap into that spiritual umbilical cord.

5 Empowering Actions to Tap into God

Action #1-Choose to Flip the Switch

So the first thing that we need to do is we need to realize that we are the ones that control how much light or how much living water comes into us. It's our choice. Joshua in the Old Testament said, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). You'll see all over in the Scriptures, invitations for us to choose to turn our power source on. Here is an example: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8).#### We Take the First Step

So God is saying, if you come to me, I will give this to you. He always lets us take the first step. The spiritual umbilical cord is there attached to us. It's ready to nourish us--to fill us with God's light, love, and strength beyond our own when we don't feel we can go on.

But first He needs us to flip the switch needs us to turn the light on. The plug is in the outlet. But we need to be willing to flip the switch. We need to believe first that God is there, that He will bless us. So believe that have that faith that you can tap into your source of inner light in a better, stronger way.

The Spirit of God Overcomes Darkness

One of the cool things about the opening verses in the Old Testament is it talks about the impact the Spirit of God has on a place of darkness. It says in Genesis 1:1-3, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” And so the moment you allow the Spirit of God into your soul and into your life, it will fill you with light.

Okay, so that's the first tip, flip the switch, choose to tap in, choose to turn that light on.

Action #2--Communicate with God

The second is to communicate with God. In the New Testament and all throughout the scriptures, it says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened," (Matthew 7:7- 8).

Prayer

So when we communicate with God, He blesses us. Some people meditate to connect to their Source. I pray. You can talk to God about your joys, your sorrows, and your hardships. You can talk to him about how drained and exhausted you're feeling. A great idea is to also talk to Him about what you should do to increase the flow of light and connection with Him. B

The 10x Secret in Prayer--Gratitude

And then I want to give you one other tip that will increase the flow 10 times. I swear it totally works. And here's the secret: gratitude. Be thankful! In Philippians 4:6 it says, “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” So the key is "with thanksgiving." Find things you can find things to be thankful for and God will bless you to tap into His strength and light more than before.

Mercy

One final tip for when you are at your lowest and don't feel you can go on another minute. That is when it is good to turn to God and beg for the strength to go on. The beautiful thing is that God hears those silent prayers full of pleading and He answers mercifully. In Psalm 86:5 it says, "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." I testify He has been there for me and given me the strength to carry on--one minute at a time when I have been down in my lowest pit. He will be there for you too.

Action #3--Consume Uplifting Content

Have you ever seen a light switch that has dimmer capabilities? Sometimes they have a little switch off to the side that helps you push it all the way up to maximum brightness, or you can dim it down.

When we choose content that we consume, we decide whether we're allowing more or less light into our lives. I'd love to invite you to consider three categories or ways to bring light and knowledge into yourself.

Read God's word.

Do some scripture study every day in Psalm 119:105 the Psalmist says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." He talks about God's word being a "lamp" and being a "light." Reading God's word helps us increase the brightness inside of our soul.

Now, that doesn't mean that every day you read the scriptures, you're going to be joyful and happy and full of life and light. It does help increase the light, but that doesn't mean that every day is going to be sunshine and rainbows. It's just not. But it can help you get through your hard times better than if you weren't, because it you have that inner strength that comes from relying on God.

2. Read uplifting books, listen to uplifting music, devotionals, talks, and podcasts.

You're listening to this right now, so check that box. Hopefully this is an uplifting podcast that is turning the light on inside of you is connecting you with God. It's giving you inspirational ideas and thoughts that will help you improve yourself. Those are the types of things that are good that you want to bring into your life.

3. Seek for Good.

In Philippians 4:8, “Whatsoever things are true, …honest, …just, …pure, …lovely, [or] …good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” So bring these positive, uplifting things, into your life. And I'm not saying that you're never going to get negative content. You will. But just make sure that the positive you're bringing in is outweighing the negative because that is what increases the flow of light inside of you.

Remember to rely on the solid strength of God in these hard times. Alright, that's tip number three, consume uplifting content. Let's go to Tip number four.

4. Walk in the light.

I love the verse in Isaiah 2:5, “Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Keep commandments. Walk in His way.

The Path

I want you to picture a path that you're going down a dirt path, but you have the choice of where you're going to walk on that path. And sometimes you might get distracted and walk off to the side a little bit. And then you kind of course correct and you get back on the middle of the path. And that is life. Right?

We're walking down a path, and we're trying to obey God's commandments. And sometimes we get a little distracted and we get a little off the path and then we repent. We have to course correct and come back onto God's path. But the invitation here is to do your best to follow God's word and act accordingly. Keep the commandments because that naturally has blessings and light that will flow to you from God.

Messing Up

Now, you may thinking, "Tamara, I mess up all the time." Guess what? I mess up all the time too! So thank goodness for repentance. Repentance allows us to tap into the power of Jesus Christ and His gift of forgiveness and mercy. He paid for those sins, and those mistakes that we have made and allows us to course correct.

I don't think it's an accident that Jesus is called the Light and that He is the one that we can tap into, when we have made mistakes. His light which can heal those mistakes inside of us. So walk in the light.

And that's those two components both of walking by keeping the commandments and of continuous repentance because all of us are going to make mistakes.

5. Shine.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,“Ye are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 5:14, 16). So our job is to shine and to serve our fellow men. It's not our light that we are shining, it is His because He is the power source that we have tapped into. This is not a prideful shining. It is a humble shining because you know, you are reflecting God's light. We're just an instrument in His hands.

Connect to Christ and Shine His Light

We are the light that others can see. We shine the light of God so others can see and be warmed by it and be strengthened by it. God often answers other people's prayers through us or answers our prayers through others. We are interconnected.

(Teaser: And we're going to talk about that a little bit more next week with my guest, Rob Gentile, who had a near death experience. And he talked about all of us being interconnected by light.)

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." When we feel disheartened, rundown, or weary, we can recharge from the eternal power source, Jesus Christ. And once we are charged, we can strengthen our brethren.

The interesting thing is that as we serve, God blesses us with more power, and more light. Service is just one of those things that blesses, helps and infuses more light and strength into our soul. It's An interesting thing to share God's light and yet to have that light replaced by God as we give it.

Light Amidst the Plagues

I'm going to conclude with an interesting story that takes us back to the Old Testament times. One of the plagues the Egyptians had during the exodus was three days of thick darkness. But the promise of God during our time is the same as he gave to the Israelites in those days of the plagues.

In Exodus chapter 10:23, we read, “But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

They had light in their dwellings during a time of darkness. Isn't that powerful to know that during modern day plagues, we can have light in our souls? We can be strengthened by a power source which will never dim or run out of power. It is good to have something secure to tap into in a time of change.

Remember:

• Choose to flip the switch. Remember it is on our side.
• Communicate with God. Remember, he expects us to ask and then to 10 X that remember gratitude.
• Consume uplifting content. Remember, first God's word and then adding good uplifting content that you put into your soul so that God can turn the light on even more.
• Walk in the light. Remember, we do that by doing two things. We keep God's commandments and we continually course correct. When we make mistakes remember to tap into Jesus Christ, the Light, to help us and to heal us and to keep us on the path.
• Shine! Remember that others feel weary, too. We're all gonna have days when we're feeling down and discouraged when we feel especially depleted no matter what we do. And perhaps you can follow impressions that to lift up the hands that are hanging down beside you, and around you, in many different ways.

The Hope Filled Promise

On to a glorious promise. This podcast is called Stories of Hope in Hard Times. The greatest hope we have, my friends, is that as we connect to God's source, our light will go brighter and brighter. In fact, he tells us in Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

What is the perfect day?

Revelation 22:4-5 tells us that in the next life when we will “see His face” and be in the holy dwelling before the throne of God where, “there shall be no night there; and thy need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

In the next life, my friends, we will dwell with God in a place of never ending light. And we will be filled with joy and peace and happiness. So just hold to that!

This life is a time of testing. It's not perfect. It's a time when they're when our inner light will be dimmed and feel empty sometimes, but remember to connect to God as much as you can.

Something Fun!

Let's conclude with something fun. This past Sunday, we celebrated my oldest son's birthday because he's going up to college and we won't be able to celebrate it on his birthday. And so we had an early birthday party. I made a cake and I stuck it on the stove to cool.

My son Nathan came over and because he has autism, he can't always express what he's thinking verbally. And so sometimes he'll seeing a little bit and jump around our house. But this time he did something so funny he has never done before. He took a song that he usually sings and he changed one of the words and it was all about cake.

It was something like, "We're gonna have a cake. It's time to have a cake. Oh, it's time to have a cake!" And so in his excitement he changed the original words of the song. I hope that will make you smile, add a little upliftment to your life and turn your light on a little bit brighter.

I hope you smiled and found these five empowering tips helpful and empowering to you so you can tap into God's power source and shine. Have an awesome day guys hope on.