There I was again, wiping tears off my face. It had been too many days, too many weeks of tears and grief. Even though I had candidly shared my struggles with three of my closest friends, I decided to get some biblical counseling sessions. 

As global workers, we are not immune to problems, temptations or struggles. Let’s not kid ourselves, there is nothing easy about being a global worker. We go to another country, not our own, to bring a message of love and hope, and we invite people to make a radical decision for a Kingdom that we represent. It would all be good if this was all it entailed, but there is an invisible adversarial kingdom that tirelessly works at making us faint, fall, and fail. On top of that, there are some other challenges that we face as singles, married couples with or without children… and on and on it goes.

The most liberating decision I have ever made for myself was to communicate with a counselor. I initially hesitated, since I had never done it before, but I gathered up the courage and confessed: “I’d like to get some counseling sessions because I am not well.” 

For us to be able to pour into the lives of those we are called to serve, we need to be well. A few years ago, self-care looked a little different for me. It entailed going on a retreat for a few days to get some respite. At another time, it entailed taking a 40-day break from social media to unburden myself from distractions and unhealthy comparisons, so I could re-focus on my relationship with God. This time, self-care is involving counseling sessions that will help me evaluate my overall mental, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual health and I am very pleased with that. 

Self-care is crucial to our longevity in our field of service and we would do well to be intentional about taking care of ourselves so we can find good balance and serve well.