Yesterday Todd, the boys and I went to the South Jersey Shore for the day.  We had a great family time.  Todd and I spent time lounging in beach chairs watching the boys have the time of their lives on boogie boards in the surf.  After the beach we walked around the boardwalk, ate dinner at  Chik Filet and then got home around 8PM.  It was a much needed break.  Having the boys out of school is great accountability for a reformed workaholic. 

One of the first lessons a mentor taught me as a woman in leadership is that with every great strength comes great weakness.  Often if a person has a passion for Jesus along with gifting to lead they will have a temptation to be a workaholic.   This was certainly true of my life as a single woman and a young married woman.  Having children was the best antidote for my workaholism.  God used my love for Matthew and Aaron as a motivation to get this area of my life in order.  But just as an alcoholic will forever need to watch himself around alcohol, a ministry workaholic will need to be careful as well. 

How does one become a ministry workaholic?  Every situation can be unique.  For me personally it was a journey.  After becoming a Christian I had a passion for Jesus.  Soon thereafter I noticed a passion for His Word.  Then it was a passion for the Great Commission and ministry. This is not all bad but somehow my passion for ministry got bigger than my passion for Jesus. It happens.  Got a whole message on how we fall into that but let’s take another time to discuss it.

5 ways I broke the workaholic cycle:

1.  Conviction of this sin.  Realizing I was passing this on to others was good for me.

2.  Confession & acknowledgement.  This enabled me to see that choosing to live a balanced life would enable me to be more effective in ministry.

3.  Digging up the root of WHY.  Until I did this I never had victory. 

4.  Passion for Jesus greater any other passion

5.  Accountability.  Spouse and children are the best to call me on this.

How about you?  Have you struggled with this?  Would love to hear your journey of how you overcame it.