Episode 11 Transcript
Welcome to your daily bread with co hosts, Abbie Stasior and Hannah Calhoun. We're here to be your weekly source of spiritual nourishment, guiding you to find food freedom in a deeper connection with Christ. As we explore the intersection of faith and nutrition, these bite sized episodes will help you heal your relationship with food and your body through practical advice, biblical wisdom, and heartfelt encouragement.
And as a disclaimer, we are not pastors, but passionate registered dietitians and sisters in Christ, offering our insights to support you on this faith filled journey to a healthier, more fulfilling life. Join us by taking a seat at our table as we break bread and allow God in to break the chains of diet culture.
Abbie: Hello. Hello y'all. This week we have a treat for you. Today we're gonna be talking about one Kings 19 and the story of Elijah, and we really want to emphasize how to prevent burnout and what to do when you do get burnt out. And really just how, how to prioritize rest and the need for prioritizing rest.
So one Kings 19, verse three is where we'll start. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba and Judah. He left his servant there. While he himself went in a day's journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. I have had enough Lord.
He said, take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. Then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, get up and eat. He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.
So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him. What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left. And now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord. For the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said to him, go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus.
And he goes on to say some others, very specific directions to you, but. That was a lot. I think that was our longest story that we've read so far, but all is so important. What, like, stands out to you the most first?
Hannah: First of all, when he says, I have had enough, Lord. I'm like, I can't tell you how many times I've said that, probably in the last eight months.
Uh, I'm like, you know, when I'm, like, breaking down, I'm like, I've had enough, Lord. Take my life. Literally,
Abbie: I'm good. I'm done. Can't handle this anymore.
Hannah: Is it too soon to retire? Et cetera, et cetera.
Abbie: I haven't started my career yet. Please. Yeah, that's hilarious. Yeah. When he really just needed some food, he needed a nap, and then he needed to sleep again and have more food.
Yeah. Yeah.
Hannah: And you know what? It's so funny because There have been several times in the last few months that I have, usually I crash and burn like a couple times a year, you know, but it's been, it's been happening more often, and the days that I'm like at my lowest, I literally sleep, sleep, and wake up.
And have, like, random, like, bites of food, like, snacks, or, like, a meal, and then I just go back to sleep. And it's so funny because this is literally, like, he was burnt out. You know, when I'm burnt out, like, it's true. Like, sometimes you just need a nap or two and a snack or two.
Abbie: Yeah. Literally. You know? Yeah, and I think it's interesting that his Problems didn't change.
It was the same circumstances. So when we're fresh out, we're so burnt out, like if you wake up from the nap and you're done eating, you still probably have the same circumstances, but now you have more bandwidth to handle it. And you've quieted your mind, quieted your body so that you can actually hear God and hear God's gentle whisper.
Hannah: It's so true. And like, I know the sisters listening and maybe some brothers, like, know. , all the noise in your head, when you're at the point where you are exhausted, you don't even know that you're hungry, you're like, I'm ready, the moments where you're like, if Jesus came back right now, I would not be upset about it, because you're just so done, like, you can't hear anyone's advice, , much less the Lord's whisper.
Because we're just so preoccupied , with everything. Right.
Abbie: And . I find when I'm burnt out, it's like I'm crying out to the Lord. I'm complaining. I'm stressed out or just talking about my problems to everyone. And that fills up my mind. Like, I'm not quiet enough to actually hear anything from God.
Hannah: Also, can we just note that it was bread that was there with him? Like, basically baked bread and a jar of water. Like, your daily bread. You're welcome. A little shout out to our podcast.
Abbie: Yeah, literally though, like, Elijah just needed some carbs, his blood sugar was low, like, carbs are okay.
Hannah: Right, and then he was strengthened by the food, I'm just thinking about all the, the protein pushers, which yes, so important, but like, he just needed the body's preferred source of fuel, which is some good old fashioned carbohydrates, just like the Lord intended.
Yes,
Abbie: 100%. 100%. So at this point in the year, you might have, you know, started a crazy intense exercise routine or set a goal that was really unrealistic. I'm going to exercise six days a week and, you know, go to this class and get a new membership, or I'm going to go on this crazy restrictive diet maybe it wasn't a crazy restrictive diet, maybe you just said, I'm going to, Meal prep, all my meals for every single week and you were only able to sustain that for a couple weeks before it got unsustainable and unattainable and unrealistic.
So you might be getting to this point in the year because most people if they set unrealistic New Year's resolutions by like end of January, February, things start falling off because it's just not realistic. So if that's you and you already are starting to feel burnt out or If you're starting to not check the boxes that you intended to check, and you're feeling a lot of guilt and shame on that, number one, we're gonna bind that up and cast it out, because we know that any, you know, guilt or shame, like, shame specifically and condemnation, like, that is not from God.
Do not worry about that. You probably just set an unrealistic expectation. Um, you're probably trying to do too much. So we really want to encourage you now. It is a good opportunity to prioritize rest, set boundaries, reevaluate your goals in your lifestyle, because if you keep going, going, going like this, you are going to burn out.
And we really want to prevent you from, from doing that by Setting more attainable goals, focusing on your daily bread. What do you need today to just inch forward versus trying to leap forward?
Hannah: yes. Like, instead of going from zero to a hundred, like, you haven't worked out since June, you know, now it's January, and all of a sudden, like, Abby's saying, you're like, six days a week, I'm joining this class, I'm doing this, like, I'm going on a crash diet, that's zero to a hundred and then, you know, there is that shame and guilt and, and feeling of failure and those feelings are not from the Lord, you know, you're setting yourself up.
Essentially, you're not failing, but the unrealistic, unsustainable, uh, habits that you implemented are failing because they were never designed to be a forever thing. Um, that's why it's called a crash diet, or like a 45 day this, or a 21 day this, um, you know, it has to be sustainable and realistic and enjoyable for you and your unique life and your unique needs.
Abbie: Yes. And we need to be setting goals around our rest. We need to be carving out time, not just for our workout, not just for our meal prep, not just for our quiet time, but we need to prioritize time where we are in silence and solitude with the Lord, like truly having a Sabbath. And a lot of people might not like to hear that because they're like, I don't have time for that.
But if you don't number one, our bodies are not built for that capacity. I know we've talked about this in previous episodes too, where. Like God created the world in seven days, but he really only did it in six because he rested on the seventh day. So he modeled for us that we need to take time to rest and we need a full day to take a step back from those things and set boundaries around that so that we can.
Persevere and have a sustainable journey versus sprinting and then crashing and then spending an extended period of time where we're not able to make any moves forward. The way I always describe it to my clients too is like if you're going zero to 100 real quick, doing all the things firing at all cylinders, it's like you're going through and flooring through a green light.
But eventually you're just going to stop at a red light, like it's kind of all or nothing. Instead, we should approach our healthy lifestyle as if we're driving through a school zone. So yes, you might feel like you're going slower, but you're still moving forward. And that's going to prevent you from having those hard stops.
Because if you don't slow down and prioritize time to rest, like the Lord will make you lie down in green pastures. He will make you rest.
Hannah: Yeah, no, it's so, it's so true, whether it's an injury, or you just end up crashing because you become ill, like you, or you just become so exhausted, like, I can attest to this.
If you do not make time to rest, the Lord will make something happen that forces you to rest. And then you're like, ha, ha, ha, you know, I could have just done this a couple times, throughout the last few months, carved out some intentional time for rest. And, Abby and I were talking about this before we started recording, like, time for rest.
Physically, mentally, emotionally, and also making sure that part of that is, is time with the Lord. , not just like mindlessly scrolling on your phone and you're like, whoops, now it's been two hours. Got to get back to work or, or whatever it may be. Um, or just, you know, staring at the TV and, and, and watching, you know, whatever.
Abbie: Numbing out. Yeah. Numbing out on that. Yeah. Actually have time that's restful. A lot of our. Uh, fatigue comes from visual fatigue. So if you're going from staring at your computer, being on a Zoom call to then staring at your phone, it's, it's really not restful. It's not restorative. We know that true rest comes from resting in the Lord and spending time with him.
So yeah, you really want to make sure that you are unplugging and making sure that your times of rest are coupled with him.
and going back to, you know, I call this like the Elijah treatment, you need to make sure that you're eating consistently and you're not letting yourself go so long without having any sort of nourishment.
You probably need an afternoon snack if you get home from work and you're just so completely ravenous and then you're not even hungry for dinner because you snack so much as you're waiting for your dinner to cook. I think that happens so much with my clients. Then you probably need an afternoon snack an hour or so before.
Hannah: I keep reading the part how it says, the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat for the journey is too much for you. Um, so he got up and ate and drank and he was strengthened by the food and then continued on to travel for 40 days and 40 nights.
And so, he didn't say, the angel didn't say, The journey is too much for you, like, turn around. Just forget it. , we need to be Renewed and so we need that rest. We need that nap. We need that food so that we can continue on to whatever our journey is
Abbie: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
And I feel like this is not talked about so much in the church, how to, in a way that's not disordered, steward our bodies well so that we can execute the calling that God has put on our lives because our physical body allows us to do that if you are so burnt out physically, if you are so tired, if you are sick, you're not able to Do the things that God has called you to do, that you're not able to disciple someone, pour into someone, because you have nothing to pour from.
Hannah: It's so true, , I just encourage you all to carve out that time, put it on your calendar, put in your schedule, say no, and you know, I'm speaking to myself too, guys, I really am. Me too. Um, and like, allow God to fill your cup so that You can pour into other people. Um, and you know, get back into that, into that rest time, that quiet time.
So, don't empty out your cup, you know, and then be like, oh God, please. You know, be like Elijah, like, I've had enough, I can't anymore. Like, we don't want to, you know, pour out and then crash. Like, do, carve out those intentional little pit stops for God to fill your cup up. So that you can continue to do the work that he has called you to do.
Abbie: Yes, and if you're inspired by that and you resonate with that cup analogy, I just finished a devotional called The Cup of Our Lives. So good. My, um, pastor's mom and I are planning a whole retreat around this concept of, like, the devotional had different analogies for the cup. There are some where, like, you are the cup, and it's like, what are you holding?
And, like, the cup has boundaries, and it has an edge. It's got a circle on the top, so, like, things are continuously, like, renewing and connected. And it's like, what's pouring into your cup? Cups are made to have stuff be poured into them so that they can be, poured out. Um, but also like God is your cup and that God holds you up.
So there's so many different analogies there. And the devotional was great because it gave a little reading, had some scripture, it had a prayer, it had space to journal in there and gave you a couple discussion questions. It was one of the best devotionals I've ever had. And it has you in the beginning, pick a cup that you do and meditate with.
Throughout the six weeks with the devotional. So I'm very attached to my teacup. Um, uh, it's just, it is so good. It's so good. And there's one part where it talks about how your cup may have chips and cracks and, but it can still have stuff poured into it and stuff pouring out. And like, that's kind of the point.
Like we are, we are flawed. We are not perfect, but if you're not using a cup because it's not perfect and it's just sitting up on the shelf, it's not doing any good. It's just sitting up there, but it's like, so we still need to use it. Um, ah, so, so many analogies. So if that resonates with you, that devotional might be.
Um, a really like tangible step and a good next step for you if you're looking for a new devotional and you need help and accountability in this area, setting boundaries and not overflowing with stuff that's not from God, like our time in silence and solitude we're overflowing with joy and love from the Lord.
That's what we should be overflowing with. Not calendar invites and zoom meetings and all these other things. Yes.
Hannah: Yes. Wow. I love that. What was it called again?
Abbie: The cup of our lives by Joyce Rupp. Wonderful.
All right, y'all. We will see you next week.
Thank you for joining us on this episode of your daily bread. We hope you found inspiration and practical guidance to nourish your body and soul. Remember the journey to a healthier relationship with food and a deeper connection with Christ is ongoing and we're here to support you every step of the way.
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As we conclude today's episode, we encourage you to take what resonated with you into your quiet time with God, allow God to reveal to you any changes that you can make for his glory, trusting that you are fearfully and wonderfully made in his image. Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll continue to explore how God's word helps us heal our relationship with food in our bodies Until then may you find both physical and spiritual nourishment and may you be filled with his peace and joy.
God bless
