A Lifeline for Christian Leaders: When You Feel Like You’re Nearing the End of Your Rope
Read this when you are down and out, navigating rough waters, or doubting yourself.
I first wrote these words as text messages to an amazing friend and colleague during a challenging time in her work. She later told me she had taken screenshots and returned to them whenever she needed encouragement. With her permission and encouragement, I’m sharing them with you—hoping they will serve as a lifeline when you need it.
I don’t know every one of my readers personally, but maybe you can imagine me sending this as a text to you—right when you need it most.
You’ve got this. More importantly, even if you don’t, God has you.
To start, let me share a quote from St. Francis de Sales that I return to often:
“Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life; rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise, God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in His arms.”
And now, here are a few thoughts / texts I’d like to send your way:
Let’s be honest—do you truly believe you’re incapable of leading in this role? If that thought has crossed your mind, let me reassure you, you are far more capable than you give yourself credit for. Let’s talk if you need a reminder of just how well-equipped you are.
As a friend for maybe a decade now and one who knows education pretty well, I can objectively say that you have all the skills needed to thrive as a leader. You may not like it or want to do it forever, but you are well-equipped. If you can’t see that, that is fine. Maybe it is a way to keep you humble, but if you can trust me a bit on this, please do. You have all the skills you need, and can develop new ones along the way.
I believe strongly in the idea of vocation. Our call is to use our gifts to love God and our neighbors through that role to the best of our abilities. If you are placed in this role, I say lean into this assurance that God has called you to it for this time. It doesn’t need to be forever, but for now.
I recite Psalm 37:5-6 pretty much every morning as I awake and begin praying. It is a promise from God, so you can take it to the bank since God does not break His promises: “Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday sun.”
With that in mind, in the Old Testament, do you know the story where God speaks to Balaam the prophet through his donkey? Well, I remind myself that, if God can use a donkey to do His work, then I trust that He is big enough to use me to accomplish His purposes in this role as well.
I remind myself that my worth does not have one iota to do with whether I succeed or fail in this work. God’s love is present, and He has declared me, despite my sin, worthy of His love and even the blood of His Son. God calls to me to trust in Him, call upon Him, and give glory to Him. Succeed or fail, these things don’t change.
As we discussed the other day, there is absolutely no guarantee of success even if you do everything right at every moment (you will not). Again, that doesn’t make the quest or call any less worthy or important. Every athlete has to go into every game putting everything on the line. Sometimes they come up short. Sometimes they win. The call and quest is the same either way. If one avoided the game out of fear of losing, then that would be a shame.
Every day, sometimes many times a day, I say this simple prayer: “God, please give me the wisdom of Solomon and the character and courage of Daniel as I go about this work that You put before me.”
I’m fueled by mission and meaning, so I focus on the mission. I see myself as Chief Vision Officer more than anything else, and my charge is to keep us laser-focused on our mission and vision and to follow them wherever they lead—that gives me fuel in the difficult times.
I suffer from self-doubt, and I resolve to keep going anyway. I remind myself of James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
I ask myself, ‘What is the worst that can happen?’ I then ask if the mission is worth that risk. Then I engage in reasonable mitigation of the risks (backup cash, etc.) and keep moving.
I remind myself that nobody is forcing me to do this.
I hope these words meet you in a moment of need. Take a deep breath, trust in God’s promises, and know that you are never alone.
You’ve got this. More importantly, even if you don’t, God has you.
Together in His service,
Bernard
Disclaimer: Do you use AI to write the articles on Substack? The ethical use of AI is an important topic. When new technologies emerge, they often evolve faster than our ability to make sense of the ethical implications. As such, I offer this disclaimer to provide a transparent picture of my own journey and approach. I’ve already made mistakes, even embarrassing ones, but I will strive to quickly learn from them and provide a transparent view of my present approach. As such, this disclaimer will be updated over time.
The full initial draft (in writing or as an audio dictation), words, and ideas for my Substack articles always come from me. From there, I often use AI for editing Substack articles. I regularly use Grammarly and/or Microsoft Word’s built-in Spellcheck or Grammar Check (both of which are a form of AI) to aid in proofreading and editing my work on Substack. In instances where I use AI for something other than background research or editing my original work, you can expect that I will cite or note it in the article.
I also regularly use DALL-E to generate the images for many articles. I also sometimes use royalty free images. If credit is required by law, requested by the creator, or simply the courteous thing to do, you can expect to see the credits right below the image.
In addition, I continue to evolve in my experimentation with the use of ChatGPT, Grok, CoPilot (and various other ChatBot technologies) to serve as an editor for my Substack publications.
What does this mean? There are three common scenarios, though I hope to experiment with others in the future (and I will update this accordingly):
I write a full first draft in Word, Grammarly, or a word processor, and then submit it to the ChatBot, asking it to serve as an editor, akin to how I have one or more people edit almost anything that is published in my formal capacity. This is also similar to how editors review my manuscripts when they are submitted to a journal, newspaper, or book publisher. By the way, when I write for any of these partners, I never use AI beyond the basic spellcheck / grammar check available in Microsoft Word—not even to use and then cite it.
I record myself speaking on a topic and then place the recording in a ChatBot to transcribe, remove disfluencies, and provide a draft transcript that I can refine before publishing it. This is where I’ve made the most past mistakes. Because the ChatBot is transcribing, it adds its own grammatical interpretations and even takes liberty with sub-titles, organization, corrections, and adding clarifying language. As such, I’m still learning to use prompts that ensure my words, voice, style, and intent dominate—while also achieving a quality, personal, but streamlined approach to sharing ideas. Because this is an evolving practice for me, and also because it sometimes creates a final draft that can be flagged as AI-generated content, expect that when I use this approach, it will be noted at the beginning or end of the article.
I use ChatBots to conduct background research related to topics that I’m writing about, akin to an interactive and advanced search engine. If there are quotes or unique ideas that I include in the article, you can expect that I will give some sort of citation or in-text credit.