Refresh

Sometimes my life feels like I am juggling a lot of balls in the air. I think I’m doing just fine until one day I realise that somehow a few extra balls have been added and I’m in great danger of dropping some of them.

Do you know what I mean? It happens so gradually – just one ball at a time – that it’s imperceptible. Until one day. That day can be the diagnosis of depression and burnout or it can be collapsing with exhaustion – or any one of a number of things that tells us life has become too much.

Ideally, we stop before we get to that point, but many of us don’t.

Refresh is the title of a book by Shona and David Murray, a husband and wife team. Written for women, it is the counterpart to their book ReSet which is for men. Both books are written to get us thinking about – the need to refresh and reset our lives.

Shona is the wife of a pastor, mother of 5 children, and a medical doctor. She also knows what it is to experience burnout and depression and she brings all of these experiences to bear in her writing personally and professionally in this book.

I found the book really helpful. Starting with what Shona Murray calls a Reality Check, it encourages us to take an honest look at our lives in order to make an assessment of how we are doing. She then goes on to help us explore all areas of our lives: our physical, emotional, vocational and spiritual lives, our family and other relationships, our church and social circles.

Shona Murray suggests that balance is to be found in 3 ways:

• purpose
• plan
• prune

Whether you feel you are near to burnout – or you just think it makes sense to take a reality check of your life – I think you will find this book helpful.

‘We live in a culture that constantly demands more of women. Young women are not exempt from this pressure. That’s why we need the joyful refreshment of the gospel grace. And that’s exactly what Shona and David Murray deliver in Refresh.’ Jaquelle Crowe.

‘I have searched high and low for a book that helps me deal with stress-related illness in a God-honouring way. To the rescue comes Refresh, a book that meets you where you are. Read this book, and give it to friends.’ Rosaria Butterfield.