As a mum, wife, daughter, sister, and friend I feel loved out. I feel exhausted having given all my love to everyone else.
It appears that I am in good company. Jesus regularly denied His needs for the needs of others.
Jesus was exhausted at the well in Sychar (John 4:6), thirsty and in need of a drink. It was noon. He was a stranger and he sat down on his own, dusty and disheveled. This was a pit stop so to speak, as he was en-route to Galilee from Judea where he had been extremely busy with His Father's work. His demeanor probably was more like a vagrant than the Son of God.
Jesus was tired, hungry and needed rest in Galilee after ministering to large numbers of people, he had not even had time to eat. (Matt 6:30-44) When He and the disciples left for rest the crowd followed them. Even though Jesus was tired and hungry he chose to feed the crowd that had followed Him.
Jesus was dangerously dehydrated on the cross (John 19:28) but he comforted the thief and proved for His mother's needs.
How easy it would have been to use his miraculous powers to feed and nourish his flesh. To keep himself warm and comfortable. His sacrifice was selfless and fed by God. He was completely centered on the One and not on his own needs. He didn't try to make things easy for Himself. He understood sacrifice. But in order to replenish Himself Jesus had to take breaks away from his ministry to be with His Father.
Like Jesus we need to take breaks from our ministry, whether it be as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, counselor, minister, paid employee, etc. We need to just be. We need to find a silent, secret place to be with God where we can refill. Otherwise we will run on empty and soon our engines will cease up and stop working. Unless you have a divine nature, you cannot go on giving past your 'empty' prompt.
We need this reminder to keep us on track as to who is the Saviour of the world? Who is the Saviour of our household and who is the Saviour of our life? When we can no longer give:
Stop and venture into Oneness until restored.