Recovery from a severe burn out

“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor 4:5)

I was doing for over 30 years all kind of leadership tasks in the church of Jesus, when a concurrence of events led to a complete mental crash. I entered unexpectedly and unwantedly a period of burn-out that would last several years.

I was relieved of my job as fulltime pastor and I was obliged to stop my involvement in Christian Flanders. I did not preach anywhere for over a year, although I had been doing this for years throughout the whole of Flanders. I even felt written off by God and fellow human beings. The civil society declared that I was incapable to work.

15 years doom and gloom dissipated like morning mist and the sun broke through

Anne, who came to see us at wits end, sent the following testimony:

“After my children were born, I noticed my state of mind worsened year after year. Now I know I had postnatal depressions after each childbirth, but at the time I had never heard about it.