Anatomy of a breakdown...

She's curled up on the couch in a fetal position crying and wiping tears away. This is what a breakdown looks like from the outside. If you could hear what was going on in the inside, this is what you would witness...

The flesh says "That's it, I'm done!" The emotions cry out "We just can't take it anymore." The will says "What's happening? What's going on?" The emotions say "We're through. We just can't take it anymore." "Oh." says the will "It's too much?" "Yes" cries the emotions "We can't take it anymore!" "No more." says the will, completely in agreement now that it knows what is going on.

The mind watches silently. The spirit says "What's going on here?" The will answers "We're quitting! We can't take it anymore! The flesh takes over encouraged now it cries excitedly "It's just too much, too hard, too gross, the horror, the horror!

"Oh for goodness sakes" says the spirit to the mind "Get control of this. We are not quitting! We can't quit. We are a bond servant. That means we were bought with a price, but we have been freed." Then yelling at the lumpy heap the spirit says "You are here because you want to be."

"I beg to differ" says the mind back to the spirit "The will has been very clear. We're apparently all done now." It's not that simple!" says the spirit to the mind. "There is a responsibility here. We have been called to the nations. We have a responsibility to Jesus, to our self and to the people who are counting on us. How will they hear if we quit, if they don't hear how will they believe, if they don't believe how can they be saved? We don't get to quit. To whom much is given much is required!"

"TOO much!" cries the flesh "The horror, the horror..." The mind is leaning, but the responsibility is not easily dismissed. "We'll be martyred!" Says the mind very matter of fact. "That's it." "If we are martyred, then our life will have been taken and we are not to be held responsible for what we did not accomplish because we were killed before we could accomplish it." "Yes." says the will "I choose to be martyred!" "Yes." cry the rest ."Martyred..."

The spirit says to God "We need reinforcements here. I need a sent one to intervene. The mind has lost all sense. They say they are quitting, they are choosing to be martyred. It's ugly." God says, "Have no fear, I have sent Troy."

Troy walks in and finds Grace curled up in a ball on the couch crying and wiping snot away from her nose.

He says "What's up?" "Done." she says. "Quitting?" he says. "No! Martyred!" she says. Then in answer to the strange look on his face she says "I'll be dead and there will be no more suffering and all I'll have to do is cry out for my blood to be avenged every once in a while and I'll have a big crowd to hang out with and no more suffering..."

"But I'll miss you." he says.

Silence. "Oh right!" say the emotions. "That's no good." "I can't do that." say the emotions.
"How will you be martyred from the couch?" he asks sweetly. "Good point" says the mind.

More silence. The mind is working... "probably got carried away" it says. "No kidding." Says the spirit quite annoyed. "But the horror!" cries the flesh desperately. "Shut Up!" say the spirit, mind, will and emotions finally all on the same page again.

"Can I get you anything." says Troy. "No." comes the feeble reply. "Perhaps it's time you spent a little time with God. You seem to be in need of a refreshing." A barely audible "Yeah..." comes from the curled up figure on the couch. "I guess it got away from me?" she says feeling deflated and a tiny bit defeated.

"Lord," she says feebly. "Yes." comes a gentle reply. "I tipped over." she says. "There is plenty more for you here. Never fear." "Thank You." she says gratefully. "Your welcome" is always his answer.