Wounded Warriors: Surviving Seasons of Stress

--- NOTE --- This book is now out of print and has been released under a new title with revised content. It is now called "Burnout: Renewal in the Wilderness." While "Wounded Warrior" was written primarily to the person burned out from Christian ministry, "Burnout" has been revised and expaned to encompass a more general audience, burned out from a multitude of stressors - not just ministry. My review here will focus on "Wounded Warrior", but I wanted the reader to be aware that a newer title dealing with the same subject matter from the same author was available. --------- "Wounded Warrior" chronicles the profound burnout experience of the author, a pastor in the midst of building a new church and a new congregation. He explains the three progressive stages of burnout, the physical/emotional/spiritual/mental aspects of each stage, what do to about it, and perhaps most importantly, what NOT to do about it. It is a very important book for those suffering from burnout, but equally important for those who need to minister to such people. Invariably, most people treat burnout victims in the same way as Job's friends - well meaning but ultimately offering bad counsel based on flawed assumptions. This book, along with several other texts (most notably "Adrenaline and Stress" by Archibald Hart and "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Unmasked" by Gerald Poesnecker) were godsends for me since, as of this writing, I am in the midst of recovering from burnout (In my case, the burnout was so severe that I had to go on medical disability and take an extended leave of absence from my job). The books above have been indispensable in helping me make sense of not only what is happening to me, but why it is happening as well. I particularly recommend this book because it is the only one of the three that adequately addresses the SPIRITUAL aspect of what is happening to the burnout victim. Quite frankly, I think Christians often have a harder time coping with "burnout" because we tend to feel that as long as the stresses we undergo are in the pursuit of something noble, such as helping raising a child, ministering to others, etc. we are somehow exempt and that God will supernaturally "bear us up on eagle's wings" to continually go above and beyond the call of duty. Instead of accepting and living within our physical limitations, we press ourselves ever harder until one day the rope snaps and unravels, seemingly occurring out of the blue. "Wounded Warrior" along with the other books mentioned help us understand that our problems did not occur "out of nowhere." They can be reversed and full recovery is possible, but the recovery time is usually measured in months or years - not days - and almost never in our "preferred" Christian method of an instant, miraculous healing. This is an extremely powerful book because people who have not undergone burnout simply cannot understand it. Had I not undergone it, I can assure you I would not understand it, and would b