At this year’s NC Synod Gathering, we were offered several opportunities to attend 75-minute workshops and two-hour intensives. The intensives afforded us more time to dwell in an experience. I attended the Rev. Stacey Brady’s intensive, Come to the Well: Tools for Resilience.

Sharing openly about the times she has found herself burned out in her ministry settings, Pastor Stacey walked us through what she learned in those vulnerable times. God’s Spirit sustained her as she found solid footing and began studying resiliency, not just for herself, but as a tool for helping others.

It felt like a gift: two solid hours with a gentle and wise leader asking questions about how and when we experience burnout, then offering us tools for building resiliency when we face those times.

We made our way through the workbook she provided for each of us, the framework she has developed over years of being a resiliency coach, as well as serving as an ELCA coach. The framework has five tools, all of which are helpful, but the one I am thinking about most is the notion of learning to recreate safety and joy when we need it.

Pastor Stacey asked us when we feel the safest, when joy comes easiest, and we had lots of answers on our lists! Then, she invited us to keep that list handy for when stress and struggle come. Is a cup of coffee with your most trusted friend on your safety and joy list? Then, when you find yourself beginning to spiral, make that phone call and get that coffee date on your calendar. Keep the list of people and activities that restore you—because you may not have the capacity to make the list when you are in crisis. You will already need that tool in place when you need to recreate a safe or joyful place for your weary soul to land.

Scripture scaffolded the whole framework, each tool grounded in God’s intention for our abundant life. This meant that my Saturday began with this tender and faithful conversation and ended with vibrant worship in Grace Chapel for closing worship, bookends of God’s abundant love for me and all the world.

Pastor Jennifer Shimota (Coble’s, Julian) shares her musings after attending Pastor Stacey Brady’s workshop at the 2026 NC Synod Gathering.