From running on empty to overflowing

Ever since I have had my liscense I have had this weird fear of running out of gas and being stuck on the side of the road stranded.  Maybe I'm just an anxious and nervous person but every time my fuel gage hits low I make a B-line to the nearest gas station.  I make it a priority to fill up my tank because the thought of sitting stranded and helpless on the side of the road seems terrible.  
        It's funny how I make it a priority to fill my car's gas tank with fuel in order to continue driving while my spiritual fuel tank seems to continue to read: empty!  Lately, I have put many many miles on spiritually.  As I have entered into full time ministry it is incredible how often you are giving of yourself and expending energy on others.  In the past two weeks since school has started at Florida International University, where I am serving with Campus Crusade for Christ, I have been able to meet with multiple students everyday and share the gospel with them.  This is a joy and privilege to be used by God in this way.  There are times where God humbles me by showing me that I am certainly not entitled to this ministry or even adequate.  But God has allowed me to give of my time, energy and life in order to spread his message of hope, love and redemption through Jesus Christ. 
        However, like a car, I too run out of fuel as I rack up more and more ministry miles.  The main difference though is that I don't pay attention to the fuel gauge.  My heart has constantly been blinking with a yellow 'E', warning me that I will soon be stranded on the side of the road unable to continue on.  My flesh however yearns to keep running on empty and see if I can squeak out a few more miles on the little fuel I have left.   
        Although I'm believing I can go just a few more miles on the little gas I have in my tank, the reality is I'm hardly going anywhere.  I may be able to force myself to talk to a student and then share the gospel with them but, sadly my heart won't be in it.  The light of Christ doesn't shine from me because I have grown dim from a lack of fuel.  The prophet Jeremiah spoke about this and used a more fitting analogy for his time, the analogy of water and cisterns.   He said, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."  Oh, how often I forsake the true source and dig my own cistern that is broken and empty.  And what's worse, I continue to believe this broken cistern will nourish me. 
        Thankfully, there is a source of fuel and water.  God says in Revelation 21:6 that "I am the Alpha and Omega , the Beginning and the End.  To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life."  Jesus also exclaims he is the source of living water in John chapter 4 when he is speaking to the Samaritan women.  He says in verse 14, "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  The beautiful thing is that Christ isn't just the source of fuel and water but he promises to give until we overflow.  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."(Romans 15:13)  God doesn't want us to just continue driving down the road of life but he wants us to be able to give away his love, joy, hope and peace in the process.  It's like going to a gas station where the pump keeps pouring out gas.  Once your tank is full you will want to grab others around you and help them fill up their tank from this great source.  Maybe not the most beautiful picture of God but you get the idea.  In Christ and through the Holy Spirit we all can not only be filled but literally spill over with love, joy, hope and peace.  God's plan is so miraculous and perfect because he knows that as we seek him our hearts will overflow, allowing us to give to others and point them to the true source. 
         My prayer is that I would never be running on empty but that I would daily go to the source that promises to overflow my tank so I can give generously to others and point them to the true source--Jesus Christ.