Encouragement for When You’ve Run Out of Steam

How could it be? We’re still in January but you’ve already run out of steam.

You started off so well.

Good intentions. Your word for the year. You even had a handful of goals.

Yet, there you find yourself.

Buried under the laundry pile.

Okay, maybe all of this sounds a bit extreme. But can we be honest for a moment?

This year is not going the way many of us anticipated.

In fact, by now, most, if not all of you reading this have already thrown in the towel in one way or another.

What started out as good intentions began to feel like a weight on your shoulders.

Can I encourage you today, dear friend?

Set it down.

Lay down the weight of unrealistic expectations.

Throw off the burden of should-have-dones.

Cast away the ‘I should have known better than to even try’.

It’s all too much for you. For anyone.

And it’s quite possible that you’ve been trying to do it all on your own.

Even when you let the Lord step in, you still held on to the nagging feeling that you should be doing more.

So you picked up your burden again and wondered how everyone else holds it together so well? Everyone except you.

But friend, what if you give yourself permission to just ‘be’?

What if this could this be your best year ever simply because you chose to seek God first and rest in Him?

Here’s a lesson I’m learning: No matter how perfect my planner, how ideal my schedule, how SMART my goals, they inevitably fall short when I fail to turn to God.

Let me be clear.

I’m a planner girl, a go-getter and a do-er of all the things.

Perhaps it’s because I’m all those things that I can say this from experience.

We run out of steam when we put doing above being.

If you were busy skimming this post, I’d like you to read that again.

When we put the emphasis more on doing and less on being, that’s when we run out of steam.

God is calling me (and maybe you) to slow things down long enough to put them in the right order.

If you’ve run out of steam before you barely got started, maybe it’s time to start over.

Being above doing.

Face time with Jesus before Facebook.

Time in the Word, over time in the world.

There will always be things to do. But God is calling us to be.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

I’m not at all suggesting that you do nothing at all. I believe there are some essentials we can keep in mind as we seek to serve God without all the added stress.

Rather than a list of things to do, these essentials are like an overflow — a natural result of seeking God and resting in Him.

For me these include being in relationship with God, in community with others and taking good care of myself.

What does that look like for you in this season?

In large part, that’s something you’ll have to figure out, but while you’re here, I’ll share some ideas.

Have you run out of steam? Refuel here.

Make quality time with God your number one priority. Carve out at least 15 minutes of your day (preferably at the start of the day) to spend time listening to God (reading the Word) and talking to Him (praying). Mix up your worship routine to keep it fresh and fun.

Give your physical and emotional health a boost. Check in with how you’re doing physically and emotionally. Do you need to exercise more regularly? Need to find ways to unwind? If you’re not sure where to start, ask a friend or relative to share his/her honest opinion about an area you can improve. Or check out these simple tips to boost your health and treat your body like the temple that it is.

Get social, in the original sense of the word (not social media). No, you don’t have to be a social butterfly and you don’t have to go over the top with a coffee date every other day. But chances are you’ll benefit from time spent connecting with others. Welcome in-person contact when the opportunity presents itself (and even seek to make it happen), keeping in mind that it’s a great way to be a light to others.

Identify a need and meet it. In other words, serve someone else. When we serve and give to others, our own woes often pale in comparison. And as we fulfill this biblical principle we get to partner with God in blessing others — that is a blessing in itself.

Ask God to help you discern the areas you need to address and the mindset you need to have so that your life glorifies him. Remember being over doing is the goal and it’s a surefire way to avoid running out of steam.

How about you?

How do you pick yourself up when you’ve run out of steam? How do you choose what’s most important so that you don’t burn yourself out?

Are there some tips you can share here that will encourage someone who reads this? I always love hearing from you, so please post your comments below.

Wishing you blessings,

Looking for more encouraging and inspiring content? Check out these amazing sites where I link up my weekly posts.

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