I Am Tired, God: Encouragement for Exhausting Seasons
The evening sky is graying with dusk, and your feet are weary from a full day of living in the thick of your calling. You’re ready for the needy people to head home so you can do the same—so you can take a long break from life and this world with its incessant demands. “I am tired, God,” you whisper. “Please carry me.”
Most of us have been here.
It might be the classroom where you invest your time teaching young people.
Maybe it’s the house where the children rule the schedule, including when you will eat, sleep, and even shower.
Perhaps it’s the quiet cubicle where you spend the day answering phone calls from frustrated customers.
The daily grind wears you thin. You’re tired. You desperately crave a break from life.
“I Am Tired, God”
Maybe you’ve looked to the people who want what you have to give and wanted nothing more than to send them back to wherever they came from.
I imagine this is how the disciples felt at the end of a long day of ministering to the multitudes.
They were tired, hungry, and ready to call it a day. They approached their Teacher and encouraged him to send the people home.
Most of us can relate.
We’ve said, “I’m tired, God. Let’s call it a day.”
We’ve walked through long seasons and said, “God, I cannot take any more. Please relent.”
Perhaps the disciples spoke these same words after ministering endlessly.
We know what happened when the disciples approached Jesus with a request to send the people home. Jesus took five meager loaves of bread and two fish. He blessed them, broke them, and dispersed them to the crowd so that everyone had enough to eat. There were 12 baskets left over.
The Example of a Weary Savior
Let’s not allow the familiarity of this story to numb us to its implications for our lives.
There is a time to pull back, rest, and take a break.
There is also a time to keep giving.
As we follow God, we can trust him to help us discern the difference between the times when we should pull back and the times when we should keep pouring out.
I Am Tired, God! Help me!
I encourage you to draw near to God and ask him if he is leading you to step back and create time for rest. Meanwhile, if you sense him calling you to keep giving, here are three truths to help you continue pouring out.
1. When we keep what we have, that is all we have.
Imagine if, instead of letting Jesus break and multiply the food, the disciples had hidden and broken the five loaves and two fish to share only among themselves.
Each man would have eaten less than half of a small piece of bread and a bite or two of fish. Instead, they gave what they had to Jesus, and they each walked away with a full basket of leftovers.
This is astounding!
I wonder how many times I’ve held onto God’s gifts instead of sharing them. I wonder how many times I’ve missed out on his abundant blessings by keeping a tight grip on my energy, time, or material resources.
2. Giving is what opens us up to receive.
It’s not easy to give Jesus our treasured possessions and trust him to use them for his good.
It can be hard to give him our time when our to-do lists are long.
Giving more energy when we feel depleted is never easy.
It’s not easy to believe he will always supply all we need and more.
Meanwhile, it’s not until we give him what we have that we experience his abundance in our scarcity. Sometimes you have to take the first step into the raging current before the Miracle Worker pulls back the waters and makes the way clear.
Sometimes you have to take the first step into the raging current before the Miracle Worker pulls back the waters and makes the way clear. #miracles #followingJesus #risk #encounteringGod Share on X3. When we send away the parts of our calling that are inconvenient, we often miss the miracles.
The disciples wanted to send the crowds away. They wanted the day to be done so they could return to a quiet place, rest, and fill their stomachs. They didn’t know that doing so would mean forfeiting the miracle Jesus was about to perform before their eyes.
I wonder how often I’ve muttered the words, “I am tired, God,” and sent away the miracles God wanted to work through me in my life: that difficult coworker, that ministry that got hard, that job that started to feel like more than I could take.
There is a time to walk away and begin again, but there is also a time to embrace a calling and expect God’s next miracle.
Are you ready for a break from life? Are you waiting for the doors of heaven to open wide?
Perhaps God is calling you to keep giving so that you might receive his abundant provision in return.
We don’t give so that we can receive, but we give with willing hearts as we trust that as we bless others, we will be blessed in return.
A Free Devotional for the Times When Utter, “I am tired, God!”
Lastly, I have a gift for you. Would you like to connect with God in ways that breathe fresh life into your weary soul? The Weary Woman’s 20-Day Devotional is my free online devotional to help you connect with God in your worn and weary seasons. You will find 20 daily readings to help you find refreshment in God’s presence. Click here and I’ll send it to your email inbox today!
Calling all moms and daughters—and parents of boys!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 6, 11, and 14, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or grandparents to read with the children they care about.
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength is for boys ages 5-13. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to courageously carry God’s love into the world. Written with input from our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven, this book will help the boys you care about find courage and strength in God. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
Devotionals for Girls
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
All three books are available in print and eBook form here on Amazon. They are also free on the Kindle Unlimited plan, which you can enjoy with a free three-month trial! These books make great gifts, and you don’t need to be the parent of young children to read them. Share them with your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or the young ones you love.
Learn Why Willpower Doesn’t Work and Experience God’s Deliverance and Healing
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life. Find this life-changing book as a free eBook on Kindle Unlimited or for 12.99 in print right here. (If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can try it out with a free three-month trial!) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!
