How can we manage stress and burnout?

Raise your hand if you have ever felt stressed? How about getting burned out? When that to-do list is overwhelming, with no end in sight and yet the hours in the day are dwindling quickly?

Girl, I have been there. I am there now. It’s so hard, isn’t it?!

Just to give you some relatable insight: I recently reached out to a ministry colleague suggesting we take time away from our ministry to focus on our personal relationships with Jesus. Why? Because sometimes we get so busy making ends meet financially, keeping “life” going, and doing ministry that we forget the reason we are able to do it all. We forget our first love. Maybe we don’t forget, but God just gets shoved in the dusty corner as we are doing the things and checking off tasks. 

So, what do we do about it? Good question. 

Recognize the Reality of Stress and Burnout

We want to serve in various areas in the church, but serving takes from us. If we aren’t getting filled back up with God’s Word and time in fellowship with Him, we end up trying to pour from an empty cup. The result of that is exhaustion and ministry burnout. We may continue to try and serve, but there are emotional, mental, spiritual, and sometimes physical consequences. A few consequences include: Increased heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure, muscle tension, sweating, headaches, stomach issues, trouble sleeping, anxiety, irritability, frustration, nervousness, fearfulness, helplessness, difficulty concentrating, feelings of anger, depression, or frustration 

The same can be said for not being completely burned out, but just being overly stressed about life and all of the crazy that comes with it. Stress is our body's response to a real or perceived threat or challenge to our wellbeing. The night that my home fire alarms started yelling “FIRE, FIRE, FIRE” at me… yeah that did cause some stress. But that was a good kind of stress because had it been a real fire, my body needed to react and escape the real threat of death. (Just so you know, it was not a real fire, just the effects of my heat being turned on for the first time in a few years. opps.)

You know who else was exhausted, stressed to the max, and on the verge of burnout? The prophet Elijah. King Ahab sent messengers to tell Elijah that he was going to kill him. 

Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.

Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 1 Kings 19:3-8 CSB

I have jokingly said when I am grumpy I just need God to treat me like Elijah- “DeeDee eat a snack and take a nap.” It’s amazing how much those things help our physical bodies deal with stress. 

Elijah is such a cool prophet, so go read about his life and all the ways that he proved God is who He says He is. Even as faithful servants we can experience times of weariness and exhaustion from stress. 

Find Rest in God’s Presence and Promises

We have talked in depth about this point before, but it bears repeating. We will inevitably become stressed, overwhelmed, or weary. It is going to happen because we are human. But we don’t have to let those things have control over us. 

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In Jesus we find rest. Not worldly rest, but the kind of rest our souls need. We do this by praising God, in song or in prayer. We do this by worshiping the One True King, the One who never gives up on us, who never changes. I like to list different attributes of God and praise Him for being Him in that way. 

Sometimes we get Godly rest by simply being still and meditating on His Word, clearing our mind of the other things we have going on and focusing on God and God alone. (A few verses you may want to do this with are Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 23, and Isaiah 26:3 but God’s Word is powerful so any Scripture would work.)  This redirects our focus to God and His power.

Another one of my favorite verses to focus on in times of stress and anxiety is one that Mel mentioned last week. 

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.” John 14:27 CSB

God never told us that it’s our responsibility to do it all. He didn’t wash His hands of us after knitting us together. God promises to give us rest, but He also promises to give us peace. We know from Philippians 4:7 that this peace is so amazing that it is beyond comprehension. 

Stress says “you have no control over this situation and you will fail.”

God says “I have control. I have all the power. Just trust in Me.”

Prioritize Kingdom-Minded Living

Transparency: I was feeling so stressed (and a bunch of other emotions) earlier today because of some recent events in my personal life. My go-to when I’m stressed about things involving church or ministry is to doubt God’s calling on my life. I question if I’m at the church He wants me to serve at, if I’m serving in the right areas or in the right ways. So today I made several pros and cons lists. (thanks, dad, for instilling this habit in me!) In writing out these pros and cons, I realized that a number of items were focused on me- how things made me feel. But the more I focus on me and how I feel, the more my focus turns to how I can control the situation (or, in my case, not control the situation). This so quickly leads to stress as we seem to think our well-being is completely in our own hands. 

(So while this post is absolutely for you. God has used the process of me researching and writing this to speak to my heart.)

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:33 CSB

We are called to prioritize God. We should always be putting Him and His desires first. The world says otherwise, I know. But when we focus on God’s Kingdom and how He has already promised us eternal life with Him if we trust in Him. When we focus on these things, my how small the world seems. That girl who hurt your feelings? That boss who is never pleased with your work? The family you can’t seem to make love you? The checkbook that isn’t balancing (does anyone else still use a checkbook besides me? lol) or credit card with compounding interest? Those things do matter temporarily (because I certainly do want a roof over my head and food on the table) but in the long term of eternity, this stress is only for a short period of time. 

Take some time to make you a list this week. List out the main things that are causing you stress or burnout. Evaluate their importance in light of God’s will and in light of eternity. Ask God to give you His peace over the items you can’t change.

Conclusion

I promise that you aren’t the only one who has ever experienced hard times, times of overwhelm, times of stress, or moments of burnout. Elijah, a wonderful prophet of God, did too! I do, too! Far too often, if I say so myself. 

I challenge you today to pick a verse, maybe even one I mentioned today, and write it out somewhere. Maybe that’s on a note on your phone, on your mirror, or on your fridge. Write it out and recite it when you start to feel the stress or overwhelm begin. When the irritability in your soul beckons you to push God to the corner so you can do all of the things- recite and meditate on God’s promise to you for peace, rest, and strength. Also… have a snack and take a nap.