Peace of Mind...Beating Burnout

It’s not always easy to admit that you’re at the end of your rope. Most of us get up, go to work, take care of our families every single day without fail. Sometimes in life you find yourself taking on more and more responsibilities until finally one day it’s all to much! We find ourselves hitting that wall called burnout. You’re not alone!

A 2021 survey of U.S. workers showed that more than half of all workers feel burned out as a result of their jobs responsibilities alone. Everywhere you look people are overwhelmed and stressed.

Burnout isn’t just cause by long hours at work. It is the combination of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion from multiple sources. Burnout is generally the inability to balance competing demands. It can be social pressure, financial stress, kids acting out, aging parents, your health, stressful work environment or maybe its guilt.

Sadly, if you break a bone it’s almost cool. You walk in with your cast on and people are like cool, can I sign your cast? If you break down mentally though, there’s a stigma. You’ve just reached that point where you can’t handle one more thing. People say…Aren’t you a Christian? Oh, you’re just a little stressed. You should pray about it, just take it to God. That’s solid advice, but you feel like if they say that to you, you may just take them to God!

The Difference Between Stress and Burnout

Stress is generally short lived and related to a temporary project or event. It might be a test, a problem that popped up, a new job, or maybe you’re considering a move.

Burnout is a little different. Burnout is chronic stress that feels never ending! It feels like there’s no relief from it. There’s no end in sight. Nobody else cares. You don’t have a fight left in you. You feel dead and hopeless inside!

Today we’ll talk about an O.T. character that would understand where you’re at. The Prophet Elijah felt stressed and had anxiety. He was depressed and exhausted. He was burned out!

He loved God, and was a powerhouse for God. He was close to God. He confronted King Ahab’s wickedness. He prophesied a 3 year drought over the land and there was no rain. God provided for Elijah bread and meat from Ravens. Elijah raised the dead. He defeated hundreds of false prophets and called down fire from heaven!

Then King Ahab’s wife was furious and told Elijah that by this time tomorrow you will be dead! Elijah fell apart! If you’re struggling today, it’s okay, you’re not alone.

1 Kings 19:3–5 NKJV

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

Your body will respond to stress and burnout...

Physical—Easily fatigued. Low energy. Difficult sleep.

Headaches. Body. Muscle pain. Cope → Change eating habits.

Abuse alcohol. Prescription pain meds. Drugs.

Mental—Ongoing stress impacts brain—Enlarges amygdala.

Fight/Flight → Afraid. Desperate. Weakens pre-frontal cortex. Part

brain decisions → Indecisive. Loss memory. Diff focus.

Emotional—Loss motivation. Chronic feeling of self-doubt.

Failure. Alone. Generally miserable → Job. Marriage. Life.

Cynical. Bitter. Disconnected from God. Blaming God.

1 We Run Ourselves Into the Ground

Elijah ran!

1 Kings 19:3 NKJV

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

He couldn’t have ran any further. He ran to Beersheba, the southern most part of the country.He ran over a hundred miles.

We’re no different. We’re trying to do it all. We’re trying to navigate college. We’re working full time jobs, sometimes multiple jobs. We’re trying to pay all the bills. We’re stressed at work. We’re keeping our house in order. We have to make it to all of the kids activities. We are saving the world at the expense of our own health!

2 We Try To Do It All On Our Own

1 Kings 19:3 NKJV

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

Our culture today has found a way to limit our church community experience. We’re so busy and the truth is that church is most often the first thing kicked off of our schedule. When this happens often feel isolated and like we don’t have the support we need. We feel like we can’t tell anyone that we’re struggling. We’re embarrassed and to proud to ask for help.

3 We Dwell On The Negative

1 Kings 19:4 NKJV

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

He says I’ve had enough, I’m a failure! He’s comparing himself to all his ancestors. He never married. We’ve got to much debt, we’ll never get it paid off! We got to much to do, we’ll never get finished. I’m just not happy anymore. I’ve had enough, it’s just not worth it anymore. All Elijah could see was the negative. If we’re not careful we end up in the same place.

The part of this story that we can all be grateful for...

1 Kings 19:5 NKJV

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

You Need To Rest!

The angel didn’t say get up you loser! Look at you hiding under that bush! Awe, are you scared of little Jezzy! You need to pray you sinner!

Instead, in his darkest moment God came to Elijah and touched him.

1 Kings 19:5–6 NKJV

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

The angel said to get up and eat! Take care of yourself. Take a nap. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap!

The problem is that when you start to nap, you have all of this false guilt flood your mind. You start to feel like you’re letting everyone down.

Don’t let your mind bully your body!

Sometimes you just need to rest. You need to take a day off, or a week off and just rest. I don’t mean take off of work and fill your days with junk. I mean take off and rest.

There might be a time that rest alone just doesn’t get it done. Maybe, you’re taking the naps, and you’re still tired. The problem is that if you’re just tired, a nap would help. You might be just depleted! If you’re depleted, you need refilled!

A Counselor might advise you to try something new. A new hobby...

If you work with your mind…try something that disengages your mind, something physical.

If you work with your body…find something that allows your body to rest. Something that will engage your mind. You might try reading.

You need to find something that will be a change of pace for you. Find your place of rest, and replenish. Finding a community is always a good thing. Remember that this is your place and these are your people!

Those are some of the real practical ways to combat burnout and stress. At the end of the day you need more than that though. You need a fresh encounter with God!

1 Kings 19:11–12 NKJV

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

The wind, and the Lord was not in the wind. The earthquake, and the Lord was not in the earthquake. The fire, and the Lord was not in the fire! He was not in any of them. He wasn’t in the extraordinary, He was in the ordinary. He was in the whisper.

He speaks to you in the ordinary moments. While you doing the dishes, folding the laundry, mowing the lawn or loving on a difficult person at work. He speaks to you when you’re driving looking at all the amazing creation.

When you’re feeling so overwhelmed by stress, or overcome by anxiety He whispers. Why does He whisper? He whispers because He is always close!

Elijah was in a cave, and a whisper is what drew him out of that cave.

Are you brokenhearted? He’s close to the brokenhearted.

Are you overwhelmed today? He save those who are crushed.

Do you feel hurt? He says you are not helpless.

Do you feel discouraged? You aren’t without hope today.

Are you weak today? Jesus makes you strong.

Do you feel alone today? He never leaves you, you are never abandoned.

Maybe today you definitely need to change some things up in your life. Maybe you do need a change of pace. Maybe today you have make the decision to start getting some rest, because no one else is going to make it for you.

I can guarantee you this one thing for sure…YOU NEED JESUS! Jesus has extended an invitation to you...

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 11

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Today, you need to choose Jesus. You need to invite Him into your life, because He changes everything! Let Him give you rest.