Hold On to Me

Posted On December 5, 2021

“Then Jesus said,
‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.'”

Matthew 11:28 NLT

My daughter Rebekah is the author of this week’s post, and I’m excited to share her inspiring words with you. I hope they encourage you and remind you that we always have Someone to hold on to.

When Mom first asked if I’d like to guest write a blog post for her, it took me forever to figure out what I wanted to talk about. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to pull something from one of the anime I’ve watched or one of the video games I’ve been playing or maybe even a Disney movie. Ultimately, though, I decided I’d just be real and talk about the importance of rest. While I was trying to find resources for the original post I wanted to write, the song “Hold On to Me” by Lauren Daigle seemingly fell into my lap, and it spoke to me deep in my soul. Go ahead and listen. See if the words resonate with you like they did for me.

I knew at that moment that there was so much more I wanted to talk about than just rest. Instead I want to talk about something that so many of us are all too familiar with: burnout. As a warning, this post is probably going to be more raw and vulnerable and personal than a lot of posts on this blog, but I feel like I’ve been given a story to tell. If that story manages to help even one person who’s struggling with something similar, then it’s more than worth it to share.

To help you understand my story, here’s some of my background. I’m a 23-year-old married mom of a two-year-old and a six-month old with a full-time job outside the home. As if all that wasn’t enough, I also have ADHD on top of it, which makes it really, really difficult for me to get things done. Now that I’ve finally been diagnosed, I’m on medication that helps a bit, but up until this point I feel like I’ve been living my life in varying stages of burnout.

The main reason that no one (myself included) ever suspected that I might have ADHD is that I was a very good student. I tended to make straight A’s without much effort. I took every advanced class that I could and was heavily involved in extracurricular activities. That all changed my senior year. I finally reached a point where I just couldn’t force myself to do the things anymore. It was like something inside me broke. Homework went misplaced and unfinished. I missed so many days of school from what I thought must have been stomach bugs (that were probably actually physical symptoms from stress and exhaustion) that I had to attend Saturday school. I eventually dropped my hardest advanced class and took the grade-level equivalent instead. From that point I was able to get it together enough to pass all my classes and still graduate in the top 10% of my class. I thought that was the end of it and that maybe I was just tired of high school and that college would be different.

In the beginning, it was. But after a while, it was difficult to motivate myself to go to class and do my homework. I bounced from major to major. It turned into the same song and dance from senior year all over again. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter in the spring of my freshman year, I ultimately decided to drop out of college so I could work full time. My then fiancé (now husband) decided to do the same. From there, we ended up getting our own apartment and getting married. Our daughter was born in January of 2019, and from then on our status quo remained unchanged. We worked and we took care of our family. For me, those burnout feelings started to go away. I felt fine, and I was doing what I needed to do. This year, though, everything changed again. My son was born in May, and I went back to work in August. Not long after, my job had me working partially from home again. I felt like I was always behind and constantly playing catch up. I was starting to feel all those same feelings of burnout all over again. Finally, I realized that it wasn’t all just the struggle of having two kids that had me behind on my work because even in the office I couldn’t make myself focus. Eventually this led me to sit down with my doctor who then diagnosed me with ADHD. Suddenly it all made sense. For years, I’d been pushing myself too hard just to do what everyone else seems to do effortlessly. No wonder I was burnt out and exhausted.

I feel like, to some extent, we all have stories like that. We all have had times that we have felt exhausted, worthless, and incapable. This world expects so much from us. Every time we turn around there’s a new expectation from someone else in some other area of our lives, and sometimes it just makes us want to scream or completely shut down or run. How do we cope with that? How do we find encouragement when society’s expectations are crushing us? How do we keep going when we’re so exhausted from pretending that we have it all together all the time? How do we stay hopeful when we just feel like unlovable failures?

“Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever.”

Psalm 73:23-26 NLT

The first step is simple, yet also so very difficult to do when you feel unworthy: give it to God. Reach out and pray. If you’re like me, sit in your car belting this song as a prayer with tears streaming down your face. Ask Him to comfort you. Remind yourself that you are His and that no matter how helpless you feel or how lonely the darkness you’ve found yourself in seems, He’s not going anywhere. You’re never alone in any storm you’re going through. He will always be there for you to lean on, if only you remember to trust Him.

“The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'”

Exodus 33:14 NIV

You also need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Rest is one of the best ways to cure burnout. And rest is important from a Christian standpoint as well. Even God rested. If God, the omnipotent Creator of the universe rested, what makes you think that rest is unnecessary for you? I know it’s so easy for us to tell ourselves that taking time to rest makes us lazy, but it is so important for our wellbeing. Rest is so important that God actually commands us to do it. It’s like He knew that we’d be so consumed by all the things we feel we’re supposed to do that we would forget to rest. We’d forget to breathe, to take care of ourselves, to let ourselves heal from our mental and emotional exhaustion. So He literally set aside an entire day for us to rest and renew our mind, soul, body, and spirit. We should make sure we’re taking that time, especially when we’re starting to feel burnout creeping in.

“For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.”

Psalm 72:12 NIV

Finally, allow yourself to ask for and receive help. I know it’s hard. I know that the last thing you want to do when you feel like you’re incapable and a failure is admit to someone else that you can’t do it all on your own. That being said, the reality is that we can’t do it all on our own. None of us can. We all need help from time to time. That’s why it’s so important to surround yourself with supportive people who want you to succeed in life. For me, that’s been my friends and family. Find your support system. They’ll help you when everything seems too difficult to do yourself. If you’re struggling with something you think may be related to your mental or physical health but have no answers yet, talk to your doctor. Start the process so that you can find answers and get access to the things that will help you.

And, most importantly, remember that God is the biggest part of your support system. He will help you and direct you and bring you peace and rest. He will calm the storm raging in your mind. He will not judge you for asking for help, even when you think others would. He sees you struggling. He knows what you’re going through. He knows you’re doing your best, and sometimes more than your best, and that it’s become too much for you. He does not want you to suffer. He wants you to find rest in His loving arms so you can heal. He wants you to accept the help your family and friends and offer. He wants you to start the treatments that could heal or ease your ailments. Release your grip on the steering wheel, and let Him drive. You may just end up in a much better place than you could’ve gotten alone.

This week’s Scriptures remind us that God will uphold us and comfort us when are brokenhearted or crushed in spirit. They remind us that nothing can separate us from God. I pray that whenever you feel overwhelmed and exhausted, they help you find rest in His loving arms.

“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31 NLT

References:

• “Lauren Daigle – Hold On To Me (Official Audio Video).” YouTube. Uploaded by Lauren Daigle, 25 February 2021, https://youtu.be/RWua9o2KEv0.

Images:

• Stressed Woman Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Praying Hands Image by Jenny Friedrichs from Pixabay
• Helping Hand Image by Jackson David from Pixabay
• Woman on Dock Image by Pexels from Pixabay
• Child and Father Hands Image by skalekar1992 from Pixabay