Finding Rest In A Busy Season

When my kids were all really little, there were seasons where I assumed something was wrong with my spiritual life. I would sit down to pray or read my Bible and feel immediately distracted. I would go through the motions and not feel much of anything. Or, honestly, when I still had a baby, toddler, and preschooler, there were times I would just fall asleep on my couch with my Bible open.

My first conclusion was always the same: something must be off between me and God. I slipped into the mindset that I had to perform a specific way for God to choose to be near to me. What I eventually learned was that not only was He near to me, but He was kind enough to give me rest. In that very real season, that sometimes looked like actual physical rest; falling asleep, slowing down, and realizing I wasn’t being overlooked or dismissed in those moments.

I also started to understand something about the way God listens. Like a child sitting in their parent’s lap, talking in circles, distracted and coming back to the same thoughts over and over again. He wasn’t grading my focus. He cared about me. Every thought, every prayer, even the ones that felt scattered or unfinished, were still heard.

As a young mom of three, I was tired. Really tired. Exhaustion doesn’t always look obvious. A lot of the time, life still keeps moving. Responsibilities still get handled, but internally there is not much left to give. And I think a lot of women live in that exhaustion because, if we don’t carry it, who will? Society tells us these are just busy seasons, but what happens when our entire life feels like a busy season?

We risk hitting a wall. Burnout affects everything, and I believe that includes how we experience God.

Not because God has moved away, but because we don’t have much capacity left to engage with Him the way we want to.

Matthew 11:28 says:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

I thought the answer to spiritual dryness was to try harder. I tried to force more consistency, discipline, and effort. But I’m learning that you cannot do anything well when you are depleted. When you’re burned out, even good things start to feel harder to access. My patience was shorter. My focus was foggy. My emotional margin was gone.

I am grateful that we do not need to perform in any way before God can use us. He knows our hearts. God is not surprised by our exhaustion. He invites us to come to Him for rest so that He can restore us.

And that’s where healing was able to begin in my life. Not by pushing harder into spiritual routines, but by letting God rebuild what exhaustion had worn down. He is unchanging, and His love for us is never-ending, but our capacity to engage with Him is affected when we are running on empty.

So if you’re in a season where your faith feels harder to access than it used to, don’t automatically assume you are distant from God. It might be that you are just tired, and it is time to seek rest in Him.