It was a time of transition. Our daughter was graduating, we were moving, and ministry was in high gear. For weeks I was waking earlier than normal, battling headaches and heartburn. My neck and shoulders were hurting. As a counselor, I knew the signs and symptoms: stress overload. I also knew what I should be doing to counterbalance these symptoms: Rest. And I knew, if I didn’t rest, where this path of nonstop stress was going to lead: Burnout. 

But how do you stop and rest before you hit burnout? How do you “rest” when there is so much to do?  

Hebrews 4:16 reminded me that I cannot do it. I cannot get everything done and find rest on my own. I need to go to “God’s throne of grace” to “find grace to help” me. And in 1 Peter 5:10 I am reminded that God is “the God of all grace” and that He will “restore” and make me “strong, firm, and steadfast.”  

Now this does not mean that I could keep plowing through because the Lord was just going to keep refueling me along the way. No, I needed to stop and take a moment to observe and reflect before moving on.   

I began to stop in the middle of the day to observe what my body was feeling. I noticed my breathing, the tension in my shoulders, and even made note of the emotions I was feeling. Then I would do something. First, I would tell the Lord how I was feeling at that moment and ask Him what I should do. Sometimes it was drinking a glass of water and taking a ten-minute walk outside to clear my head. No phone or music. Just time to enjoy the bit of nature that I could find in a city. Other times it was a ten-minute nap. And sometimes it was calling a friend to help or pray for me.  

These daily preventative practices helped me to regain balance in my life when everything seemed out of balance. Graduation happened. The move happened. And I was able to still be standing at the end of the transition.