When you’re burnt out and prayer seems too hard

I got a text from a friend today. “There are just so many things to be praying about. Sometimes I feel burdened and overwhelmed.” That’s what she said.

“I know that feeling.” That’s what I said, and it got me to thinking on it.

Emotional burnout is real. Spiritual burnout is, too, and at last you reach a place where you just can’t seem to care. Not enough; you’re too tired. You can’t help; your resources are limited. There are so many needs and not enough fingers to plug all the holes in the dam. And then when you pray, it’s as though the heavens were brass, for all of the proof you can see.

I sure do know that place.

Prayer, these days, is vastly simple. I pray from a place of rest. I do not pray for every need in the world (how can I?), but I pray for the ones that He shows me.

Every day, in every moment, in all of my ways, I am walking with God. And so whatever is moving His heart in a given moment is moving mine. I just follow His lead.

Often, when someone comes to mind, I will simply pause for a moment and in the quietness of my heart where He lives, I look at Him. I listen. I see what it is He’s asking for, for the person or the situation, and I pray that, too. Jesus is our beloved Intercessor, so I just copycat Him.

Often, it’s a sentence or three, and then back to rest. At times, it’s just a name. As a face comes to mind, I look at Him and say the name, for I know that He knows what is needed. And that’s all. Back to rest.

As effortless as it is for my sons to come and talk to me, just so, prayer is effortless for me. I’m His kid; I go to Him. We talk, we work, we play, and we rest.

If every member in God’s great, big, colorful family is doing this wherever he/she is planted on our globe, then God’s great work is getting done. Our circles of influence are different, and that’s good.

It’s perfect, actually! And it works. It’s how we bring some heaven down to earth. It’s how His will is accomplished.

“Lord, teach us to pray.”