The Slow Climb Back from Burnout

Patricia Benhamon believes nursing is what God

made her to do. She works in the emergency room, and she'll tell

you it's a calling more than a paycheck. When the pandemic hit,

hospitals across the country were desperate for help, and the

pay for travel nurses climbed. So Patricia packed up and went

where the need was. She left her friends and family behind and

took assignments in states she'd never lived in, some nights

sleeping on an air mattress in a place that wasn't home. Travel

contracts can end at any time without pay. So all the while,

there was always that thread of insecurity. The shifts were

relentless. There were days she went ten hours or more without

sitting down or eating a single meal, and slowly, without her

noticing at first, something started to wear down. She'd feel

a knot of dread on her way to work, a sense of defeat she

couldn't shake. She loved nursing, and yet she was running

on empty, and she'd later call it the most significant

challenge she'd faced as a nurse. Then, she came to the place she

describes as the end of herself. The point where there's nothing

left in the tank, where you've poured everything out, and you

don't know where the next bit of strength is supposed to come

from. That's where Patricia found herself. We'll come back

to what she found there. But

first, welcome to daily devotions for busy lives. if

you've been running on empty for longer than you can remember,

this one is about the way back. I know this road from my own

experience. At least twice in my years of ministry and work, I

hit full burnout. It was more than a bad week. It was the kind

where the tank is empty, and you start wondering if you've got

anything left to give. I also became overly cynical and

stopped wanting to do the work. Both times, what brought me back

was the same thing, turning back to God and trusting again that

He had called me to this in the first place. The recovery wasn't

quick, and it wasn't something I just simply powered through. It

came as I stopped and let Him refill what the work had drained

from me. Here's how burnout sneaks up on people. You get

into a stretch of life where every day is just about making

it to the end of the day. Maybe a crisis dropped you into it.

Maybe caregiving did. That slow grind of being responsible for

someone around the clock. The tricky part is that survival

mode works at first. You lower your head and you push through.

Then, one day, it just stops working. And the strange thing

is how long it takes to notice. By the time you realize it,

you've lived that way for a year, maybe two, and you can't

remember the last time you felt like yourself. Jesus saw this

coming in His own disciples. They had been out healing and

teaching, pouring themselves out for the crowds that never

thinned. And here's what He told them to do. Listen to Mark 6.31.

Then, Jesus said, Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place

and rest a while. He said this because there were so many

people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn't

even have time to eat. Look at what Jesus prescribes for

depleted people. He pulls them away to a private place. And

notice, He attaches no time limit to it. He doesn't say,

rest until Tuesday, then back to work. He gives them rest and He

makes sure they eat. That's the picture of recovery. And it's

gentler than most of us write for ourselves. Your way back

from burnout starts the same way, with rest. You don't begin the

climb back by trying harder. You begin it by stopping, by letting

yourself be fed and refilled by the God and the people He's put

around you. One quick distinction, because I believe

it matters. What Patricia was dealing with as a was partly

what we would call compassion fatigue, that wearing down that

comes from absorbing other people's pain day after day.

It's a first cousin of burnout, common in caregivers and first

responders, and the road back is much the same. You stop pouring

out long enough to be poured into. Whichever one has you, the

answer is the same. Come away with Him and rest. And be filled

by the only one who never runs dry. Here's what Patricia found

at the end of herself. She found God was already there. She'll

tell you she didn't have to look far for Him, because He was all

around, waiting for her to stop long enough to ask for help. Her

way back came as she let her faith and her church community

hold her up, as she let herself be fed and refilled, rather than

running on fumes. That's the same invitation Jesus gave His

disciples in Mark 6. They were so swamped with people coming

and going that they didn't even have time to eat. Patricia, 10

hours into a shift, with no time for a meal, knew exactly what

that felt like. And God met her the same way Jesus met them.

Come away to a quiet place and rest. Here's today's challenge.

If you've been running on empty, give yourself permission to stop,

even a little, starting today. Pick one thing that refills you,

rather than drains you, and do it.

Father, you see the ones listening who have been running

on fumes for longer than they realized. You don't have to earn

the rest. Jesus is the one offering it. Father, you see the

ones listening who have been running on fumes for longer than

they realized. You know how tired they are? The kind of

tired that sleep alone doesn't fix. Thank you that you don't

demand that they earn their way back. You invite them away to

rest and you feed them. Meet the depleted right where they are

and give them permission to stop and refill what life and has

poured out of them that the calling you gave them was never

meant to be run on an empty tank. In Jesus' name, amen. If you

need prayer today, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me

a voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com

slash voicemail. I listen to everyone and it would be an

honor to bring your name before the Lord. Thanks for joining me

on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, the climb back

from burnout begins where Jesus started it for His disciples.

With rest you don't have to earn and a God who feeds you. Come

back next time for more encouragement to help you live

grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great

day.