What to Do When Everything Falls Apart

Do you ever have those days when it seems like everything is falling apart? When it seems like you yourself are falling apart? We all do.

Even I do.

Even pastors, or perhaps even especially pastors according to these reasons and these stats, have days or seasons in which we feel like nothing is going right.

What should we do when we feel that way? How can we muster up the energy to keep going, when all we want to do is wallow in our sorrow?

Here are three things we should all do when we have those days.

1. Pray

The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.” (Psalm 6:9)

Pray for healing. Pray for strength. Pray for courage to face the things that have beaten you up.

God loves when we call out to Him in prayer. It demonstrates the truth that we need Him. That we can’t get along without Him.

And God will answer your prayer. He will heal you. He will strengthen your heart. He will use this trial in your life to build you up.

2. Rest

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.” (Exodus 34:21a)

If you’re physically and mentally drained, you need time to recharge your batteries. Don’t expect yourself to be able to just charge through this. Take a time-out. It can be as short as a few minutes, or, depending on the situation, as long as a few weeks.

Kind of like the scene in “What About Bob?” where Bob is told to take a vacation from his problems.

To be clear, I’m not talking about ignoring your problems. I’m talking about not letting your problems overwhelm you. Not letting them have victory over you.

Taking a vacation from your problems is a way of saying, “I know there are these issues that I need to work through, but they are not so important that they require my immediate attention, and they can wait until I get back from vacation.”

Of course, some situation will require immediate attention. But, from my experience, most do not. Don’t treat them like they do. Treating every problem as if it’s urgent isn’t healthy. Sometimes it’s better to write it down, set it aside, and then come back to it after you’ve given yourself a bit of time away to rest.

In fact, take a bit of time away, even when you’re not overwhelmed, to regularly rest. Doing this will help you to be better equipped when trials come.

3. Trust God

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts.” (Psalm 28:7a)

Trust that God has a plan for you even in your times of stress. He’s molding you into who He wants you to be. He’s preparing you for something greater. He’s helping you to trust Him more.

God gives us days and seasons of sorrow to remind us that we’re not perfect, that this life isn’t perfect, and that this world is not where we’ll be ultimately satisfied.

But God has something much better in store for those who trust in Jesus Christ. He’s prepared a place for us, so that we can be with Him. It’s a place with no more sorrow, and no more stress. It’s a place where we will be able to rest perfectly and with complete joy, forever.

This life is full of trials. As it’s often said, we are all always either just coming out of a trial, in the middle a trial, or else about to go into a trial. And these trials take a toll on us. But if we will learn to pray, rest, and trust God, then God will help us find peace, even when everything around us seems to be falling apart.

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