It’s been 5 full weeks since I recorded a podcast episode. To be totally honest, those weeks left me feeling completely overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed out, and on the verge of a total breakdown. My life got so chaotic and busy that I completely lost all motivation to record any podcast episodes. I even questioned whether or not I should continue doing the podcast at all anymore.
But a close friend encouraged me to share this experience and my feelings openly and transparently with you all. She said that people need to hear that it’s normal to lose motivation during extremely stressful and busy seasons of life and that they can make it through the challenging times.
So here I am today, to be vulnerable and tell you all about how I lost motivation recently when life got too chaotic and busy, but then found motivation again by re-prioritizing my relationship with God.
Losing motivation
As I reflect back on the last several weeks, I realize that the biggest reason I lost motivation was because I stopped putting God first in my daily life. With the endless hosting duties, meal prep, kid activities, errands, and everything else that was taking over every minute of my time, scripture study and prayer sadly got pushed aside all too often.
I tried half-heartedly to fit quick scripture reading and prayer casually amongst all the busyness, but it simply wasn’t enough. I’d try to say a rushed prayer while I was walking hurriedly from one task to another, or try to read a verse or two late at night but I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to focus on the words.
Faced with so much busyness and tasks crowding every moment, I’d stopped making any sort of intentional time for real spiritual connection each day. God and my relationship with Him had become an afterthought that I tried to cram in quickly rather than making it the priority. I found myself going days without any meaningful scripture study or prayer aside from the briefest of moments here and there.
And over time, I could feel clearly that I’d lost guidance, direction, peace, and motivation from the Spirit in all the chaos. I pleaded with God numerous times to please help me see what changes I needed to make in my life, what things I should stop doing and what I needed to start doing instead. But the answers didn’t fully come until I finally decided to deliberately set all other distractions aside and make studying the scriptures a priority again.
Finding answers in unexpected places
One morning several weeks into this stressed out, motivation-lacking season, I decided to set an alarm to make sure I woke up early enough to study before my kids woke up. I was totally exhausted, still in my pajamas, and honestly dreading having to wake up so early. But I went ahead and grabbed my scriptures, even though I felt like I could barely function enough to get anything out of the study.
I wasn’t sure what section I should try to read, so I just opened up to where I’d left off. The pages fell open to Doctrine and Covenants section 136, which at first seemed totally unrelated to the stressful situation I’d been going through. This is the section where Brigham Young gives a lot of specific logistical instructions to the Saints who were preparing to travel west from Winter Quarters.But soon, I felt verses 32-33 jump out at me humbling me to call upon God and to open my eyes and ears, so that I could receive personal revelation and guidance from the Spirit. The scriptures read:
“Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear; for my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly.”
The words in these verses perfectly captured the prayers I had been offering up to God over and over in recent weeks, pleading for Him to open my eyes and help me know what changes I needed to make.
As I continued reading through the detailed logistics and instructions in the chapter, I initially thought there was no way this related to my stressful, overwhelming situation at all. But then it struck me - even though the early Saints were dealing with physically preparing for a treacherous journey ahead, while I was dealing with an emotionally treacherous season of life, the parallels were strong.
Just as they had to diligently prepare with their wagons, food storage, and other physical necessities while still caring for the various needs of everyone in their community, I too had a long treacherous preparation journey ahead of me. I needed to figure out how to diligently take care of my family’s needs with things like school, meals, finances, and so forth while still caring for the needs of extended family, friends, and others who needed my help.
The power of being intentional
Although my situation was very different from the early pioneer Saints, this section opened my eyes and reminded me that one thing we had in common was the paramount importance of putting God first.
Even when I showed up unprepared both physically and mentally to study the scriptures without any plan, God could speak to me and open my eyes and ears exactly as I had been praying for, as long as I made the intentional time for it. The content of the study wasn’t as important as the act of actually setting aside quiet time to study and seek guidance.
I was reminded that scripture study in particular can’t be a casual, halfway attempt that I try to cram into a spare moment here and there. It needs to be an intentional, focused, and consistent time each day where I deliberately set everything else aside to commune with the Lord and ponder His words.
I’d been trying to casually fit God and scripture study into my insane schedule, when what I really needed to do was the opposite. I needed to consistently set aside quiet time and space to focus on scripture study and prayer as the priority, the foundation I build the rest of my schedule and tasks onto.
I realized that even if I’m exhausted and unmotivated like I had been, if I will take the time to study the scriptures, read the words of the living prophets, and pour out my heart to God in prayer first and foremost, before anything else, then I will have the spiritual strength I need to better handle all of the other busyness and demands that life kept throwing at me.
Finding peace and motivation when you feel overwhelmed
In addition to the reminders about the power of scripture study and prayer, Doctrine and Covenants 136 also gave me more inspiration and counsel about other ways to find peace, motivation, and strength when feeling overwhelmed and stressed by life’s demands:
- Serve others: One of the things that consistently brought me the greatest joy and peace during those very stressful weeks was when I was able to spend time serving others. Even though my own life felt out of control, when I took the time to serve those around me and help lift their burdens in even small ways, it filled my soul with joy and peace. Engaging in selfless service helps connect us to God.
- Sing praises: Science has shown that singing causes the release of feel-good hormones in our brains that uplift our mood. When I felt most stressed or discouraged, I found myself spontaneously singing hymns and other inspirational songs, which instantly helped brighten my spirit. I could feel the difference singing praise made in lifting me up.
- Express gratitude: Taking time to consciously count my blessings and express gratitude shifted my mindset from thinking about all I lacked to instead focusing on just how much God had already blessed me. Gratitude brought everything into a much more positive perspective.
- Seek peace: This section of scripture reminds us to avoid contention and seek peace in all our interactions. I realized that in my overwhelmed state, I had been more impatient, snappy and critical at times. But allowing contention only added more tension and stress. I knew I needed to be more careful and conscious of my words and interactions so that I didn’t add even more stress.
Make your relationship with God a priority - an invitation to you!
After prayerfully studying this section, the key lesson I learned was that making my relationship with God the number one priority made all the difference in getting through that stressful time. It wasn’t necessarily going to remove any of the millions of tasks on my plate - but putting Him first gave me the strength and peace I needed to handle it all.
When we intentionally choose to put God first - through scripture study, prayer, worship, and service - before anything and everything else, then all the other aspects of our lives fall into their proper places and perspective. Things that seemed overwhelming and impossible alone become possible with His help and guidance.
So I want to invite you today to take just 5 or 10 minutes and make connecting with God your top priority right now. Set distractions aside, put your phone away, and take a few minutes to pray, study the scriptures, sing a hymn - whatever helps you feel His presence and peace.
He is just waiting to lift you up, guide you, and empower you to accomplish all you need to - you just need to make the time to sincerely seek Him first. When we choose to put God first consistently, then we are given the strength we need to not only survive, but thrive and prosper even amidst the craziest of seasons.
I hope hearing about my experiences inspires you in your own life. When we get caught up in the stresses and chaos of life, making the conscious choice to set aside quiet time for scripture study, prayer, and other worship is critical. As we open our scriptures, open our hearts in prayer, and open our mouths in praise, God will open our eyes and ears to receive the revelation, peace, and strength we stand in need of and will help us on our journey to Prosper Stronger.
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