When You’re Running on Empty, Where Do You Turn?

This article was written by Danny Meyers and published by Crossroads Professional Coaching.

I hit a wall not too long ago.

Not a slow, gradual fade. A wall. One of those moments where you’re sitting there, running through a list of things that needed to get done yesterday, and you just… can’t. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know where you’re going. You’re frozen. On top of all of that, you’re completely exhausted and have absolutely no idea what the next right move is.

Maybe you know that feeling. Maybe you’re in it right now.

The Burden That Makes Us Weary

There’s a specific kind of tired that comes with carrying a burden. It’s not just physical. It goes deeper than that. 

Maybe it’s fear. Guilt? Maybe it’s doubt or insecurity. It may be something you can’t explain. 

Whatever it is, it seeps into the parts of you that are supposed to generate motivation, make good decisions, love people well, and show up strong. When those parts are worn down, everything suffers. Your work, your relationships, your faith.

How do we end up there? The short answer is we carry too much on our own for too long.

Whether I’d like to admit it or not, too often I treat God like a last resort. I exhaust every other option first. I push harder, work longer, search for answers, and then, finally, when nothing else has worked, I remember to pray.

Why is that?

At my core, I sometimes believe the lie that I can fix it. That if I think hard enough or put in enough effort, I can find a way through. It might be my pride. It could be a lack of faith. It may be my delusion that I’m in control of something. 

Whatever the root cause is, the result is always the same: I end up more depleted than before, wondering how I got so far from okay.

Can you connect with this?

The Invitation for Help

Jesus gave an open invitation to help us. He made it plainly and He made it to anyone who is willing to listen and respond:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
– Matthew 11:28-30

This is an open door from someone who sees exactly how tired you are and is asking you to walk through it.

This is not a promise that your problems will disappear. Jesus isn’t telling you that if you pray the right prayer, all of your stress, worries, doubts, and fears will evaporate overnight. Life is hard. Following Jesus doesn’t cancel that out.

What He’s offering is not the removal of the load. It’s a different way of carrying it.

A yoke was a farming tool designed for labor. The image He’s painting is two oxen pulling together, one bearing more of the weight. He’s saying: stop pulling this alone. Let me in alongside you.

The rest He offers isn’t the rest of someone lying on a beach with nothing to do. It’s the rest of a soul that is no longer straining against the weight by itself. A peace that can exist even when the circumstances haven’t changed yet.

He sees the weight you’re carrying and the toll it’s taking. There’s no disappointment in His eyes, only an open door and an outstretched hand.

What Does “Coming to Him” Actually Look Like?

This is where I often get stuck. The theology sounds good, but what does it actually look like when you’re overwhelmed? What does it mean in practice in real life?

Let me share what I have been striving to do to apply this in my life. 

• Start before you’re desperate. Becoming weary from a burden doesn’t happen overnight. Protect your time with God in the morning before the day has a chance to bury you. Even 15 minutes of honest prayer and quiet can shift the whole trajectory of your day.
• Be specific with God. Don’t just say “I’m overwhelmed.” Tell Him exactly what’s weighing on you. Name the difficulty. Name the decision. Name the fear. God wants us to pour out our complaints to Him and tell Him our troubles (Psalm 142:2). 
• Let Scripture be your anchor, not just your inspiration. There’s a difference between reading the Bible to feel good and reading it to be grounded. When you’re feeling burdened, you need truth to stand on, not just an emotional pick-me-up.
• Let people in. Coming to God and leaning on community are not mutually exclusive. God often works through people. If you’re running on fumes, somebody in your life needs to know that.
• Slow down enough to actually listen. We’re good at talking at God. Letting go of a burden sometimes requires us to take the time to be quiet and listen to what He is telling us.

There’s Rest on the Other Side

I’m not going to tell you it’s all easy from here. That’s not what this verse promises, and you deserve honesty more than false comfort.

But I can tell you from my own stumbling, imperfect experience that there is something real on the other side of letting go. A peace that makes no logical sense given the circumstances. A clarity that doesn’t come from having all the answers, but from trusting the One who does.

Life doesn’t go very well when you’re running on empty. 

Don’t wait until you’ve fallen to pieces. Things aren’t settling down anytime soon. Waiting until you feel ready is a waste of time.

Turn toward Him today.