It’s such a gift to take care of others—but in the process, you can find yourself feeling completely exhausted, both emotionally and physically. You can experience days and months of feeling like you can’t keep going on anymore.
What do you do when you find yourself in this place? You can learn how to care for yourself while taking care of others. The Bible shows you how to do this: by getting rest. Rest in the Bible is given through Jesus. He promises he will give it to you.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NIV)
The rest he gives you is a complete rest. You don’t have to struggle, feeling exhausted anymore, when you go to him and learn how you can find rest in him.
What Does the Bible Say About Self Care?
It’s not wrong to care for yourself. In fact, the Bible tells you that you should care for yourself.
There are Bible verses about taking care of your body: your body is a temple where the Lord lives, and he wants you to take care of it to respect him.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV)
There are also examples of self care in the Bible. Such as when Jesus went off by himself to spend time alone with the Father to pray.
“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12, NIV)
You can also see that Jesus wants to make sure you feed and take care of yourself.
“Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.’” (Matthew 15:32, NIV)
There are several Bible verses about caring for yourself. Caring for yourself is biblical and will allow you to take care of others.
Related: 5 Ways to Love Yourself as a Christian Woman
How to Care For Yourself
If you are finding yourself so tired of taking care of others, know that you are not alone. It’s very hard to be a caregiver.
Learning to care for yourself according to the Bible will help and will allow you to find renewed strength to keep showing them the love of Christ. But you may ask questions such as these:
- How to take care of yourself physically?
- How to take care of yourself mentally?
- What are the benefits of self care?
- How do I start caring for myself?
You can start by knowing your value in Christ; this will help you want to care for yourself. You are so loved by Jesus.
You can make time to take care of your body through exercise, eating right, and putting the right things in your mind. Doing all this to glorify Jesus and take care of his temple.
You can plan to go to bed at a decent time and get a good amount of sleep. Mentally, you can cast out lies from the enemy and make time to read the Bible every day to renew your mind and to stay strong and focused on him.
If it feels overwhelming and you just don’t even know where to start to take care of yourself, give yourself grace.
Always pray. Jesus will lead you and guide you with what steps to take. Start with little steps and build on them. Change takes time but you can do it with Christ. The benefits of self care will change your life.
Remember this verse from Philippians for encouragement and proclaim it when it feels hard:
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13, NIV)
Care For Yourself
Caring for yourself while caring for others is very difficult. But you can do it. You matter so much to God.
The love that you are giving right now is significant and is making a great difference… but it’s also important to know how to care for yourself. You don’t need to stay this exhausted; you can find rest.
God took rest when he created the world, modeling that you need to do it also. It’s a gift to be enjoyed. Below you will find 5 ways, according to the Bible, that you can find rest in your exhaustion—so you can care for yourself well while taking care of others.
1. The Sabbath
In your exhaustion, feeling like you can’t keep going on in taking care of others, remember the sabbath. You can give yourself permission to set aside a day to rest. In fact, God commands you to do it.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (Exodus 20:8, NIV)
It’s a sanctified day for the Lord. A day for him and you. A day to intentionally humble yourself before him to find the complete rest you need.
This can be hard if you are a full time caregiver of a child, but you can plan ahead by doing laundry and other chores the other 6 days of the week. You can get takeout for dinner.
Whatever stresses you out and feels like so much hard work during the week, take a break from it on your sabbath day.
Do things that bring glory and honor to the Lord together with the people you care for. Reading the Bible, enjoying God’s creation together, singing and dancing to worship music, or praying. Do what you feel honors Jesus and his sacrifice for you and give him this day.
It is the best thing you can do for yourself to get the rest you need in your tiredness.
2. Surrender It All to Jesus
Caring for ourselves is hard when we are carrying around worry. It can feel like we are carrying around the weight of the world at times.
Releasing that can feel impossible because you want to control the outcome. But Jesus wants you to give him all your anxiety, fears, struggles, etc.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22, NIV)
He has the best plans for you and relinquishing control to him is best. Give everything that is on your mind to the Lord. Everything that you feel is weighing heavy on your heart.
Let him give you peace so you can find rest. You will no longer feel exhausted but free and refreshed.
3. Know You Are Made in the Image of God
To take care of others is a lot of responsibility. You can feel exhausted by the expectations placed on you, or those that you put on yourself. But the Bible shows us that we are made in the image of God.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NIV)
This truth means that you can take heart by not placing expectations on yourself; instead, trust who God made you to be. You can find rest in the striving and just be how you were created. You can be yourself.
You are loving, kind, known by God, and capable. You can take care of the ones God has entrusted to you without fear or worry. Find rest in the truth that you are made in the image of God.
4. Pray at All Times
In the tiredness of taking care of others you can sometimes feel lonely—like you have no one to share with. But God is always available. You can find rest by pouring out your heart and hardship to him, always, at any time and anywhere.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
Prayer changes things for you and allows you to feel seen and known by God. God loves you and cares for you. He wants you to bring it all to him so he can give you the rest you desire and take care of your needs. He will give you the ability to keep going and to love others.
5. Praising God
Another way that you can find rest in taking care of others is taking time to praise God.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” (Hebrews 13:15, NIV)
Praising God will rejuvenate you. It will lift you up from the exhaustion and remind you of who he is so you can find rest from it all. It will fill you and allow you to refocus on him. It brings nourishment to your soul.
Take time to intentionally praise God. Praise him for who he is and what he can and will do. Praise him that he is a promise keeper; that he works miracles and is working them on your behalf.
He sees you and loves you. He wants to fill you and speak into this place. Praise opens your heart to him to get the rest you need from the worries, fears, expectations, etc.
If you are a caregiver and tired from taking care of others, know that you can care for yourself also. The Bible gives you many examples of types of self-care. 5 ways to take care of yourself are to remember the command to take a sabbath, surrender it all to Jesus, know you are made in the image of God, pray at all times and praise God. You can love yourself by taking care of yourself according to what the Bible says. You are dearly loved by Jesus.
