A Prayer For Every 50-Something Who’s Overworked And Exhausted
Author and poet Rebecca Simon offers a prayer for every 50-something who feels worn thin by life’s demands. This prayer is for the ones who have carried too much for too long, who have spent years being strong for everyone else, and who now simply need permission to rest, to breathe, and to remember that God still sees them right where they are.
I’m exhausted, God. I am truly just exhausted — there is no other word for this feeling. I’ve been doing this for years now, showing up, pushing through, trying to hold everything together, and some days it feels like I’m barely making it.
I knew life would get harder as the years went on, but I didn’t expect this constant heaviness — the responsibilities, the deadlines, the family needs, the endless list of things that still have to get done. Sometimes it feels like all I do is work and worry, and I’m terrified that one day I’m going to drop everything I’ve been trying so hard to balance. I’m scared I’m going to fail.
I’m tired of always feeling behind, tired of always rushing, tired of apologizing for not being able to keep it all together. My job demands more from me than I have to give, the people I love need my attention, and somewhere in all of this I can’t help but feel like I’m letting everyone down — including myself, including you. Some nights I lie awake staring at the ceiling, wondering if I’m doing any of this right, wondering if this pace is worth the cost, wondering if it’s okay to admit that I just can’t keep going like this forever.
God, in the middle of all of this, please help me to pause. Help me to breathe. Help me to remember who I am beneath the noise, beneath the pressure, beneath the constant doing. Remind me of what matters. Remind me of the purpose you placed inside me long before the world told me I had to prove my worth. Show me the strength and resilience that still live somewhere within me. Remind me that I have made it through hard things before, and that I will make it through this too.
God, please quiet the voice in my head that keeps telling me I’m not doing enough. Give me the courage to ask for help when I need it, and the humility to accept it when it’s offered. Teach me that rest is not failure. Teach me that slowing down is not the same as giving up — it means that I’m human, that I care, that I’m still learning how to carry this life with grace.
And on the days when it all feels too heavy, remind me that I’m not carrying it alone. Remind me that you are beside me when the days are long and the nights are sleepless. Remind me that you see the quiet effort I put in when no one else notices — every long day, every hard decision, every small act of love that takes everything out of me. Remind me that this season is not forever, that this exhaustion is temporary, that it is one chapter in a larger story you are still writing with me, and for me. Show me that even now, there is meaning in this, even if I can’t yet see it.
I’m so tired, God, but I don’t want to give up on the life you’ve given me. I’m asking for your peace. I’m asking for your strength. I’m asking for your reassurance. Help me take one step at a time. Gently guide me through each day until the weight feels lighter and my heart feels steady again.
Thank you for seeing me, God. Thank you for understanding my exhaustion, for holding me through my weakness, and for walking beside me even when I don’t have the words. I trust that with you leading me — with you carrying me — this will all lead somewhere good, somewhere purposeful, somewhere I am meant to be.
Amen.
Rebecca Simon is the author of Let Go, Trust God and Finding God Every Day.
