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When Your Body Tells You to Slow Down & A Husband’s Prayer

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Are you already burned out with all the pressures of the holiday season? I mean from Thanksgiving to Christmas, these two seem like they just go back to back without a moment to breath in-between! Isn’t it that way in reality, though?taking

On Monday evening, when hubby came from work he immediately wanted to know how my day went. It was a little more than the casual, “so how was your day today?” Rather, it was more of a “really wanting to know” how the day went.ย  He had called me earlier during the day to check on me but my phone was on silent. So of course, I missed him three times! Yep, I am so guilty of keeping that phone on silent.

You see, over the weekend, I had crashed.ย For the past few weeks or even what seemed like months, I knew I was stretching myself way too thin – more than I could handle. My body was telling me to slow down, but I did not listen. After all, I had to get “stuff” done, right?ย And the approaching holidays were not making it easier on me either. And of course, I did not need a planner or rather, did not keep up with the one I had. After all, I just could not have as much “stuff” to do like other larger, well organized, busierย families. Right? Wrong!!!! I “had” to do the shopping, the baking, the cooking, the hosting, the decorating, theย late night blogging, you name it! What is even worse, is that my family was not getting the best ofย me.ย Myย kids homeschooling and activities were neglected; my family’s mealtime was kind of whatever I could find, and our health was neglected. And boy was I cranky!!!!!!!! And as for God, don’t even ask! Making time toย soak inย Hisย Word and call out to him was just not happening. Yes, there was the quick 1 minute prayers and the quick reading of a verse or two. But that was about it.

Butย whenย at 35 weeks expecting myย body decided to crash, Iย had no choice but to give in and slow down.ย I kept on feeling nauseated in the early mornings and I knew I had already passed that stage.ย It was my body telling me thatย I was doing way too much!ย I hadย gone to a ladies Christmas breakfast outing over the weekendย and when I got back home I was totally worn out! I knew it could not have been just theย breakfast because I rode along with someone. It had to be all theย non-resting days I had been allowing myself NOT to have previously. And boy was I really going that week. There was a previous birthday for one of our kids 2 days after Thanksgiving; there was the OB doctor’s appointments;ย we had hosted a church familyย get together the night before the breakfast, and another friend had come over for a few hours in the previous morning. And there is always the cleaning and preparing when folks are coming over – no matter how small a group.

But I was worn out. My hubby and kids needed me and I just could not move another muscle. I could tell that the kids needed my attention – but all I could sayย was, “mommy is tired and needs to rest a little”. Thankfully, hubby was willing to watch the kids some more while I got some rest (he had already watched them that morning while I was at theย breakfast). When I went to the room to lay down, I could hear the little footsteps running down the hall. My kids were coming. Hubby came by and shut the door and took them back out to play in another room. But then the restless legs kicked in. And if you have everย suffered withย restless legs syndrome during pregnancy, you definitely know how miserable you can feel. It can definitely keep you awake for hours and hours no matter how much you try to move your legs to relieve it.ย I even used some essential oils to help my legs relax. After about an hour or so of trying to sleep to no avail, I got up and went out to the living room. I crawled up under some cozy blankets on a couch. I decided I would just rest there a little and watch the kids play and just enjoy the Christmas lights on the tree and maybe evenย flip through aย Christmas magazine. Needless to say, I fell asleep out there on the couch for about an hour and a half. Hubby had put the kids to nap too, so there were not all the extra running around and noise making in the house. Hubby even got us take away dinner that evening because I just could not keep up. The whole day, I was physically worn out.

I felt a “tad” better after I napped but felt tired and nauseated again when I went to church on Sunday. And what do you know, I still went to another friend’s home to make DIY Christmas gift tags on Monday morning! Yes, I did not take the day to stay home. I had considered whether I should cancel the outing because I knew how tired I had been over the weekend and did not want a repeat. But I also did not want to disappoint, either. And I thought it would be fun to go craft with other ladies.

But the thing is that I did not feel tired on Monday at all. It was as if my body had recuperated.ย Only to find out, that I had a loving hubby who cared enough toย take time toย pray for hisย over-tiredย wife. He went to work and knew howย tired I was over the weekend, so he took some time to pray for me throughout the day. Hence his pressing need toย really know how Iย did on Monday when he came from work.ย Praise the Lord for husbands who pray for their wives and praise the Lord for a God who answers prayers!

But what good would prayer be if we harden our hearts and not listen to thatย still quiet voice inside of us?ย The bible says that we should be still and knowย that God isย God (Psalm 46:10).Be still

So I decided that something had to give.

  • I had to decide that I was not going to run around shopping and driving myself insane for the season.
  • I had to decide against hosting blog parties and linkies that took way too much time to create.
  • I had to delete from many Facebook blogging groups that was just too much to keep up with.
  • I had to decide that I was not going to host guests over for a while (just makes me too tired although I love doing it).
  • I had to decide to settle down and take time to nurture my family.
  • I had to decide to take time for my very own health and unborn baby.
  • And more so, I had to decide to take time out for God.

Altogether, I hope I learned a lesson from this. Taking care of our bodies is more important than trying to keep up with the Joneses. A woman’s body when she is pregnant is no way near normal what her body is like when she is not. We go through so many changes and not to mention, the added baby weight that comes with it. It is just not wise to try to go over and above what our bodies tell us. God in His wisdom knows how much our body could handle. He is not going to punish me ifย I take time to rest in His care nor ifย my home is not magazineย style decorated for the holidays. He has commanded us to take care of ourย bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) which is very pleasing in His sight.

How are you this holiday season? Are you stressed with all the planning and the hustle and bustle that come with it? Is your body telling you to slow down but you are ignoring it like me. Remember, our bodies are God’s temple and He wants us to take care of what He has given to us. Slow down, my friends, and take non-selfish time to take care of your selves. If you need to, use a planner and other record keeping item to create “non-overwhelming” to do lists so you won’t get burned out! There are some great ones floating around the web at this time of theย year or you can even create your own! I know this post was a little lengthy, but thanks for reading or skimming through it. And I hope youย take time and don’t crash like I did!

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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11 thoughts on “When Your Body Tells You to Slow Down & A Husband’s Prayer

  1. Well, I hate that you crashed, but sometimes that’s what hard-headed women like us need in order to make us take care of ourselves, ya know? I stressed myself to the max last Christmas season and made myself sick. Sick that took me the entire month of January to recover from. I decided I was NOT going to do that again this year – it’s just not worth it. I hope you take the rest of December to ENJOY your time with your family before you become a party of five!!!

  2. I learned the hard way to pay attention to me and not just everyone else around me. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of the ones you love. I ended up in the hospital myself at one point after spending a long trip in the hospital with my daughter. I wanted to help with her care, so I was getting up every time the nurses came in to do things with her…even through the night. I completely wore myself out. Be careful, Zan. Rest. And let your loving family take care of you…especially at this time in your pregnancy. God blessed you with a wonderful and caring husband, you are lucky. Take care.

    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai

  3. Zan I’m glad you decided to slow it down. That’s really scary that you pushed yourself to the point of crashing. I know that we always want to do so much and forget to take care of ourselves. Hope you have a relaxing and less stressful holiday season.

  4. So glad you finally realized that you needed to slow down and rest. You made me tired just reading everything that you’ve been doing with your pregnant self.

    My daughter told me that Thanksgiving and Christmas was just too close together and whoever thought up celebrating Thanksgiving so close to Christmas is crazy. ๐Ÿ™‚

    I tend to do most of my shopping online. I don’t have the patience to wait in long checkout lines. And I’ve decided to not get stressed out this holiday season. It’s all about celebrating the birth of Jesus.

    Take care of yourself and I’m with you, I thank God for praying husbands!

    1. I agree with your daughter – I said the same thing to my husband a few weeks ago – so crazy! I like shopping on line, too but sometimes it is tempting to get out when I know the stores are right around the corner and I could get it the very same day. Thanks, Alli!

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