Reflection & Prayer Prompts

Own Your Time, Own Your Energy

Personal Reflection Questions

Take time to sit with these questions. Don't rush to answers—let them work on you.

1. Where has your steering wheel been hijacked? Think about the major areas of your life—work, family, ministry, relationships. Where do you feel like other people's demands are directing where you go, rather than your own choices and priorities?

2. If you did a real audit of your time this past month, where did it actually go? Not where you wanted it to go. Not where you told yourself it was going. Where did it actually land? What does that reveal about what's really in control?

3. Who or what fills your tank—and when did you last prioritize them? Think about the relationships and activities that genuinely restore you. Are they getting time on your calendar, or are they getting whatever's left over (which might be nothing)?

4. Who or what drains you—and what have you done about it? Be honest about the conversations, relationships, or obligations that consistently leave you depleted. Have you put any boundaries around them, or have you just absorbed the drain?

5. Where is your helping not actually helping? Think about somewhere you've been investing time and energy to help someone. Has the situation improved? If not, what does that mean about how you're helping?

6. When you say yes, what's usually driving it? Is it genuine desire and alignment with your priorities? Or is it guilt, fear, obligation, the need to be liked, or avoidance of conflict? Be honest with yourself.

7. Are you tired—or burned out? Tired gets cured by rest. Burnout comes from something being misaligned—loss of control, disconnection, living someone else's agenda. Which describes you right now? What might need to change?

8. If you fully owned your time and energy for the next year, what would you stop doing? What would you start? Imagine you had permission to redesign your life. What would go? What would come in? What does your answer reveal about what's been missing?

Guided Prayer Language

Use these prayers as they are, or let them guide you into your own words.

A Prayer for Permission

God, I confess that I've believed taking care of myself is selfish. I've run on empty because I thought that's what love required. I've said yes when I meant no, given when I had nothing left to give, and let others direct my life while neglecting what matters most.

Give me permission today to steward my time and energy well. Help me believe that caring for myself is not opposed to caring for others—it's what makes it possible. Show me what needs to change. Give me wisdom to know when to say yes and when to say no.

I don't want to live reactively anymore. I want to live on purpose. Help me take back the steering wheel—not to be selfish, but to go where you're leading.

Amen.

A Prayer for Those Who Are Depleted

Lord, I'm running on empty. I don't know how I got here—maybe slowly, maybe suddenly—but there's nothing left. I'm exhausted in ways that sleep doesn't fix. I'm giving to others from a tank that's been dry for a while now.

I need your restoration. Not just rest, but realignment. Show me what's been draining me that shouldn't be. Show me what I've been neglecting that I need. Help me stop pretending I'm fine when I'm not.

Give me courage to ask for help, to set limits, to say the honest thing even when it's uncomfortable. And where I've been burned out by living someone else's expectations instead of your calling, bring me back to what you made me for.

I trust that you want more for me than just surviving. Help me find my way back to thriving.

Amen.

A Prayer About Helping

God, I want my helping to actually help. I've spent time and energy trying to love people well, but I'm not sure it's been working. Some of what I've called love might actually be fear—fear of conflict, fear of being seen as uncaring, fear of what will happen if I don't step in.

Show me where I've been enabling rather than empowering. Show me where my generosity has allowed problems to continue instead of helping people grow. Give me the wisdom to know the difference between supporting someone and carrying what they need to carry themselves.

I still want to be a giver. But I want to give wisely—in ways that produce real fruit, not just in ways that make me feel needed. Help me love people enough to set limits, to tell the truth, and to trust that you're working in their lives even when I step back.

Amen.

Optional Journaling Prompts

If you want to process further, try writing in response to one or more of these:

1. Write about a time you said yes when you knew you should have said no. What happened? What drove your yes? What did it cost you? What would you do differently now?

2. Describe your ideal week—one where your time and energy went to what actually matters. What's on the calendar? What's not? Who's in your week? What's different from how things are now?

3. Write a letter to yourself from five years ago about boundaries. What do you wish you had known? What patterns were forming that you couldn't see yet? What would you tell your past self?

4. List everything that drains your energy—then categorize it. Which drains are necessary and unavoidable? Which are optional and could be limited? Which are patterns you've accepted that don't have to be permanent?

5. Imagine explaining your current schedule to someone who knows nothing about your life. Would it make sense? Would it look like the life of someone who knows their priorities? What would confuse them?

6. Write about what you're afraid will happen if you start setting boundaries. What's the worst case? Is that realistic? What might actually happen instead?

7. Describe the version of yourself who has healthy boundaries around time and energy. What does that person's week look like? How do they respond to requests? What's different about their life?