When Your Hope Feels Tired: Finding Encouragement Again

🌿 When Your Hope Feels Tired

(Inspired by Episode 8 of “My Question for You” — Are You Encouraged?)

Someone recently shared a question that stopped me in my tracks:
“Are you encouraged?”

Not “How are you?” or “How’s life?” — but that deeper question that reaches past the surface.

It made me pause. Because encouragement isn’t something we often think about until we realize we’ve run out of it. Even when life is moving in the right direction, our hearts can grow tired. Hope can fade quietly under the weight of routines, responsibilities, and unanswered prayers.

And sometimes, what we need most isn’t another push forward — it’s a holy pause to refill.

The Quiet Kind of Empty

Maybe you’ve been showing up faithfully, doing everything God asked, yet the joy that once fueled you feels dim. You’re still moving, but your spirit’s running on fumes.

You’re not broken. You’re just empty.

The prophet Elijah once felt that way too. After a huge victory — fire from heaven, proof that God was real — fear and exhaustion hit him hard. He ran into the wilderness and said, “I’ve had enough, Lord.”

God’s response wasn’t a lecture. It was a meal.
Bread. Water. Rest.

Sometimes encouragement doesn’t look like a miracle.
It looks like mercy in the ordinary.

✨ A Refill for the Weary Heart

Romans 15:13 offers this prayer:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

That verse holds both a promise and a process.
As we trust, God fills.

Encouragement begins in the space between what we see and what we believe — that quiet confidence that God is still working all things for our good.

How to Refuel Hope This Week

1️⃣ Pause and remember what’s true.
Say it out loud: God is good, and He is working — even here.

2️⃣ Protect your input.
Feed your mind with hope — worship, Scripture, stillness, laughter.

3️⃣ Pass it on.
Encouragement multiplies when you give it away. Send that text, speak that word, share that verse.

Because when you encourage someone else, you often find your own hope rising too.

Romans 12:12 captures it perfectly:

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

That’s how hope stays alive — joy, patience, and prayer in rhythm.

A Moment to Reflect

Write this somewhere you’ll see it:

“Where do I need to see God’s goodness again?”

Then pray:

God of hope, fill me with Your joy and peace as I trust You.
Let my hope overflow again — not because everything’s perfect,
but because You are.

Keep the Conversation Going

If this message met you where you are, you’ll love the full episode of My Question for You — “Are You Encouraged?”
Listen at myquestionforyou.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

✨ Encouragement for your spirit. Wisdom for your walk.