Getting burned out

As I'm sure I've mentioned before on other post my grandma who had a stroke last year and my life as been pretty much on hold right now as I take care of her. But what started out as just making sure she had lunch and her lunch time pills has now become giving her breakfast lunch and dinner along with each set of pills and doing every other thing that the rest of my family needs to be done. and honestly it's really starting to bug me. I feel like I'm always bending backwards for my family but if i need help with something they can't be bothered.
Now I know we are suppose to put others ahead of yourself but is it selfish for me to say i need to do things to focus on me once in a while?
I really feel like I’m drowning

When King David felt oppressed and beat down, he turned to the Lord. The Psalms is full of prayers for strength and support, for a strong arm to lean on when David's own strength has failed him. It is a very human thing to do to want to focus on oneself when feeling abandoned and betrayed. Our Biblical instruction has a somewhat different focus. When these times come we are to focus on the Lord instead. We are to seek solace in His promises, and to realign our perspective according to His priorities.

It's not the advice we want to hear, and it runs contrary to our every inclination. If your actions are in line with Biblical instruction, you can rely on the Lord for the strength of will and emotional stability you need.

And you have sympathetic ears and friends who share your struggles. I'm the primary caregiver for both of my children. I must see to their needs, to the running of the household, to the needs of my wife (whose weekly 50 hour job is a significantly larger income than my own), all while trying to run a business. I am constantly overwhelmed, and (right or wrong) feel like the people most important to me constantly take and never give. Some time spent in prayer and reflection let me realize how blessed I am to have a family that doesn't hate each other and friends who make significant personal sacrifices to spend their time with me.

When I focus on myself, I am sorely tempted to wallow in self-pity and cultivate an unwarranted sense of entitlement. With my focus on the Lord and His provision, it puts things more clearly in perspective and I find He does indeed renew my strength.

mindspike wrote:When King David felt oppressed and beat down, he turned to the Lord. The Psalms is full of prayers for strength and support, for a strong arm to lean on when David's own strength has failed him. It is a very human thing to do to want to focus on oneself when feeling abandoned and betrayed. Our Biblical instruction has a somewhat different focus. When these times come we are to focus on the Lord instead. We are to seek solace in His promises, and to realign our perspective according to His priorities.

It's not the advice we want to hear, and it runs contrary to our every inclination. If your actions are in line with Biblical instruction, you can rely on the Lord for the strength of will and emotional stability you need.

And you have sympathetic ears and friends who share your struggles. I'm the primary caregiver for both of my children. I must see to their needs, to the running of the household, to the needs of my wife (whose weekly 50 hour job is a significantly larger income than my own), all while trying to run a business. I am constantly overwhelmed, and (right or wrong) feel like the people most important to me constantly take and never give. Some time spent in prayer and reflection let me realize how blessed I am to have a family that doesn't hate each other and friends who make significant personal sacrifices to spend their time with me.

When I focus on myself, I am sorely tempted to wallow in self-pity and cultivate an unwarranted sense of entitlement. With my focus on the Lord and His provision, it puts things more clearly in perspective and I find He does indeed renew my strength.

Amen.

mindspike wrote: I'm the primary caregiver for both of my children. I must see to their needs, to the running of the household, to the needs of my wife (whose weekly 50 hour job is a significantly larger income than my own), all while trying to run a business. I am constantly overwhelmed, and (right or wrong) feel like the people most important to me constantly take and never give. Some time spent in prayer and reflection let me realize how blessed I am to have a family that doesn't hate each other and friends who make significant personal sacrifices to spend their time with me.

When I focus on myself, I am sorely tempted to wallow in self-pity and cultivate an unwarranted sense of entitlement. With my focus on the Lord and His provision, it puts things more clearly in perspective and I find He does indeed renew my strength.

Mindspike, quit publishing entries from my diary!

Rickster, I would echo what Mindspike said, and add something from my own experience.

I remember when I was leading worship at our church, and leading the ministry and its people through a very difficult transition. I regularly met with people who disliked and criticized what I was doing and attempted to poison others against the direction the church was going (which I served as the "front man" for).

As time passed, it became emotionally brutal. I started several days by closing my office door, sitting under my desk and crying.

But I also discovered God's unusual grace when I turned to him in worship during those times of desperate pain and pleading. When I stopped relying on my own strength and just accepted my weakness, completely broken before God, I gained an awareness of the fact that I didn't NEED to be strong, or liked or appreciated. I was still involved in carrying out God's plan, and his plan cannot be thwarted.

A few months after some of the worst of my pain, I had stepped down from the position of worship pastor to start Spirit Blade Productions. Looking back on the pain of those months, still fresh in my mind, I wrote the first song for Spirit Blade: Dark Ritual... Necromancy. It included these lyrics:

So let them use me and brutalize me. Let them strip me down and destroy me. Let them mock me. Let them hate me. Let them kill me... you will restore me.

Hang in there, Rickster. For a season you may be broken. But Yahweh is with you in the pain and he will restore you.