How to Spiritually Reset After a Heavy Season | DAY 1 DEVOTIONAL | How to Reset Spiritually After the Holidays

Morning Emphasis: Renewal, clarity, and fresh alignment after Christmas & New Year

There are moments in our walk with God when we realise that we have come a long way from being the miserable, angry, unfeeling, harsh, stubborn, prideful people we once were.

In fact, as we grow in Christ, we should all now say that we are not sinners, meaning people who willfully and regularly do wrong; we do not make sin our lifestyle. So we are not sinners. We all were sinners, but now, thanks be to God we have been saved by grace. Amen?!

All of us should be able to say today that we are not sinners living in sin. We are believers who may stumble, but sin is no longer our identity or our master. Glory to God.

For indeed, the Bible says in 1 John 1:8–9 (KJV) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…(but) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us…”

So, we have faith in God, and we strive to be obedient to Him at all times. Yet, truth be told, sometimes, sometimes, we get weary, we feel tired, we are ready to give in or give up, we become overwhelmed, confused…all of those negative emotions. And if we don’t encourage ourselves and have someone to speak into our spirits, we will find ourselves going down a slippery slope.

This devotional was prepared for a week ago, but even today, we are still in the first half of the first month of this brand new year. We are just coming out of one of those seasons where this kind of feeling is truly a reality, as much as we are told to speak life.

Whether you were in the kitchen preparing that special breakfast, lunch or dinner, or just hosting friends and family, now, as the New Year races along, you find that you are tired and could now really use a holiday after the holidays, where you can truly rest and recover from all of that.

Some folk are tired of carrying responsibility. Tired of being strong for everyone else. Tired from navigating expectations, seasons, and pressure.

What is interesting to note is that heavy seasons don’t always come from rebellion. Sometimes they come from faithfulness. Everything you did was just expected of you, and you showed up. Now what?

As usual, we can go to the scriptures for encouragement.

David knew this kind of tiredness. He was anointed as king while still a shepherd, but he didn’t step into the throne right away. 

Between the anointing and the crown were years of pressure — running, hiding, fighting, leading men, and managing fear. There were seasons when David was doing what God called him to do, yet his soul became overwhelmed.

In Psalm 42, David speaks honestly about this internal heaviness. In verse 11 (NKJV) he had to speak to himself: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

David didn’t deny his exhaustion. How many of us know some people who keep going and going as if to prove a point to others, only to their detriment? Burnout, stress, heart attack and other illnesses.

David didn’t spiritualize it away. In other words, David did not pretend his weariness or emotional heaviness wasn’t real by covering it with religious language.

He didn’t say things like: “I’m fine, praise the Lord,” when he wasn’t fine. He didn’t say “I shouldn’t feel this way because I love God” or “If I admit this, it means my faith is weak”.

Instead, David acknowledged his inner state honestly before God. He paused, spoke to his soul, and realigned himself with his Father, his Creator, his Helper, his Comforter, his Provider, his Healer, his Deliverer.

Family, that’s what we are talking about today. That is what a spiritual reset looks like. A reset is not quitting. It is recalibration. It is admitting that we have gone off course and then allowing God to realign our hearts, our focus, and our direction.

Again, we go to the Word of God for encouragement. 

We can look at Elijah, who experienced this feeling as well. And his story is even more compelling.

After Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, after fire fell from heaven, after God publicly displayed His power, Elijah should have felt victorious. Instead, he collapsed under the weight of what came next.

Scripture tells us that Elijah ran, sat under a broom tree, and asked God to take his life. Can you image? It was too much for him at the minute. So this was not a prophet in rebellion. This was a servant of God simply burnt out.

1 Kings 19:5–8 (NLT): “Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, ‘Get up and eat!’ He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat some more, for the journey ahead will be too much for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.”

This is such a beautiful story though, because many of us get discouraged when we are condemned by those who we expect would correct and encourage us lovingly. 

Here, God did not rebuke Elijah first. God did not correct him first. God did not send him back into ministry immediately.

Learn this Family: God restored Elijah before redirecting Elijah.

That is critical for anyone coming out of a heavy season. We do not want to hear oh you knew better, oh you shouldn’t have allowed that to happen to you, oh why didn’t you do this or that?!

Sometimes, sometimes, the most spiritual thing God does for us is allow us to stop, be nourished, and be strengthened again. Can we learn something here?

Isaiah speaks to this kind of reset: not forgetting in denial, but releasing what no longer has authority over us.

Isaiah 43:18–19 (NIV) “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way…”

Has anybody already gone through the process of resetting for 2026? 

If so, thank God and please be ready to support someone who hasn’t done so as yet.

And if you’re among those who feel stuck in a heavy season, learn this: you are not late, you are not forgotten. God is still at work. After all, we are still breathing. Hallelujah.

For more, watxh this: How to Spiritually Reset After a Heavy Season