Do you ever struggle to sleep? Ever find yourself lying away, needing to sleep but feeling like you just can’t? It’s something that used to happen to me quite often, and now happens rarely… unless I feel a lot of pressure to sleep.
Lately, I’ve been struggling with feeling pressure to sleep because I want to drive a long-ish way the next day (and driving like that isn’t easy for me). I’ve been putting pressure on myself to fall asleep… and not falling asleep for a very long time, so that I end up not feeling up to safely doing the drive… and getting there a different way.
I’ve been wrestling with it and praying about it, and I haven’t got it all figured out, but I wanted to share some of the thoughts that have been helping.
Years ago, I used to struggle with sleep quite often. I would lie awake, feeling the pressure to fall asleep, until it tensed me up more and more. That does happen now, but not so often. It only really happens now when I know I need a good sleep… which can cause problems! So here are some thoughts:
If I relax about sleep, I probably will sleep eventually. It might even surprise you (like it did me the other night!). My Mum helped a lot when she encouraged me a while ago that I will fall asleep… if I just relax.
God has a plan for tomorrow, and I don’t need to know what it is, but I know He will provide for His children in Christ (you can find out how to be one here). Sometimes it’s in ways I don’t expect. Years ago, I needed to drive to a conference… and got so stressed by the pressure to fall asleep that I didn’t. I woke up worried about what on earth I was going to do now, when I’d barely slept and had to face a challenging drive… and a friend decided to drive me, and combine the conference with a day out! Not only was that a blessing, but the weather that night was awful, and I was so thankful that my experienced friend was the one doing the driving on what could have been a treacherous route! Each time I’ve had a bad night because I’m worried about what will happen tomorrow, God has provided for tomorrow, often in unexpected ways. And it actually wasn’t that big a deal!
I can get really frustrated when I’m trying to sleep, and praying for sleep, and friends are praying too, and still it seems like God won’t answer. The other day, it seemed like God gave me an insight: if He just granted sleep immediately, it would solve the short-term issue, but wouldn’t stop the problem happening again. Maybe He wants to deal with deeper issues that are causing the problem in the first place, leading to longer term breakthrough (and the ability to help others!). When I realised that, I started praying about things beneath the problem, and it helped.
Belonging to God through faith in Jesus as my Saviour and Lord (you can find out how that can be true of you here), I have the assurance that He is with me, He loves me, and He will always provide for my needs. His promises to take care of me whatever happens include provision for lack of sleep… so I can rest my anxious heart in His love. And if I’m lying awake, bringing my heart to Him and remembering His love is a really good thing to do!
A lot of the problems also come from what I’m thinking about. If I’m thinking about how much I need to go to sleep, that’s going to stress me out! Years ago, a friend recommended thinking about a Bible verse as I’m trying to go to sleep. God showed me that it’s like a muscle: my mind will keep trying to go back to other things I want to think about, but I can keep on bringing it back to the Bible verse. I remember multiple times when I’ve been doing that… and woken up surprised by a good stretch of sleep!
I’ve also heard that breathing exercises can be really helpful, and intentionally relaxing. I haven’t got there yet with them, but I think it’s something worth trying (maybe combined with Bible verses!).
For me, I think I need to take the pressure off. It really is okay if I don’t fall asleep. I don’t want to be an dangerous driver, so I have a backup plan for when I don’t think I’m safe behind the wheel, in the hope that the backup plan will help to take the pressure off. The other day, it really worked, and I was so surprised when I woke up in the morning!
A lot of what is causing me not to fall asleep is just the pressure I’m putting on myself to fall asleep. If I relax, I probably will… and if I don’t, God has provision lined up to help me with tomorrow, so I don’t need to worry about it either way! I am His child, and He loves me and He has promised to take care of me, so I really don’t need to worry about tomorrow.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matt 6:34
And I believe that prayer is a really, really powerful thing. I’ve definitely seen breakthrough coming with prayer in Jesus’ Name. It hasn’t always been immediate, maybe because God is dealing with roots. But it has massively helped! I believe that praying for peace in Jesus’ Name is a powerful thing to do!
I’m still on the journey, still figuring this out, but I thought I’d share some thoughts along the way, in the hope that they might help you, too!
Have you ever struggled with sleep? Are there things that have helped you?
For more encouragement about how God’s love can help with anxiety and insecurity, you can get your free ebook for the Girl Who Longs to Know She is Loved, here.
God bless you, and I hope you sleep well! 🙂
(You can read another post about sleep here).
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Caroline Abblitt 
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