A Prayer for the Achiever

This is a prayer for all of us who are Achievers, but who want to Go Rogue. This is a prayer for those of us who want to cease working for worth and recognition, who want to get off the treadmill of comparison and competition, and who want to listen to Jesus, accept His love for us, and obey the next thing He calls us to do.

If you like the prayer below, subscribe to the blog and I’ll send you a free printable of The Achiever’s Prayer.

Dear Daddy,

You are the God who is all-sufficient. You are holy. You are complete. You are the author and perfector of my faith.

I confess that I believe I must hold all of this together. This life. This home. These kids. This husband. This job. This image.

I confess now that I am tired of all the things I carry: the desire to be recognized, the game face I wear that projects perfect confidence, the need to solve all problems, the leaning on myself, and the pushing away of Your love.

So Daddy, I ask for this:

May I be still. May I forsake my goal-pursuit for the goodness of Your character.

May I really understand and know that my worth is worth the life of Your Son, Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for me.

May I be less concerned with the recognition of my image so that I may be more concerned with being recognized as Your image-bearer.

May I connect more and compare less.

May I not compete against myself or others. Instead, let me remember that I am running a race that You set before me. I want to run with cheerful endurance and without nagging weight.

May I move and live slowly enough to hear the sweet, still, small voice of my Jesus. You are powerful enough to shout, roar, or thunder, but You choose to whisper. You whisper so that I might come and sit at Your feet and know You better. You like us to be near to each other.

May I accept Your unconditional love for me.

May I relinquish my need to know, approve of, and understand the big picture. May I relish that You give me one small thing to do, and after it’s completed, you give me another small thing to do.

May I walk with you as I walk with my children, holding hands and taking one small step forward.

May I never confuse achievement with worth, busyness with purpose, or success with identity.

The truth of it is, Daddy, all of these things sound beautiful to my ears, but they’re hard for my heart to hold and my hands to fold in the prayer I want to lift up to You.

The bottom line is that I can’t make myself do any of these things, to believe any of these thoughts, or to live by these ways. This prayer sounds too good to be true and too hard to do. I simply can’t do it.

So I’m left feeling helpless and hopeless.

But God… You can do these things! You can make my hands stop the work so they can start the releasing. You can make my brain slowly accept who I am by understanding who You are. You can make my heart malleable to You, to the people You gave me. You can make my ears hear Your whisper of truth.

You never grab things from me so my work is to hand over all that I carry to You. You never leave me empty so my work is to watch You fill me up. You wait for me to bring You my brokenness, my hurts, my joys, my triumphs, and my failures.

When I have dropped these things at Your feet, and I have sobbed and soaked Your feet with tears, You lift up my chin and speak these words to me:

“I love you. I have always loved you. You are my girl. There is nothing you can do to make me love you more or less. I love you because you are you. And as your Creator, it is my right to do so. Let’s sit here, just you and Me. I will cover you with my wings in the cleft of the rock as the storm rages around you. You are safe with me, and I love you so.”

Amen.