Deciding the Best Time to Retire Prayer
This Deciding the Best Time to Retire Prayer helps you find God’s guidance as you evaluate when the best time is to retire from your job. Prayer is needed to get God’s insights and direction on when to retire because we‘re all in different life situation and we’re all unique.
Deciding the Best Time to Retire Prayer
Dear God, I’m trying to decide when to retire.
I need your divine guidance on knowing the right time for me and my family.
I don’t want to base my decision on the best time to retire on what others do or on a magic formula of years and money.
I now prayerfully lay before you my personal considerations on when to retire:
My stress levels
The needs of my family
My health
My productivity
The changing workplace
My finances
Finding a life purpose in retirement
The best use of my time when retired
The kind of place I want to live when I retire
My continued spiritual growth
A way I can serve others during retirement
A dream or an interest I’ve always wanted to pursue
God, keep reminding me that deciding to retire is a process. Please use this prayer as a continuing conversation between us as I explore what to do and when to do it.
I pray that as I make my decision to retire that you will open my eyes to your good plans for me. And give me peace in my decision as I move toward a new way of life full of joy and satisfaction. Amen.
Why I Wrote This Deciding the Best Time to Retire Prayer
I wrote this prayer on deciding when to retire because I noticed that many people I knew were struggling over it. They all had different reasons for needing God’s guidance about their decision to retire. Here are some of their situations.
Loving the Job but Having a Spouse Who is Already Retired
One my friends couldn’t decide when to retire because she loved her boss and the people she worked with. Even though her husband had retired, she didn’t feel quite ready. Then, when her health status changed, her decision to retire became much easier.
Planning to Work as Long as Possible
On the other hand, I have another friend who is happy with her decision not to retire, even though she’s past the traditional retirement age. Keeping on working suits her, because she’s single and she loves to stay busy. Fortunately, her work hours are flexible. She starts work extremely early and finishes up by the afternoon. This frees up time during the day for her volunteer work, Bible studies and prayer groups.
Feeling a Calling to Something New
Another friend, who has built her own clientele as an independent staff trainer, is in the process of praying about God’s purpose for her retirement. She’s following a step-by-step process of exploration and prayer. So far, she’s been guided to set a date to close her business. Now she’s being very intentional about finding what God has in store for her next. She feels strongly that she has a calling and is awaiting more clarity on what it might be.
Would Continue Working if There Was a Way to Spend Less Hours on the Job
One man had a very demanding career in customer service. He has high energy and is action oriented and there were parts of the job he really enjoyed. However, to get things done he had to work 60 or more hours a week. He ultimately decided to retire based on years of service. But he says, “If I could have worked the same job and only had to spend 40 hours a week on it, I would have kept on working there.”
After he retired, he found that his managerial skills and commitment to customer service were perfect for managing his two short-term vacation rental properties. The hours were very flexible and nowhere as long as the hours needed in his former career.
A Case Study Deciding the Best Time to Retire
Joy Manbeck, one of the board members of our ministry shared the process she went through on making a decision to retire.
Joy says it took about 2 years to make the decision to retire. She loved her banking career of 45 years. She enjoyed her relationship with her clients and co-workers, and most aspects of her job. Then her husband, Bud, retired and began asking her when she was going to retire. She simply wasn’t ready to leave her job. Then her bank was purchased by a credit union and the commercial customers she had previously worked with changed to retail businesses. This change in her workplace and customers caused her to start considering retirement.
Here’s what she wrote about the process of deciding to retire:
Her Personal Concerns about Retirement
Here were some of Joy’s thoughts regarding retirement:
- Will I find enough to do? I like to stay busy – what was I going to do all day at home?
- Would my life have meaning? I like to think I am contributing to things God wants me to do and had to give that one a lot of thought.
- Would my brain begin to shut down if I didn’t work? What would I spend my day thinking about? Would I start watching day-time TV shows and quit thinking all together?
- Would I still have connections with people? I like to spend time interacting and working with people – would I be able to have enough relationships outside of work?
- Would I begin spending money on things I didn’t need – i.e. shopping, expensive lunches with friends, expensive travel, etc.?
When She Finally Set a Date to Retire, Something Came Up at Work
I began diligently praying about all of this for about a year, then in December of 2023, I made the decision to retire after the first of the year 2024. Lo and behold, the week before I was ready to turn in my notice, one of my colleagues walked off the job one day without notice, leaving our boss in a bit of a predicament. I couldn’t bring myself to give notice until my colleague’s role had been filled. In late March, his role was filled, and I gave my 3 month notice to retire by the end of June. I can’t say my boss was happy, but he understood.
Over the next 3 months, we hired and trained my replacement, I re-assigned all of my client relationships to other team members, and I had a smooth departure.
Yes, it was tough saying goodbye to my treasured co-workers and employees, but I was confident I was doing what God wanted me to do and had peace with it.
Life After Retirement
Joy continued her retirement decision story by telling how things are after she finally retired:
Have I been able to stay busy? Yes! Between being my brother’s advocate (he suffered traumatic brain damage several months before my retirement and is in a skilled nursing facility); my involvement at church; my involvement in Rotary; and reconnecting with family and friends, I have not had a dull moment.
I have also been better able to concentrate on other family members, friends, relationships, my personal fitness, and taking care of my home. I have spent much more time studying God’s Word, having a “closet prayer” time each day, and being able to spend more time with my husband. I find myself drawing much closer to God and to Jesus and also to my family and friends.
Bud and I have enjoyed many community service projects through my Rotary club. We have been on two Disaster Relief trips this year to help people in Augusta GA and in Black Mountain, N.C., whose communities suffered greatly from the storms of Helene and Milton. We have seen people being able to re-enter their destroyed homes thanks to the help of many volunteers, to include Rotarians, Samaritan’s Purse, Red Cross, churches, etc. We have met an unbelievable number of people from all over the U.S., who dedicate their time to helping others and have made some lifetime friends.
Am I bored? No! Do I regret retiring? No! This has been a real blessing, and I am grateful to God for giving me this opportunity.
I pray that He will use me in ways I never imagined and look forward to continuing this new chapter of my life!
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