When Your Soul Is Too Tired to Carry Everything
How God meets you in exhaustion and begins restoring your strength
Hey there! I’m Chris McKinney and I write this newsletter. My hope and prayer is that this article encourages you. If it does, consider supporting my work by sending me coffee (every drop helps) or subscribing below.
About a year ago I stepped into a new role as Executive Pastor.
New church. New staff dynamics. New weight.
I wanted to do it well. I wanted to support my lead pastor faithfully. I wanted to lead with strength and calm. At the same time, my wife and I were adjusting to a move that meant leaving people we love. I was trying to stay connected to friends who felt left behind while also building trust in a new place.
I told myself I was fine.
But some evenings I would sit in my office after everyone left and just stare at the screen. Not because I had more to do. Because I felt empty in a way I could not explain.
Maybe you know that kind of tired.
You are not falling apart. You are still showing up. People still rely on you.
But something inside feels worn thin.
You pray, yet the words feel heavy.
You worship, yet your heart feels quiet.
And somewhere deep down, a question forms.
Why does this feel harder than I thought it would?
For a while I assumed I needed better time management. More discipline. A stronger mindset.
Then I noticed something I had read many times before.
Elijah.
Right after one of the greatest public victories of his life, he runs into the wilderness and collapses under a broom tree. In 1 Kings 19 he tells God he has had enough.
That part always stood out to me.
What I had not slowed down to see was what God did next.
He did not correct Elijah.
He let him sleep.
He sent food.
He let him sleep again.
Only after rest came direction.
“Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
The journey is too great for you.
Not because you are weak.
Because you are human.
Jesus later says in Matthew 11:28,
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Rest is not a reward for strength. It is a gift for the weary.
Isaiah writes that God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Strength returns to those who admit they need it.
Psalm 23 says He restores my soul.
Restores.
That word assumes depletion.
Maybe your exhaustion is not a sign you are failing.
Maybe it is evidence you have been carrying more than you were meant to carry alone.
Maybe God is not disappointed in your fatigue.
Maybe He is inviting you closer in it.
There have been mornings this year when I have sat quietly before the day begins. No planning. No fixing. No asking for outcomes.
Just sitting.
At first it feels unproductive. Then something shifts. I remember I am a son before I am a leader. Loved before I am useful.
You are loved before you are useful.
If your soul feels tired, you are not behind. You are not disqualified. You are not spiritually immature.
You may simply be at the edge of your own strength.
And that is often where His presence becomes clearest.
Instead of pushing harder this week, consider coming closer.
Instead of proving something, consider resting.
The shepherd still leads weary people to green pastures.
And you are not failing.
You are being gently restored.
Thank you so much for your teaching especially from mtt11:28 and 1 kung 19 be blessed please continue sending we need your support pastor with transport rent kindly pray for us
Thank you.