Feeling Stretched and Overwhelmed? | Here’s What God Might Be Doing

And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

Comfort vs. Calling: When God Stretches Your Personality

When I stopped working the other day, I left all the documents open on my desk and computer screen that needed my attention the next morning. I knew exactly what I needed to do next, which client I needed to contact to get some clarity on their project, and which chapter I’d be reading to edit next. My online calendar was pulled up, the desk was tidy, and all my other notebooks were in their assigned slot within easy reach. I could have taken a picture.

Perhaps I should have taken a picture, because the next morning came and my nicely-laid plans and ordered schedule took a nose dive into the abyss. I’d slept on my back wrong and while Saturday is typically the day I set aside as a day off, now I had no choice but to stay out of my office chair. By Monday, even with the heating pad as my new BFF, I still was unable to work.

I have a feeling you know exactly what it’s like when life refuses to cooperate with your carefully laid plans. Maybe your wrench looked different from mine this week, but the frustration? That probably sounded familiar.

Just Give Me a Box

I love a little time off as much as the next gal, but I felt such an urgency to get back to my routine. I love helping my clients and writing, and being forced to take three days without the feeling of productivity and checking off some kind of box was about more than I could stand.

I’m not much for adventure, but I love a good box to check off. Having a predictable list in an organized, structured day is the environment in which I thrive. I like to know what I need to do, when it needs to be done, and to see progress from start to voila! I don’t like wrenches, and back pain was throwing a wrench in my plans. The frustration was palpable.

Maybe like me, you thrive on structure, but everything around you feels a bit chaotic and unpredictable. Maybe you need quiet to refuel, but your life has grown loud and demanding. Or maybe you are the helper everyone can rely on, but lately you feel stretched thin and a little resentful that your number seems to always be the first one people text and you are always the one holding everything together.

If that sounds familiar, I want to say this so gently to your heart. The fact that this season feels hard does not mean you are failing. It may simply mean God is shaping you.

Not because He is disappointed in you.

Not because He is punishing you.

Not because you missed it.

But because He loves you enough to grow you.

The Gift of the Stretch

When routines shift and frustrations rise, it causes me to wonder if I’m cut out to be serving the people God sends my way. But the truth is, God knows my wiring. He made me on purpose for a purpose of His design, and He did that fully knowing my personality “quirks.” The same is true for you.

Your strengths and weaknesses, whether you’re a hot mess or always cool as a cucumber, your preferences, what makes you tick, and what makes you overcome with joy are all unsurprising to God. He knows what drains and restores you, where your mind feels stretched and where your heart is tender.

And if you’ve walked with Him for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that He leads us through seasons that cause us to rely completely on Him.

Remind You of Anyone?

It causes me to think of Moses giving God all the reasons he couldn’t do what God was calling him to do in Exodus 3-4. God didn’t want to use Moses in his own strength, but actually wanted to work miracles through Moses to work the release of the Israelites from Pharoah’s control. Moses had to rely on doing only what God directed him to do to see the results God had planned, and it required a level of dependence on God I’m sure Moses had never known before. God wanted a partnership with Moses.

I believe this is a great example for us. No matter what our season looks like, if we can learn to depend on Him for every step, we would find ourselves seeing more of God’s plan come to life in us. He wants to partner with us in His Kingdom plan. Sometimes we want God to change the season we are in. But sometimes God is wanting to develop us, to stretch us, in that season.

In talking with a friend this week, I confessed that I didn’t like stretching. I like it about as much as adventure and change. I love that she disagreed with me about being stretched. She reminded me that the resistance we feel, being pulled beyond what is comfortable, is actually good for us. It helps us to learn new things about ourselves, other people, and about His love for us. Moreover, stretching can be a gift from God, as we become more reliant on Him and less dependent on what we can do in our own strength. It is part of healthful preparation.

And I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go [unless forced to do so],
no, not by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt
with all My wonders which I will do in it; and after that he will let you go.
And I will give this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians;
and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
Exodus 3:19-21

When the Enemy Uses Your Wiring Against You

One of the quickest ways to get discouraged is to start believing that the struggle you are facing or the ways you are needing to stretch are evidence that something is wrong with you or you’ve missed God’s direction.

If you love order and predictability, the enemy will tell you that you aren’t safe when you can’t control the outcome. If you are sensitive and deeply feeling, he will tell you your emotions prove God is far away. If you are driven and responsible, he will tell you that if you stop striving, everything will fall apart. If you are a helper, he will tell you that love means overextending and that rest is selfish. And if you find yourself falling in more than one category, his lies are easily compounded and just as relentless.

He does not need a new strategy. He just needs you to interpret this season as proof that you are not enough, you’ll never find success or joy in God’s plan for your life, or that you don’t hear God at all.

But that is not God’s voice.

God may correct you. He may redirect you. He may convict you. But He will not crush you with shame, accuse you, or speak to you with contempt.

So before you assume you are failing, pause and ask yourself, Is this God leading me, or is this pressure driving me?

God is a loving Father who wants to see His children successfully walking out the call He has on their lives with joy, peace, freedom, and every fruit of the Spirit evident! Here is what God’s Word says about how God directs us:

And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way;
walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:21

A Moment I Remember Clearly

There have been seasons when I felt out of sync with my own life. I was doing all the right things, but I did not feel steady on the inside. I was carrying a lot and trying not to let anyone see how heavy it felt.

I remember sitting with my journal and writing down the events of that day. As I listened for what God had to say, He told me not to worry about anything. I argued back that I wasn’t worried. I was being a good, faithful daughter trusting God’s plan for my life. But He didn’t correct Himself.

In my desire to want to live well, honor God, and check off all the boxes, I was deeply and unknowingly worried. I didn’t want to let anyone down – not my clients, my husband, or God. There was clearly an undercurrent of self-imposed pressure I was carrying instead of releasing it all to God in complete trust and surrender.

And in His simple words, “Do not worry about anything,” He was reminding me that if I wasn’t intentionally releasing my concerns to Him, I might be unintentionally holding some of them to myself.

Cast Your Cares

When you go fishing, you cast your line in the water. Cast means to throw or launch. I used to go fishing with my husband all the time. If I made a good cast, it was usually fairly far away from me where the fish couldn’t see or hear me (I’m not usually “hear a pin drop” quiet when I fish). That is the way I think about the scripture in 1 Peter 5:7, when God tells us to cast our cares on Him. He wants us to throw them far from us, not deposit them neatly at our feet so we can pick them back up in a few minutes.

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries,
all your concerns, once and for all] on Him,
for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
1 Peter 5:7

What the Lord reminded me of was simple.

You are not doing this alone.

Sometimes we forget that part. We pray, and then we still carry everything like it depends entirely on us. We love God, but we live like the outcome is our responsibility.

Friend, partnership with God does not remove your responsibility, but it does remove the pressure of carrying it alone.

Comfort Is Not the Same as Peace

There is a man in Scripture who had been sick for thirty eight years. That is a long time to be stuck in the same place. A long time to wake up to the same limitation. A long time to feel overlooked.

When Jesus came to him, He asked a question that seems almost too simple.

“Do you want to get well?”

Jesus was not being insensitive. He knew how long the man had been that way. He saw him. He noticed him. He cared. But Jesus was also inviting him to imagine a different life.

Sometimes Jesus asks us questions like that.

Do you want to be free from survival mode?
Do you want to stop living from pressure and start living from peace?
Do you want to keep shrinking back, or do you want to step into what God is calling you to do?

Some of us have gotten used to the way things have been. Even if we say we want change, we are afraid to hope again. Afraid to try again. Afraid that disappointment will hurt too much.

So we settle. We may call it peace, but it is really familiarity.

Jesus does not shame the stuck places in us. He simply invites us to step into something new.

The Stretch Often Targets What You Rely on Most

This is something I have learned over and over.

God often stretches the very area we lean on most because He is inviting us to lean harder on Him.

One day last week, I was driving to pick up a curbside order. The traffic was horrendous and my patience was exhausted. I was flustered and fussing as car after car passed in front of me while I waited for an appropriate clearing to turn right. I could tell I was just downright mad, and there was no reason for it. The correction came quietly but clearly. “Patience is a fruit of My Spirit.”

I wish I could say He only told me once. But He had to tell me twice.

What a good God we serve! He loves us enough to correct us as often as we need it. In that moment, I needed calm. He taught me patience.

When you need clarity, He teaches trust.
When you need control, He teaches surrender.
When you need comfort, He teaches courage.
When you need to feel capable, He teaches dependence.

That is why a season can feel so uncomfortable. It is not always because you are off track. It may be because God is close enough to lead you differently than you would lead yourself. He is stretching us, molding us, wanting to make us more like Him and more surrendered to His call as we partner with Him in every season.

The Bellows of Faith in an Ordinary Life

One of the images God has used to teach me about faith is a fire. A fire does not stay strong on accident. If you ever sat around a firepit, you know it. The flames can be beautiful, but if you leave them unattended, the fire fades to embers.

Sometimes our faith feels like that. Not gone, but dim. Still there, but struggling.

And in those moments, what do you do?

You breathe life back into it.

You do not need a performance. You need a steady breath of Truth. You need to bring your heart back into agreement with what God says, not what the season is shouting.

That is what I mean when I say partnership over pressure. It is the choice to stop striving in your own strength and start paying attention to God’s presence in your everyday life.

One Obedient Step Changes Everything

The enemy loves to overwhelm you with the whole picture. He wants you spiraling in the what ifs, the hows, and the timelines.

But God often speaks in the next step.

Not the whole plan.
Not the ten-year blueprint.
The next instruction.

So here are three questions I want you to sit with today. You can write them in a journal or answer them quietly in prayer.

1. What is one thing God has already told me to do that I have delayed?
2. What is one small step I can take this week in faith, even if I feel nervous?
3. What lie is this season trying to plant in me, and what is God’s Truth?

This is where faith becomes practical. Not flashy. Not complicated. Just simple.

A Gentle Next Step for Women Who Feel Stretched

If this resonated with you and you’re wondering what one practical next step looks like, I created a simple digital resource called God in the Everyday. It’s not a program or a checklist — it’s just a gentle guide to help you notice where God is already present in your ordinary, stretched, imperfect day. You can find it here. 👉 Get God in the Everyday here: https://hollydmurray.com/product/god-in-the-everyday/

And if you love visual reminders of truth on an ordinary day, you can browse the mugs and shirts in my shop here: https://hollydmurray.com/shop-2/

If you are not just stretched but carrying something heavy, I also want you to know my book Believing for a Miracle was written from a very real place. It is for the woman who loves God, knows He can, and is learning to trust Him when the need feels urgent and the process feels long. You can find it here. 👉 https://amzn.to/4tYEYUE

Let’s Talk, My Friend

I do not want this to be a place where you only read and move on. I want it to be a place where we grow together. So here is a simple question.

Which feels hardest for you right now?

1. interruptions and unpredictability
2. trusting God hasn’t forgotten what I’m believing for
3. obedience that costs you comfort

Reply with 1, 2, or 3 in the comments. If you want, add one sentence about why. You might be surprised how many of us are in the same place.

I’d also like to invite you to share this post with those you love. Others may appreciate the encouragement as much as I appreciate knowing this message has blessed your heart.

Closing Encouragement

Before you close this page, take a deep breath.

God is not asking you to become a different person. He is inviting you to become a deeper one. One who knows to Whom they can run when they need to be carried or encouraged, to get a fresh Word to know they are on the right track.

Your personality is not the problem. The pressure to carry life alone is the problem.

So today, choose partnership over pressure. Choose one obedient step over a fully-fleshed-out perfect plan. And if this season feels uncomfortable, do not assume you are off track. It may simply mean God is stretching you or leading you somewhere new.

Prayer:

Father, thank You that You know me completely and still call me lovingly. Thank You that my personality is not a mistake and my limits are not shameful. Help me recognize where the enemy is using this season to plant lies in my mind, and give me wisdom to replace them with Your Truth. Teach me to choose partnership over pressure and to obey You one step at a time. Give me peace as You lead me, and courage to follow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

References:

All Scripture quotations unless otherwise marked are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright ©1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are from the Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

---

For more about faith and believing for the impossible, get Holly’s book, Believing for a Miracle available in paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon.

---

---

---