What Is Your Stress Trying to Tell You?

October 4, 2026

What Is Your Stress Trying to Tell You?

In John 16:33, Jesus tells us, “In this world you will have trouble.” But He also tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world. Through faith in Him, we can stand strong in the middle of trouble.

Stress is something we all experience. Paul described the hardships and pressure he faced in 2 Corinthians 11:25–29. Even Jesus experienced deep anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:34).

How we respond to stress matters.

Do we keep pushing harder, or do we pause to understand what the pressure is telling us?

Have you ever watched a young child play with this toy? 

They pick up the star and try to push it through the triangle opening. They turn it sideways. Try another angle. Push a little harder.

Eventually, the child may get frustrated and just walk away.

You can see what they haven’t discovered yet: The resistance they are experiencing comes from trying to fit a star where a triangle belongs.

Sometimes, I wonder how often we do the same thing in medicine.

We keep pushing. Working harder. Trying to become whatever the position, the system, or someone else’s expectations require.

And when we feel exhausted or unfulfilled, we assume the problem is us.

Maybe I’m not strong enough. Maybe I’m not good enough. Maybe I need to try harder.

But what if trying harder isn’t the answer?

What if we need to pause and ask whether the way we’re practicing still fits the purpose God placed within us?

Resistance is a signal. But it doesn’t tell us the whole story.

My pastor shared an illustration this past weekend that spoke to me.

When your car’s check engine light comes on, does it tell you exactly what’s wrong?

No. It tells you something needs attention. You still have to investigate why.

Exhaustion. Strained relationships. Lost joy. A fading sense of purpose.

These are signals that something needs attention. Something may be out of alignment or not working as God designed.

My pastor then brought up a great point about stress: Stress is the signal. We need to learn why the signal was triggered.

As he walked through Scripture, he described two common reasons for the stress signal to light up.

First, we may be carrying something that wasn’t ours to carry, such as the weight of what will happen in the future. Instead of trusting God, we take that weight upon ourselves and add unnecessary pressure.

Second, we may not have the capacity to carry the pressure we’re under. We have too much on our plate and too little nourishment and rest to sustain us.

He continued, “Most of the stress in our lives is a signal that we are ignoring God’s principles.”

Wow. That is so well said!

The signal of stress doesn’t automatically mean you’ve missed God’s calling or you’re on the wrong path. But, just like the check engine light, you have to examine it to understand what’s wrong before you can address it.

Sometimes we need to restore our capacity through rest, support, healthier boundaries, or changes in our working environment.

Sometimes we need to let go of weight we were never meant to pick up. The burden of determining your patient’s outcome is not yours to carry. The responsibility for your employer’s business choices, which leave you trudging through obstacle after obstacle to help the patient sitting in front of you, is not yours to carry.

Sometimes we are carrying the weight the wrong way, placing far more load on ourselves than necessary.

And sometimes, like the star being pushed into the triangle opening, we are forcing ourselves down a path God is inviting us to reconsider.

So how do we know what needs to change?

We have to look beyond the resistance and examine what is creating it.

Think back to the first time you were excited to go into medicine.

Maybe you were four years old, and it was your absolute dream. Maybe it was the day you were accepted into medical school. Or maybe a heartbreaking loss stirred a desire to help someone else avoid that same disease.

What was the vision?

What did you hope your work would make possible for the people you would care for?

Now consider what you’re carrying today.

Are you carrying the responsibility to care faithfully for the person in front of you? Or have you also picked up the expectation that you must have every answer, prevent every loss, and control every outcome?

Are you using your gifts and talents to serve, or exhausting yourself trying to meet expectations that leave no room for how God created you to serve?

Somewhere along the way, we can confuse our calling with the weight we’ve attached to it.

We were called to care, so we begin carrying everything.

We were called to help, so we believe we must fix everything.

We were called to medicine, so we assume every demand placed upon us must be ours to fulfill.

Then we wonder why we feel so much resistance.

Like the child with the toy, we keep adjusting theangle and pushing harder without stopping to examine what we’re trying to fit together.

This is where partnership with God changes how we practice.

We can bring Him both our calling and our pressures.

Father, what have You asked me to carry? What have I picked up that belongs to You, or to someone else? Where do I need to receive support? Where do I need to change how I’m working?

Your clinical responsibility matters. You examine, investigate, make decisions, communicate, and follow through. You faithfully use the knowledge and skills you’ve developed.

But you can do those things in partnership with God, trusting Him with what extends beyond your responsibility and control.

You can ask for wisdom without expecting yourself to know everything.

You can care deeply without making every outcome a measure of your worth.

You can acknowledge your limits and receive the rest, nourishment, and help you need.

And you can allow Him to reshape expectations that have been shaping you.

The goal is to practice in a way that aligns with who God created you to be and what He has called you to do.

That gives us a better starting point for deciding whether to persevere or pivot.

Sometimes perseverance means continuing the work while learning to carry it differently.

Sometimes a pivot means releasing an expectation, setting a boundary, or changing the environment in which you serve.

Either way, the next step begins by understanding the why behind the signal alert.

This week, when you feel that familiar pressure, pause before telling yourself to push harder.

Ask God:

What is this signal revealing?

Am I carrying something that isn’t mine?

Does my capacity need care and restoration?

Am I trying to force myself into expectations that don’t fit Your purpose for me?

The child sees an opening and assumes the answer is to keep pushing.

You have the opportunity to stop, listen, and let God help you understand what needs to change.

You don’t have to abandon your calling to put down a burden that never belonged to you.

You are not alone. You were designed for partnership with Him.

If you want to learn more about how to Align in God’s original design for you as a child of God called into a beautiful vocation in medicine, check out the free Align with God Training and Companion Guide found on our website.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

— Psalm 139:23-24 NIV