When Ministry Starts Affecting Your Body

In my early days of ministry, I remember telling people that stress is natural, it’s just a part of the job when you are in ministry. You carry it. You pray through it. You push past it. That’s just what pastors do.

But somewhere along the way, I began to notice something I just couldn’t ignore anymore. And it wasn’t just something that was in my thoughts. It wasn’t just emotional. It was physical. 

Truthfully, I wasn’t sleeping very well, and some days I found myself being a little more irritable than I wanted to admit. Even when I had a day off, it didn’t actually feel like a day off. And I just pushed through it all, because in my head, this was just normal.

But here’s the hard truth that I had to learn the hard way. 

YOUR BODY WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH 

THAT YOUR MIND IS TRYING TO MANAGE.

For me it led to a time of burn out, and in 2020 just after covid, I had a heart attack and had to have two stents put in. All of this happened by the way, while I was on vacation. There’s a weird irony in that.

As pastors, early on, we learn to push through. We show up when we’re tired. We enter into people’s pain and sometimes carry their burdens. We step into crisis after crisis and then we rinse and repeat.

What happens over time, is that we get used to operating at a level that just isn’t healthy. And here’s the thing, your body doesn’t handle all this the same way your mind does. Your body keeps score. And over time you may notice that somethings begin to happen:

• You begin to have trouble sleeping.

• You experience constant fatigue.

• You may have headaches and carry tension

• There can be shortness of breath.

• You become irritable, and your fuse becomes short.

• You feel drained, even after rest.

• You begin to experience a low-grade anxiety that you never can quite explain.

And if we’re not careful, we’ll just label it all as “ministry.” We can even start to believe this lie, that “If I slow down, things will fall apart.” So, we keep on pushing. We keep saying yes, and we ignore the signals. Not because we’re careless, but because we are committed. 

But we need to remember, there is a difference being faithful, and being overloaded. And sometimes we don’t even notice that we have crossed the line until our body causes us to pay attention. 

We spend our lives caring for other people spiritually, and at the same time, ignoring ourselves. Here’s the thing, we are not “ministry machines.”  We are people with limits. Remember, even Jesus stepped away. Even Jesus rested. Even Jesus didn’t meet every demand place before Him. I often wonder why we seem to feel that’s not an option for us?

So, if you are reading this and thinking “That might just be me,” let me say this to you clearly. You don’t have to wait till you are burned out. You don’t have to wait until you have a heart attack. (They are not fun!) You don’t have to wait until your body forces a shut down.

Here a few simple things to consider if you are experiencing stress in your life”

1. Acknowledge it honestly. Don’t minimize what you are feeling. You are not weak. You are not failing. You are human!

2. Tell someone. Don’t carry this by yourself. Talk to a trusted friend. Get in touch with us at Pastor to Pastor. We understand ministry life. You were never meant to process in isolation.

3. Get checked if needed. Sometimes what we call “stress” can have serious physical implications. It is not a lack of faith to take care of your health.

4. Look at your schedule. Not everything you are carrying is yours to carry. Some things need to be delegated. Some things need to be delayed. And some things may need to be let go.

5. Give yourself permission to rest. Rest is not a reward for finishing things. It’s a rhythm you need in order to keep going.

FINAL THOUGHT

Many pastors feel things in their body long before they are willing to admit that something is off.  So, we push through, we show up, and we keep telling ourselves that we are fine, until we’re not.

Here’s the thing, if your body is trying to get your attention... listen! You may just be carrying an unhealthy load. And it just may be time to do something about it.

At Pastor to Pastor, we have these conversations with pastors all the time. Take some time and look over our website, read some of the blogs, listen to some of the podcasts, and look at what we have to offer. We are pastors who love pastors and appreciate what you do for the kingdom. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.