It’s Too Much!

When the Journey Feels Too Much

By Jon from CaringBridge Post (Sept 15, 2025)

There are moments in this journey where the weight of it all feels undeniable.

As we shared previously, last week started off rough and then got even darker as we walked through it. “The fall” significantly impacted the function on the left side of my body. My left arm, left leg, and even the left side of my face were affected. Naturally, this raised alarms for us and invited a flood of negative thoughts.

If I’m being honest, it stirred some dark thoughts in me too, especially around the possibility that this loss of function could be permanent.

In those moments, when everything felt like too much, I was brought back to a powerful story from Scripture. One that felt incredibly personal in this season. I want to share it not just because it encouraged me, but because it speaks so honestly to the reality so many of us face in our hardest moments.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is coming off a mountaintop moment. He had just called down fire from heaven—an incredible display of God’s power. It’s hard to imagine a time when someone should have felt more confident in God’s presence and provision.

And yet, shortly after, Queen Jezebel threatens his life, and Elijah runs.

He flees into the wilderness, overwhelmed and afraid. At one point, he collapses under a tree and falls asleep. An angel wakes him, gives him food, and tells him to eat. Then he sleeps again. Then eats again.

And then comes a line that has stayed with me deeply over these past weeks:

“Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

That truth is striking.
The journey was too much for him.

And in many ways, that’s what this has felt like.

After being strengthened, Elijah travels 40 more days and ends up in a cave, where God meets him. God asks, “What are you doing here?” Elijah responds honestly with his fears, his frustrations, his sense that he cannot go on.

Then God tells him to stand outside, because His presence is about to pass by.

First comes a great wind powerful enough to tear apart mountains.
But God was not in the wind.

Then an earthquake shakes the ground beneath him.
But God was not in the earthquake.

Then a fire blazes through.
But God was not in the fire.

And then… a gentle whisper.

That’s where God was.

Elijah covers his face and steps forward. God asks him again, “What are you doing here?” And Elijah repeats his concerns, but this time, you can sense a shift. A humility. A softening.

What has impacted me most in this story is the contrast. God displays His power in dramatic, undeniable ways, but chooses to meet Elijah in the quiet.

Not in force.
Not in spectacle.
But in a whisper.

Because sometimes, when the journey feels too much, what we need most isn’t more intensity; we need His presence.

This story has been a mirror for me.

There have been moments where the weight, the uncertainty, and the setbacks have felt overwhelming. Moments where the thoughts creep in and try to convince me that it’s too much to carry. And in a way, that part is true. Some journeys are too much for us. But they are never too much for God.