Working Hard vs. Powering Through: How To Lean Into God’s Strength In Life’s Demands

Discover the difference between working hard and powering through, and learn how to lean into God’s strength with peace, rest, and purpose.

For over six years now, I’ve lived with debilitating insomnia.

If you’ve ever walked through a season of sleep deprivation, you know it doesn’t just affect your nights. It seeps into every part of your days.

There were mornings I woke up already exhausted, blurry-eyed before the day even began, with two little boys who still needed breakfast, attention, and love. There were errands to run, a business to tend, meals to cook, people to care for.

And I had no energy for any of it.

People would sometimes ask, “How do you do it?” And the truth was, I didn’t have a choice. Life didn’t stop just because I was (really, really, really) tired…so I powered through.

But let me tell you, powering through came at a cost. It felt like walking around as a fragile glass ball, balancing on the very tip of a rock on a mountain. The tiniest gust of wind – a sick child, a late bill, another sleepless night – could send me shattering into pieces.

That’s the danger of powering through. You can look like you’re “managing,” but inside you’re spinning, burning out, living with a constant undercurrent of “not enough.”

I’ve lived there. And if you’ve felt scattered, drained, or weighed down, maybe you’ve lived there too.

God’s Good Design for Work

Somewhere along the way, I started to confuse powering through with working hard. But they’re not the same thing.

Work was never meant to be a curse. In fact, Genesis 2:15 tells us, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Work was part of God’s good design, woven into creation before sin entered the world. The Hebrew word often used for “work” is avad, which doesn’t just mean labor – it also means “to serve” or even “to worship.”

Work, at its core, is meant to be worship – a daily offering back to God, not just a task list to conquer.

When I think back on the times I’ve worked hard in God’s strength, there’s been purpose, meaning, and even peace.

Tired, yes. But it was a good tired. Like the kind you feel after cooking a meal for a friend or finishing a project that mattered. Work can be deeply satisfying because it flows from who God made us to be.

And God, in His kindness, even built rest into His design. “On the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested” (Genesis 2:2). Rest reminds us that we’re not the ones holding the world together – He is.

Sabbath isn’t wasted time – it’s worship. Just like tithing means giving God the first of our finances and trusting He’ll provide the rest, Sabbath means giving God one full day of rest and trusting He’ll help with the long, unfinished list of work that remains.

It’s an act of surrender. Even when the to-do list feels looming and endless, we’re invited to stop striving and remember that the world keeps turning because He is God, not because we are.

What Powering Through Looks Like

Powering through feels different.

• It’s waking up already empty and telling yourself, “I just need to push harder.”
• It’s living as if everything depends on you: “If I don’t do this, no one else will.”
• It’s shoving down your physical, mental, and emotional needs and white-knuckling your way through the day.
• It’s saying yes when your soul is screaming for margin.
• It’s pushing past the warning lights of your body, mind, and spirit, insisting that sheer grit will be enough.

And on the surface, it can look a lot like faithfulness. You’re still showing up doing good things. You’re still caring for people. You’re still working hard.

But the inner experience is completely different.

• Instead of peace, there’s pressure.
• Instead of leaning on God, you’re leaning on yourself.
• Instead of being rooted in worship, you’re rooted in fear, pride, or control.

The result? Exhaustion, emptiness, and burnout.

I lived in that place for years with my insomnia (and other things, too).

And honestly? Sometimes I still slip back into it. I don’t always know how (or where) to stop. But the Lord has been gently teaching me another way.

Shifting Toward Working Hard in God’s Strength

I can’t point to a single turning point, but somewhere in the slow, weary slog of the last few years, the Lord began shifting my heart.

I’m still tired most days. I still have limits. But there’s been a deep shift from striving to acceptance. From powering through in my own strength to working hard in His.

Now, instead of feeling like that fragile glass ball ready to shatter, I feel more like clay in the Potter’s hands – still fragile, but held. Still with limited capacity, but steady. Grounded.

The striving, the drama, the frantic desperation have quieted. I’m not saying I’ve figured it all out (I haven’t), but I can tell you this: there’s a big difference between working in my weakness leaning into His strength and trying to ignore my weakness and work from my own strength.

Jesus said in John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

When I work apart from Him, I unravel. But when I stay connected to Him, even in my limits, I find strength, peace, and purpose that aren’t my own.

Living With Open Hands

When I power through, my hands are tight-fisted. I grip harder, clench tighter, and live as if everything depends on me.

It’s a posture of scarcity, like a black hole that is never satisfied. There’s never enough time, energy, or strength.

But open-handed living looks different. Open hands are a posture of surrender, ready to release control and receive whatever the Lord gives.

They’re connected to Him, trusting His provision, and content with His pace. It’s an invitation to believe that what He gives will always be enough, even if it looks different than what I planned.

Questions to Help You Discern the Difference

The line between working hard and powering through isn’t always clear. At women’s Bible study last week, someone shared how, as an introvert, she struggles to balance being present in community with recharging her social battery alone. She wondered when saying no was wise and when it was selfish.

Her words struck me because they highlight how complicated this can feel. What is God calling me to? When should I say yes? When should I say no?

When I feel myself drifting back to powering through, here are some questions I’ve found helpful to consider:

• How does this work honor, glorify, or worship the Lord?
• Am I working from God’s strength or from my own? (Philippians 4:13)
• How am I experiencing this work – how do I feel before, during, and after?
• Is this “yes” rooted in love and obedience, or fear and control?
• Does this rhythm honor God’s design for both work and rest? (Exodus 20:8–11)
• Am I carrying this burden alone, or am I inviting others to share it with me? (Galatians 6:2)
• Does this decision flow from community and interdependence, or isolation and self-reliance?
• Am I striving for control, or surrendering this to God’s timing and care?
• Does this work leave me with peace and contentment, or anxiety and striving?
• Am I listening for God’s nudges in this, or just pushing forward because “it has to get done”?
• Am I serving from love, or from a hidden hope that someone will notice my effort?
• Am I honoring my God-given limits, or ignoring them to keep up appearances?

A Blessing for You

If your heart feels weary and your shoulders heavy, may you remember this: your work was never meant to be a burden you carry alone.

May you experience the joy of work as worship – an offering of love back to the One who created you.

May you sense His nearness in the middle of your ordinary tasks, His Spirit strengthening what feels weak, His peace calming what feels scattered.

May your work feel less like striving and more like being held – grounded, steady, and content in Him.

And may you hear the voice of Jesus whispering again and again:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (ESV)