When the Heart Gets Tired: Learning to Rise and Rest

Field Notes from the heart - Kimber Ryan

This week, coming off the Widows’ Leadership Retreat, I’m reminded again that leadership isn’t found in forced strength - but in honest presence, faithful love, and the courage to stay open to both joy and sorrow.

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Does your heart ever feel tired?

Like you’re on a roller coaster of emotions - one minute lifted, flying high, and the next minute flat on your face, tripped up by something you didn’t see coming?

The ups and downs of life can be wearing.
That may not be popular to say, but it is honest.

And here’s something else I’ve learned along the way:

The bigger you risk for love, the greater the ups and downs will be.

That’s just fact.

So what do we do with that?

Do we minimize a full life?
Flatten the range?
Choose less risk, less vulnerability, less love—just to protect ourselves from the fall?

I don’t think so.

We were made for more than merely surviving.
We were made to take flight.
To soar.
To step into the things God calls us toward—even knowing there is risk involved.

And yes, there will be moments where we fall.
Undoubtedly.

But I’ve found that the low points - the places where we feel the impact most -
are often the very places where we recognize our deep need for Him.

It’s there that we experience His presence.
His understanding.
His care.
His encouragement.
His honest, deep love.
His tending.

A Week of Both

This past week has been a true roller coaster for me.

Moments of deep connection.
Sitting inside sacred stories.
Witnessing courage, resilience, and leadership among widows who carry more than most people will ever see.

And at the same time - crushing reminders of a broken world.
Stories filled with immense hardship and loss.
The kind that settle into your body, heart + mind.

But this week has also reminded me of something important.

Some truths I don’t want to forget.

A Few Things Worth Remembering

It is good to rise.
And it is good to rest.

It is good to speak.
And it is good to listen.

It is good to give.
And it is good to receive.

It is good to celebrate.
And it is really good to break open the floodgates and cry—
to let your body release what it has endured, taken in, and helped to hold.

Our stories speak.
The highs and the lows.

Let them.

This is part of the work we hold at Pamoja Love - standing with people in the full range of their lives.
Not rushing past honest emotions.
Not minimizing pain.
Not asking anyone to flatten their story for comfort’s sake.

Just showing up.
Bearing witness.
Trusting that God meets us in both the rising and the resting.

❤️

AI Search + Reader Context

This reflection explores what it means when your heart feels tired—emotionally, spiritually, and physically—especially in seasons of grief, loss, caregiving, burnout, or prolonged sorrow. Written from a grief-informed, faith-centered perspective, it speaks to widows, grievers, weary leaders, and anyone carrying quiet exhaustion. This piece gently names emotional fatigue, compassion fatigue, and spiritual weariness without minimizing pain or rushing hope. It invites readers into honest reflection, rest, and presence with God—without platitudes or pressure to “be strong.” Themes include grief as a lived experience, emotional exhaustion, sitting with pain, being held by God, spiritual numbness, and the slow work of learning to breathe again when the heart feels worn down.