When You Cannot Fix It: Rest for the Weary Soul
Peace in His Presence: Hope for the Anxious Heart
Release Date: 06/01/2026
Peace in His Presence: Hope for the Anxious Heart
Have you ever felt like it was simply safer to stay small? Maybe you've been putting off that dream, avoiding difficult conversations, or quietly convincing yourself that "someday" will be a better time. Maybe you've learned to hide in ways that don't even look like hiding anymore. In this episode of Peace in His Presence, Michelle shares the deeply personal story of how childhood bullying taught her that staying unseen felt safe—and how that same pattern quietly followed her into adulthood, even as she stepped into podcasting, coaching, and writing. If you've ever struggled with the fear of...
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When Your Inner Mean Girl Gathers Her Posse Why the voices telling you to stay quiet, stay small, and stay safe get so loud when you try something new. Have you ever wanted to start something new—a book, a podcast, a Bible study, a business, a ministry, or another dream you’ve carried for years—only to find that your inner critic suddenly has a lot to say? Who do you think you are? What if you fail? What if you don’t know enough? What if someone else could do it better? Sometimes the moment we begin moving toward something that matters to us, the negative self-talk gets louder. Fear of...
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You've been worrying about them for months. Maybe years. And here's what all that worry has fixed: nothing. Not their pain. Not their situation. Not the ache in your chest that shows up every time your phone rings. You know worrying doesn't fix it. You know that. And yet you cannot stop. You replay the conversations. You brace for the next phone call. You carry their pain home with you and set it right down on your kitchen table like it belongs there. Friend — this episode is for you. What This Episode Is About In this episode of the When You Cannot Fix It summer series, we're talking...
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Are you a Christian woman who can't stop worrying about someone you love? Maybe it's your child who is struggling and won't let you help. Maybe it's a marriage that feels like it's slipping through your fingers. Maybe it's a parent's health or a situation at work or a relationship that keeps you awake at 3am spinning through every possible worst case scenario. You believe in God. You know He is in control. And your body still won't calm down. Friend — there is nothing wrong with you. And you are not alone. In this first episode of the When You Cannot Fix It summer series, I'm sharing...
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Maybe you've had the phone call you weren't expecting. The diagnosis. The season you didn't choose. Maybe you're watching someone you love suffer and there's nothing you can do to fix it. Maybe you're just bone-tired from carrying more than you were ever meant to carry. Whatever brought you here today — you are welcome. You don't have to have it together. You just have to show up. About This Episode Isaiah 43 opens with words God spoke to a people in exile — people who were far from home, overwhelmed, and wondering if God had forgotten them. And before anything else, before the command not...
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It's the middle of the night. Your mind is moving. Your heart is racing. Your body just won't settle — even though you know you need sleep, even though you've prayed, even though you trust God. You're not alone. And you're not failing. This episode is for you — the one lying awake in the dark, scanning for danger that may never come, carrying worry about someone or something you cannot control. About This Episode Psalm 121 was written for travelers on a road — people who didn't know what waited around the next bend. Maybe that feels familiar. Maybe lately you've been lifting your eyes to...
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Are you carrying something heavy right now? Maybe it's fear about someone's health. Maybe it's worry about your finances, your children, or the weight of everything happening in the world — things you cannot fix no matter how hard you try. This episode is a place to slow down, breathe, and remember who holds you. This guided meditation on Psalm 91 is part of the Be Still Series on the Peace in His Presence podcast — scripture-centered meditations designed for the moments when you know what's true, but your body hasn't settled down yet. About This Episode Psalm 91 opens with a stunning...
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Have you ever noticed your stomach clenching, your shoulders tightening, or your chest going tight — even when you know God is in control? Even when you trust His promises? You're not spiritually defective. You're not failing at faith. There's actually a beautiful, science-backed reason your body responds the way it does — and in this episode, Michelle explains exactly what's happening and why it makes complete sense. What This Episode Is About In this deeply personal episode, Michelle shares a breakthrough moment that connected years of theological study,...
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Does your heart feel shaken right now? Social media feels like a war zone. The news is devastating. People you love are tearing each other apart. And you're already carrying your own heavy weight—relationship struggles, financial stress, health concerns, kids you're worried about. You go online looking for connection and find division instead. The weight just keeps getting heavier. If you're exhausted from trying to hold it all together, if you're weary of watching people fight, if you're searching for peace when the world feels like chaos—this episode is for you. In This Episode, You'll...
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Grief doesn't follow a schedule. It shows up in the grocery store aisle, while looking through recipes, when you hear a certain song. And during the holidays, grief can feel even more intense. In this final episode of the Be Still series, I'm sharing what I've learned about welcoming grief instead of trying to fix it—and how Immanuel (God WITH us) meets us right in the middle of our pain. You'll discover: • Why "small" griefs matter just as much as "big" ones • The REST framework for processing grief when it catches you off guard • How to hold both grief and joy at the same time •...
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Are you a Christian woman who can't stop worrying about someone you love?
Maybe it's your child who is struggling and won't let you help. Maybe it's a marriage that feels like it's slipping through your fingers. Maybe it's a parent's health or a situation at work or a relationship that keeps you awake at 3am spinning through every possible worst case scenario.
You believe in God. You know He is in control. And your body still won't calm down.
Friend — there is nothing wrong with you. And you are not alone.
In this first episode of the When You Cannot Fix It summer series, I'm sharing something I've never talked about publicly before — a childhood memory that quietly shaped decades of anxiety, over-responsibility, and carrying burdens that were never mine to carry. And I'm sharing what I'm learning to do with all of it.
If you have ever felt like a control freak and wondered why you can't just let go and trust God — this episode was made for you.
What Christian Women Are Searching For — And What Jesus Says
So many Christian women are exhausted from trying to fix things they cannot fix. Trying to control outcomes they cannot control. Trying to manage the emotions of everyone around them while quietly setting their own aside.
Maybe you recognize yourself in this:
You are the one who holds it all together even when you are falling apart on the inside. You replay conversations looking for the loophole — the magic words that will finally change things. You feel physically sick when someone you love is hurting and you can't see them or reach them or make it better. You brace for disaster on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday because your nervous system has been on high alert for so long it doesn't know how to stand down.
That is not weak faith. That is not a character flaw. That is a nervous system that has been overworking for a very long time — trying to protect you and the people you love.
And Jesus meets you right there.
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
He is not saying — get it together first and then come. He is not saying — stop worrying and then come. He is saying — come. Weary. Burdened. Braced. Just come.
The Story Behind This Episode
I grew up as a twin. My sister Jimella and I were little girls in a kitchen in International Falls Minnesota — the icebox of the nation — when something happened that quietly shaped the next fifty years of my life.
I didn't understand it until this past year when I began studying how our nervous systems build protective patterns. And when I finally understood it — I didn't feel ashamed anymore. I felt compassion. For that little girl who just never wanted to see someone she loved get hurt again.
That's what this episode is about. Not a tidy lesson from the other side of healed. A real story from a woman who is still in the middle of learning to lay it down.
What You Will Discover in This Episode
If you are a Christian woman struggling with anxiety, worry, or the exhausting need to fix and control — here is what this episode will give you:
A new understanding of why your brain builds protective patterns and why that is not a spiritual failure. The simple neuroscience behind why your nervous system stays in fight or flight even when there is nothing left to fight. Compassion for that part of you that cannot rest until everyone is okay — instead of shame. A practical way to bring what you are carrying to the foot of the cross and let Jesus hold what was never yours to carry in the first place. And the beginning of learning to let go — not perfectly, not all at once, but one thing at a time.
Free Resource — Weary Traveler Reflection and Prayer Guide
I made something for you. It's completely free.
The Weary Traveler: Rest for the Over-Carrying Soul Reflection and Prayer Guide will walk you gently through eight reflection questions and a prayer of release — right to the foot of the cross with whatever you are carrying today.
If you are already on my email list it is on its way to you. If not — download it free right here.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If you find yourself thinking — I need someone to walk through this with me personally — I would love to sit with you. I offer a free consultation with no pressure and no obligation. Just a conversation, some practical faith-based coaching tools, and a safe place to start.
About Michelle Diercks
Michelle Diercks is a Master Certified Christian Life Coach, speaker, and the author of Promised Rest and Promised Hope published by Concordia Publishing House. She is the host of the Peace in His Presence podcast and lives on a farm in Eastern Iowa with her husband Troy.
Michelle helps anxious Christian women find peace through faith, neuroscience, and practical coaching tools — not from a place of having it all figured out, but from right beside them in the middle of it.
She is not above you. She is beside you.
Subscribe and Share
If this episode spoke to something you've been carrying — would you share it with one woman who needs to hear it? You never know whose kitchen story is waiting to be understood.
Find Peace in His Presence on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you listen.
New episodes dropping all summer. We are going on this journey together — one week at a time, one thing at a time, learning to lay it all down.
You were never meant to carry all of this friend. And you don't have to.
Connect with Michelle: 🌐 michellediercks.com 📖 Promised Rest and Promised Hope — available wherever books are sold