The season I find myself in as I write this article in the eleventh hour is a season of overwhelm. It’s not one I would normally admit to, but as I sit in this space it’s the only word I can use to adequately describe how I’m feeling without using a hundred feeling descriptions.
God’s word on overwhelm….
But yet in the word he so clearly tells us he is standing with us even in the moments of overwhelm.
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 NLT
How can I sit in a space where I am so unbelievably overwhelmed when he so clearly tells me to bring my burdens in my state of weary to him and that he will give me rest.
How is it that even when I know his provision over my life, when I know that if I bring my weary and overwhelmed heart to him he will give me rest, I still let the worldly presence win as I sit in a space of overwhelm and chaos instead of kneeling at his feet and accepting the peace and rest he can give to me.
My chaotic feeling world…
A few years ago I learnt the beauty in saying no, I went from being the yes woman to someone who only said yes when I truly knew I could do the task at hand without stressing myself out and burning the midnight oil. Somehow over the past few weeks even though I’ve said no to so much over the past 8 months I’ve said yes to way too many things and sit in a place of overwhelm.
With deadlines that fill me with stress, pushing my body beyond its limits immediately after putting inflammatory foods that I’ve completely been off for 6 months into it. I’ve worked late into the evenings and arrived home too shattered to do what I need to. I’ve had back to back weeks of appointments, in depth assessments to prepare me for a new chapter in my life, I’ve had deadlines and to do lists longer than you can imagine, and now I am 11 days away from a massive deadline, I’ve joined a no sleep club where my mind just races and races and my to do long gets longer daily as I commit to more than I should!
Yet still, as doubt fills my mind, as nerves take over, as I worry how I can complete everything on my to do list he reminds me through his word of my capabilities and his presence in my life.
“When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”
Psalms chapter 94, verse 19 NLT
My cry to God in this season…
“O God, listen to my cry!
Hear my prayer!
From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!”
Psalms chapter 61, verses 1-4 NLT
As I lay my burdens down to him, as I surrender and ask for his peace in this season. For provision over the thoughts that fill my mind as I lay staring at the ceiling. For provision over the deadlines and things I need to achieve in these coming days and for provision over the journey I’m about to undertake and the next chapters of the book of my life.
As I lay my burdens down and bare my souls to him I ask you to take a moment and sit with me in this place of vulnerability and ask yourself and our protector to stand with you in your moments of overwhelm, to shelter you under his wing if you find yourself needing his protection and love over you and to cry out to him when the world around you brings you to a place of overwhelm like the place I find myself sitting in today.
I am a Young Salvationist who lives in Upper Hutt, Wellington. I am passionate about enhancing the life experiences of others and do this in my paid employment as a Support worker for those with Intellectual Disabilities and as a volunteer leader for GirlGuiding New Zealand. I love to create, write and travel the world and have a passion for submerging myself in the cultures of each place I travel. I left my heart in Africa a month before Covid sent the world into lockdown and I cannot wait to be able to return and serve in a continent that stole so much of my heart.