Help for the Overwhelmed Part 1

Before I began typing this post I decided to do a quick google search on the subject we are discussing–being overwhelmed.

Immediately, google decided to help by putting the symptoms of being overwhelmed right at the top.

• Depression and anxiety
• Pain of any kind.
• Sleep issues.
• Autoimmune diseases.
• Digestive Problems
• Skin Problems.
• Heart disease
• Weight Issues

Below weight issues was a button that says, “more items”, but I refused to click on it. Just reading that list made me feel even more overwhelmed!

Can you relate?

In my first blog post I defined overwhelmed as, “the feeling of being buried or drowning beneath a huge mass called–LIFE.”

I also tried to help identify what causes us to feel overwhelmed.

• Busyness of Life
• Battles with Sin
• Bitterness with People
• Burdens of Life

In this post, I want to begin to give hope! Being overwhelmed does not have to be your permanent feeling.

In this post and the next, I want to give you a total of 10 actions that will help you overcome that feeling of being overwhelmed.

Repent of any sin in your life.

Wow…strong first point huh? 🙂

I know I’m coming out of the gates with a hard hitter, but as I mentioned last week, battling sin is overwhelming. Sin affects us emotionally and physically. Listen to what David said when he was hiding in his sin.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. ~ Psalm 32:1-5

David’s body ached from his sin and notice that he said God’s “hand was heavy upon me.”

When we live with unconfessed sin or hidden sin, the guilt and conviction of the Holy Spirit can feel overwhelming. David’s joy was restored when he came clean with God.

Review your priorities.

A guaranteed way to become overwhelmed is to give way too much attention and time to lessor priorities and neglecting your top priorities.

Have you ever sat down and reviewed your priorities in life and considered their order and the time you give to each? There may be slight differences at the top depending on your relationship status and whether you work or are a stay at home mom (or dad I guess. I’d love to do that and just write and podcast), but as a Christian our top priorities ought to look something like this.

• My Relationship with God
• My Spouse
• My Children
• My Job

I have found that when I value and give more time and attention to lessor priorities and neglect these major priorities I’m filled with guilt, my marriage begins to suffer and my children’s attitudes begin to worsen.

What are you doing to make sure your top priorities get the attention they deserve?

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ~ Matthew 6:33

Reflect on God’s Work in your life.

Satan loves to magnify the wrong going on in our life to get us to forget about all that God has done in our life.

Sometimes the only hope we can seem to cling too, is that we cannot deny what God has done for us in the past. Honestly, that is faith. This is exactly why in the Old Testament God would instruct the Israelites to remember certain miracles and he would warn them about forgetting Him.

David, while running for his life, practiced this. When life didn’t go as he had planned, he reflected back on all God had done for him and that reminded him that God wouldn’t fail him in his current trial.

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. ~ Psalm 143:3-5

Don’t let Satan win your thoughts. Stop and reflect on all God has done. Start at Salvation and just start listing all the ways God has worked in and through your life.

Read God’s Word.

I needed an “R” word so I went with “read”, but really I mean meditate and study God’s Word. It really is different. We can read the Bible to check it off our spiritual checklist and get absolutely nothing out of it.

Studying and meditating (letting it marinate in your mind) brings about change.

Listen to what David said about the Bible in his difficult times.

Psalm 119:25  My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

Psalm 119:28  My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Psalm 119:50  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

Psalm 119:107  I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.

David was dependent upon God’s Word in his most difficult times to give him the strength to go on.

God’s Word brings comfort. God will use His Word like a medicine to strengthen you and remind you of who He is and what He is capable of.

Revive your prayer life.

I used the word “revive” on purpose. Usually we start out so well when it comes to prayer. The problem is we live in a “give me results now” time and God doesn’t always work like that.

At times, God seems silent and we lose patience. We stop praying. Some forget to pray and just try to survive in their own strength, while others stop praying as a spiritual protest. “If God won’t answer how I want, then I won’t talk to him.” Kind of like what we do in our marriages.

No matter which category you might find yourself in, I want to encourage you to revive your prayer life.

When we pray we are claiming total dependence upon our all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful God who loves us and delights in our prayers.

God doesn’t ignore you. His delays are always for a reason. Trust Him and start talking to Him again.

To be continued…

We will look at 5 more actions to take in the next post. Meanwhile, begin these 5 actions today and watch God lift that feeling of being overwhelmed!

If you want to listen to a Bible study to help, you can always check out my podcast, Pulpit to Pew. 🙂