WHAT I DO WHEN I FEEL OVERWHELMED
WHAT I DO WHEN I FEEL OVERWHELMED CHRISTINE CAINE
P
We all have those moments when we feel like we are in total darkness— when we can’t make sense of what is going on and it seems we can’t come up for air. When we don’t think we can juggle one more thing—or when we’re blindsided by a crisis. It can happen when we: • FACE HEARTACHE IN OUR MARRIAGE • CAN’T MEET ALL THE DEMANS OF THE OFFICE AND OUR HOME • FIGHT A HEALTH ISSUE AND STILL TRYING TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE • EXPERIENCE THE BETRAYAL OF A FRIEND • FAIL MISERABLY AT SOMETHING CRITICAL TO OUR SUCCESS We have all experienced those moments when we have felt overwhelmingly overwhelmed—a feeling defined as “to throw a dark sheet over; to create darkness.” So what do you do when you are overwhelmed? When you feel your problems are suffocating you? When your heart is sinking? Here’s what I’ve learned to do:crisis.
It can happen when we:
Start talking to God First, I start where David did when he was in such a low season. His son, Absalom rebelled and divided the nation of Israel—the nation David had worked so hard to build. Absalom drew the people unto himself and away from allegiance to his father. Then, he raised up a revolt and started a battle—all of it an epic betrayal of their parent/child relationship. When it became more than David could bear, and his heart was too heavy, he cried out to God: “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
Psalm 61:1-2
David didn’t deny his feelings of being utterly broken by his son, but instead, he poured his heart out to God. In spite of his pain, in spite of maybe not being able to understand why this could happen at all, he still believed God would hear him. How many times have we been hurt by people—including those closest to us—and knew we still had to trust God? Deep down we know he is the one to trust—the one we really can trust. That’s why, at some point, we have to stop telling people how we feel and go to God. He doesn’t want us to shut down our feelings, but he also doesn’t want us to let them take us over either. By being honest with God about how we feel, we can begin to process our feelings in a healthy way. Rather than let our hurts and anger turn into bitterness, talking to God helps us begin to think about our story with a different perspective—and it helps keep our hearts tender.
Describe your feelings to God. Be honest and put it all on the table.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6
Elevate your perspective Second, I do what David did next: “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” I love that David said, “When my heart is overwhelmed.” It’s comforting to know it happens to all of us—that the enemy comes to harden our hearts and destabilize us. He comes to divide us from people we love, respect, do life with. He comes to knock our feet out from under us—to steal our hope. And he always delivers a low blow—that’s just his strategy. The solution is to change our perspective, to look up to the rock, to the one who is higher than the storm of emotions we’re facing. When we look up and get above the storm, it never feels as devastating as when we’re on the same level and in the middle of it. Suddenly, we can breathe. We can see more clearly. Yes, there will always be circumstances we cannot solve or fix or change—but we can change. Our perspective can change. Sometimes the pain is so deep, it feels almost impossible to raise our heads high—to raise our sights. In those moments, pray Psalm 3:3-4 back to God: “But you, GOD, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to GOD, His answers thunder from the holy mountain.” He loves you so much that when you can’t lift your head high, He’ll lift it for you. That’s how much He wants to help you climb out of your feelings of being overwhelmingly overwhelmed and get above the storm of emotions.
Write out the facts of the problem overwhelming you. Write out what needs solving. This is how we begin our climb above the storm.
“But you, GOD, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to GOD, His answers thunder from the holy mountain.”
Psalms 3:3-4
Cast your cares Third, we need to take the circumstance—the “care” we’re carrying—and hurl it over onto God. That’s right. We’re going to dump it all on him—and leave it there. This process helps us exchange our concern for God’s peace. It releases the anxiety and stress gripping our minds. Anxiety is always rooted in fear and the feeling that we have lost control, but we know we cannot control the uncontrollable. So we must cast our care over on God and trust Him to take care of what we cannot.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken”
Psalm 55:22
There’s no sense in losing our peace—and sleep—over what we can do nothing about. But the only way to get something off our minds is to cast it over onto God and let Him have it. “God, I give you this problem. I cast it over onto you and I don’t take it back. I trust you to help me process it and see it through your perspective, and not let it consume my thoughts.” Then we can victoriously proclaim what I often like to say: “If you see the devil, tell him I am going to bed.”
Find a verse relative to your problem and write it here, personalizing it. Pray it aloud and cast your care over onto God.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken”
Psalm 55:22
Get overwhelmed by God’s love Fourth, the best way to overcome an overwhelmed heart is to get up and into the presence of God, and allow His love to overwhelm you. When I press through to this place of peace is when I finally enter a healthy mental and spiritual position where I can begin hearing Him talk to me about the care I hurled onto Him. It’s actually the moment when I finally can begin to see a different perspective—His perspective—and even be objective. It’s when I calm down and stop the ruminating conversations playing over and over in my head. It’s when I can begin to move over into feeling the godly feelings of compassion, forgiveness, and tenderness. It’s when I feel loved and again have the capacity to express love—instead of reacting out of anxiety and fear. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” 1 John 4:18 God loves you—and me—unconditionally. His love heals every crevice of our hearts, every wound inflicted, every hit we didn’t see coming. His love gives us the courage to trust again. To hope. To believe. To walk in greater faith. His love is perfect.
Write a promise from God’s word to you about how much he loves you and declare it over your life:
We’ve all endured crushing blows. We’ve all been wounded and winded. But the devil on his best day did not take us out on our worst day. So, let’s get back up together—and help each other trust God and get back in the race. Let’s talk to God, casting our cares over on Him, so we can rest and see with His perspective. Let’s get overwhelmed by His love so we can breathe deeply and live fully.
P
We all have those moments when we feel like we are in total darkness— when we can’t make sense of what is going on and it seems we can’t come up for air. When we don’t think we can juggle one more thing—or when we’re blindsided by a crisis. It can happen when we: • FACE HEARTACHE IN OUR MARRIAGE • CAN’T MEET ALL THE DEMANS OF THE OFFICE AND OUR HOME • FIGHT A HEALTH ISSUE AND STILL TRYING TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE • EXPERIENCE THE BETRAYAL OF A FRIEND • FAIL MISERABLY AT SOMETHING CRITICAL TO OUR SUCCESS We have all experienced those moments when we have felt overwhelmingly overwhelmed—a feeling defined as “to throw a dark sheet over; to create darkness.” So what do you do when you are overwhelmed? When you feel your problems are suffocating you? When your heart is sinking? Here’s what I’ve learned to do:crisis.
It can happen when we:
Start talking to God First, I start where David did when he was in such a low season. His son, Absalom rebelled and divided the nation of Israel—the nation David had worked so hard to build. Absalom drew the people unto himself and away from allegiance to his father. Then, he raised up a revolt and started a battle—all of it an epic betrayal of their parent/child relationship. When it became more than David could bear, and his heart was too heavy, he cried out to God: “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
Psalm 61:1-2
David didn’t deny his feelings of being utterly broken by his son, but instead, he poured his heart out to God. In spite of his pain, in spite of maybe not being able to understand why this could happen at all, he still believed God would hear him. How many times have we been hurt by people—including those closest to us—and knew we still had to trust God? Deep down we know he is the one to trust—the one we really can trust. That’s why, at some point, we have to stop telling people how we feel and go to God. He doesn’t want us to shut down our feelings, but he also doesn’t want us to let them take us over either. By being honest with God about how we feel, we can begin to process our feelings in a healthy way. Rather than let our hurts and anger turn into bitterness, talking to God helps us begin to think about our story with a different perspective—and it helps keep our hearts tender.
Describe your feelings to God. Be honest and put it all on the table.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6
Elevate your perspective Second, I do what David did next: “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” I love that David said, “When my heart is overwhelmed.” It’s comforting to know it happens to all of us—that the enemy comes to harden our hearts and destabilize us. He comes to divide us from people we love, respect, do life with. He comes to knock our feet out from under us—to steal our hope. And he always delivers a low blow—that’s just his strategy. The solution is to change our perspective, to look up to the rock, to the one who is higher than the storm of emotions we’re facing. When we look up and get above the storm, it never feels as devastating as when we’re on the same level and in the middle of it. Suddenly, we can breathe. We can see more clearly. Yes, there will always be circumstances we cannot solve or fix or change—but we can change. Our perspective can change. Sometimes the pain is so deep, it feels almost impossible to raise our heads high—to raise our sights. In those moments, pray Psalm 3:3-4 back to God: “But you, GOD, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to GOD, His answers thunder from the holy mountain.” He loves you so much that when you can’t lift your head high, He’ll lift it for you. That’s how much He wants to help you climb out of your feelings of being overwhelmingly overwhelmed and get above the storm of emotions.
Write out the facts of the problem overwhelming you. Write out what needs solving. This is how we begin our climb above the storm.
“But you, GOD, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to GOD, His answers thunder from the holy mountain.”
Psalms 3:3-4
Cast your cares Third, we need to take the circumstance—the “care” we’re carrying—and hurl it over onto God. That’s right. We’re going to dump it all on him—and leave it there. This process helps us exchange our concern for God’s peace. It releases the anxiety and stress gripping our minds. Anxiety is always rooted in fear and the feeling that we have lost control, but we know we cannot control the uncontrollable. So we must cast our care over on God and trust Him to take care of what we cannot.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken”
Psalm 55:22
There’s no sense in losing our peace—and sleep—over what we can do nothing about. But the only way to get something off our minds is to cast it over onto God and let Him have it. “God, I give you this problem. I cast it over onto you and I don’t take it back. I trust you to help me process it and see it through your perspective, and not let it consume my thoughts.” Then we can victoriously proclaim what I often like to say: “If you see the devil, tell him I am going to bed.”
Find a verse relative to your problem and write it here, personalizing it. Pray it aloud and cast your care over onto God.
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken”
Psalm 55:22
Get overwhelmed by God’s love Fourth, the best way to overcome an overwhelmed heart is to get up and into the presence of God, and allow His love to overwhelm you. When I press through to this place of peace is when I finally enter a healthy mental and spiritual position where I can begin hearing Him talk to me about the care I hurled onto Him. It’s actually the moment when I finally can begin to see a different perspective—His perspective—and even be objective. It’s when I calm down and stop the ruminating conversations playing over and over in my head. It’s when I can begin to move over into feeling the godly feelings of compassion, forgiveness, and tenderness. It’s when I feel loved and again have the capacity to express love—instead of reacting out of anxiety and fear. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” 1 John 4:18 God loves you—and me—unconditionally. His love heals every crevice of our hearts, every wound inflicted, every hit we didn’t see coming. His love gives us the courage to trust again. To hope. To believe. To walk in greater faith. His love is perfect.
Write a promise from God’s word to you about how much he loves you and declare it over your life:
We’ve all endured crushing blows. We’ve all been wounded and winded. But the devil on his best day did not take us out on our worst day. So, let’s get back up together—and help each other trust God and get back in the race. Let’s talk to God, casting our cares over on Him, so we can rest and see with His perspective. Let’s get overwhelmed by His love so we can breathe deeply and live fully.
