When Holding It Together Is Pulling You Apart: Overcome Overwhelm with God

This has been one of those weeks. The kind of week where there never seems to be enough time. The to-do list keeps growing faster than I can cross things off. One responsibility leads to another. One interruption becomes three. Before long, I'm carrying so much mentally that I don't even know where to begin anymore.

If I'm honest, those are the moments when I become most vulnerable. Not necessarily to obvious sin but to distraction. Anxiety. Discouragement. Procrastination. To trying to carry everything on my own.

I've noticed something about myself during weeks like this. When life becomes overwhelming, I often begin reaching for the wrong things first. I reach for my phone. I reach for the tablet. I reach for internal solutions.

I start making lists. Rearranging priorities. Trying to figure out how I'm going to make everything fit. None of those things are inherently bad. But they become a problem when I reach for them before I reach for God.

When Overwhelm Runs Deeper

I'm extremely introspective and analytical. So one of the questions I've been asking myself lately is this:

Why is time slipping through my fingers so quickly?

I should have more time. I shouldn't be this overwhelmed. Things should be going smoother. I think about my week and where things have gone wrong. Things getting turned in later and later. Avoiding phone calls. Procrastination has reached the station, but how?

I struggled with this issue before in my work life too. It's pointing to something greater than just environmental overwhelm, although that's a piece of the puzzle. Honestly, it seems to have started back during COVID times when they told us all to sit down and stay inside. I have always said that COVID killed the work ethic but maybe something more happened during that time, possibly inside of all of us. And the world has never been the same. 

I've never been able to find the right solution to my personal combination of depression, overwhelm, anxiety, and procrastination. We all try to bear up and push through don't we? I have done that for years while slowly dying inside because my zeal for life is gone.

The accomplished work doesn't satisfy. A well prepared meal is dry. The worship music is repelled like water from a duck's back.

I have everything I need, but everything seems like nothing. I have so much, but even so, I know am missing opportunities to help others and take better care of my family.

It's convicting. It hurts. And the truth is, I realized I am lacking inside. Do you feel like this too?

The Burden of Self-Sufficiency

Here is another truth of America. I am supposed to be able to hold it down. I am a strong, independent, and intelligent woman. That trope is supposed to equal success and happiness. Isn't that one idea of female success? Success on our own, by our own means. 

According to this philosophy, it's a big problem if I can't hold it down. If I can't, I am not meeting the requirements of success. Have you ever felt like we are not able to have weak moments or it's just too inconvenient for others for us to have them? That inability for weakness is a shortcoming of our high speed culture. 

That expectation to perform and meet requirements regardless of life's struggles sets all of us up for failure or, at the very least, constant anxiety.

Somewhere along the way, many of us have accepted the idea that strength means carrying everything ourselves. We measure success by productivity. We wear busyness like a badge of honor. We apologize for slowing down. We feel guilty for needing rest. We quietly convince ourselves that if we're struggling, we simply aren't trying hard enough.

But that's not the picture Scripture paints.

God never called us to be self-sufficient. From the very beginning, He created us to depend on Him.

Our culture celebrates independence. The Kingdom of God celebrates dependence—dependence on Christ.

Those are two very different ways of living. One says, "I've got this." The other says, "Lord, I can't do this without You."

We are constantly pouring ourselves out to everyone around us, but that fast paced culture doesn't give us much time to be poured back into. If we don't replace what we pour out, we end up empty. 

Time Tithing?

I want to introduce another topic that's extremely relevant here. Tithing. This is something most of us have heard about: tithing 10% of our first earnings. The practical philosophy of tithing is, if you gladly and freely give, it comes back to you in blessings. The money lasts longer somehow. We receive more financial blessings that sometimes can't even be explained. Financial burdens become less. 

The more you give, the more you have. That's a general principle of the Kingdom of Heaven. It's counter culture to ours as so many principles of Christianity so often are. 

As I was thinking about my time, this principle occurred to me. I'm very involved in activities of corporate Christianity: worship leading, Children's Ministry, church stewardship, but I often lack in the activities of individual Christianity: Bible reading, prayer, spending one on one with God, those really important acts that we always say we'll get to but never do. Are you with me?

When this came to me, I asked myself, for lack of better phrasing, "How am I tithing my time?" Am I putting my time where it matters most? Or am I being wasteful? Does this have anything to do with why I feel as if I have no time?

Of course logically, if you are wasting time then you don't have as much of it. This I know, but can the act of giving God your time, as when you give Him your tithe, actually improve the quality of your time? 

That is a question that is truly of interest to me. 

My sneaking suspicion to this question is yes, it does. There have been times that I have found myself accomplishing something the Lord wanted me to do and then find that my time somehow is enough to cover it all and do the rest of my tasks well. I remember how there was a specific time in my life that I was attending daily prayer meeting during my lunch break 10 minutes away from work and I somehow managed to never be missed and meet all of my productivity standards for work. At the time, I did notice this principle of giving time and other unusual things of note that gave me pause, but life continued on and the season changed. 

But the principle remains the same, if we remember to use it. 

Be Still Before You Move

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God."

I've always thought of that verse as an invitation to slow down., but lately, I've begun seeing it another way. It's an invitation to remember who is actually in control and to seek Him.

The world doesn't rest on my shoulders. It rests in His hands. And that truly is a much safer place for it to be.

Overcome Overwhelm with God

Maybe your week has looked a little like mine. Maybe you're carrying responsibilities no one else sees. Maybe your mind won't slow down. Maybe you're trying your best and still feel like you're falling behind.

Seek within yourself or ask God if you don't know immediately (for me it's very obvious), "Where have I neglected my faith? What do you want me to work on during this season?" 

Reach for Him first. Then take the next faithful step. You are not alone on this journey. You can overcome overwhelm with God.

My Prayer:

Father,

Giving our time in this high speed era can be a huge sacrifice, but You are calling to our hearts. We can dot all of our i's and cross our t's, but if our heart hasn't spent time with you, is all of that work truly blessed? Father, I am so tired of doing extra work for it not to matter. I am tired of spending my time in ways that later turn into waste. My spirit knows the best way to spend time is with you but Father, this troubles my flesh. I want. Help my unwant. 

Father, I believe this is an overarching issue in America. Christian's searching for Your peace and their purpose in a troubled million miles an hour landscape. Their desperation to find and be something different as deep as my own. They want. Help their unwant. 

We love you. We thank you. Amen.