Overwhelmed, I Am

A lot of days I would say the sentence running in the back of my mind sounds similar to this: I feel overwhelmed.

It’s not all days, and even more not all the hours in those days. It’s more like a swell. The feeling of being overwhelmed swells in and out throughout life. The unique thing about feeling overwhelmed is how sudden and unexpected it can be. It can present itself in almost any facet and nook and corner of our lives. It is often shrouded in some otherness as well: fear or anxiety or pain or anger. I don’t necessarily believe ‘feeling overwhelmed’ is the core source of those emotions, but maybe it’s one of the legs of a stool or a tripod. Maybe, without it, our emotions can be toppled and understood from a more logical and rational way.

If being overwhelmed is one of a few core footings, what could the others be? Are they the same for everyone? Can they change as you age through life? If, again, they are hinderances and problematic, how do we combat them and wage ware against them? In what ways does Jesus meet us in this battle?

More questions than answers. More listening than questions, so it shall be.

I, literally, just received a phone call from my wife somewhat frantic. Selah (almost 2 years old) decided to shove something tiny up her nose. It took a minute to get the backstory due to Malachi being audibly upset over the situation. I answer the call and get barraged with questions and yelling and screaming and whimpering. Fight or flight kicks in instantly. Immediately following the flight, I sense a new thematic sentence: “You are an idiot and should know what to do. You don’t have it in you.” This voice, so familiar, is accusing me. I am accused, and to me, initially, I am also defined by this accusation. This daily prison is where I find the effects of feeling overwhelmed. If I’m not careful I will succumb to the lie. If I’m not more careful, I will symbolically tattoo it on my heart.

But Jesus meets us at that crossroad. He’s standing there each time with joy and compassion and light. There’s no other interaction that brings the freedom that He brings. He repeats what He heard His Father say: You are my beloved and in you I am well pleased.

Doesn’t that carry so much weight! There’s no strings, nor kickbacks, nor caveats. We are called His beloved purely because we are.

I am His beloved son because I am.

A Prayer to the Lord

To the church; men, women, brothers and sisters, children and all those who call upon the Lord:

Let us stand before the Lord Almighty and not bow in timidity, but prostrate ourselves in worship. I pray He is found in your midst today and every day. When we are weak, His strength is made real. My friend, to the one who is feeling all the feelings, I pray you are able to see a sliver of hope just by reading this. Remember, He also calls you “My Beloved”. Oh how the Father delights in His children. Oh how Jesus, the True Son, delights in his bride. I pray His joy would be made complete and that even for a moment you could be lifted out of the day to day feelings and see things from a new perspective. Lift up your eyes, where does you help come from? I pray right now, that when you lift up your eyes you would see a new side of our Glorious Creator. I beckon for one moment longer that you would know Him and know Him rightly. Remember, beloved, that before we were even born He was already delighted in you. Now that you’re living, won’t you delight in Him too??

Let it be so.