When I Feel Overwhelmed I Turn To God

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As we count down to Easter, we are continuing our series on Turning Our Hearts to God. In this season, we want to fully bring our whole hearts to God – emotions and all – and let His peace rule in our hearts! If you missed the previous posts on turning to God when we feel offended or afraid, you can find them on our blog. And be sure to join the conversation with us over on Facebook or Instagram throughout the week. This week, we’re looking at what to do when we are faced with the feeling of being overwhelmed.

I can’t keep my head above water. I’m in over my head. I’m going under. OVERWHELM can feel like drowning. But what if we reframed overwhelm? What if we took our load of to do lists, obligations, and unforeseen situations and saw it as a way to turn our eyes to Jesus?

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting one of our small group leaders at her nursing care center. Sweet Linda has stage four cancer and is on hospice. Through COVID, Cancer, and all the other things she carries, Linda has continued to lead her group and show up to Monday night Bible study even if that meant from her hospital bed after brain surgery. As I arrived to visit Linda, I knew she was a strong woman, but I had no idea how lifegiving her faith would be to me.

In our visit, rather than complaining about the items hospice hadn’t brought her yet to make her more comfortable she praised the staff who took such great care of her. Rather than stay in bed all day she called the nurses to get her up into a wheelchair and take her out in the living area to visit with and pray for other people who were also staying there. Rather than give up when she was told she had 3-8 weeks to live, she daily prays for God to heal her and if it is not His will then for God to use her until she meets him.

I sat looking at Linda and the glow of Jesus all around her as she shared about the lady from Mexico who works in her facility whose husband was killed and how she now drives over the border to work so she can provide for her two children back home. She told me how this woman asks for prayer and wants to know Jesus since the first time Linda prayed for her. She told me about the 90-year-old man staying there who doesn’t know Jesus and how she has befriended him and is praying for God to open an opportunity for her to bring him to Christ. She told me about the scare she had with her heart and that while she was in the ER her nurse told her about her wayward child and so Linda encouraged her that God made her the perfect parent to that child and prayed for her to give her strength. She told me how word has spread in the home she is staying at and how she has regular knocks on the door of workers and residents asking for prayer.

Linda’s eyes lit up as she shared with me that before all this “cancer stuff” she was afraid to pray out loud. She giggled at God’s humor that now He was using her as a prayer warrior for others. At the end of our visit I prayed for Linda, that God would heal her on whichever side of heaven He wanted and that He would continue to use her on this earth. That was Linda’s prayer request, that God would give her more time to be used by Him.

I walked out of that visit in awe. In awe of a woman who had every reason to feel overwhelmed but instead took the opportunity to turn her eyes to Jesus and be used by God.

Linda had discovered what the disciples had discovered one stormy night in a boat with Jesus. Let’s pause for a moment and read the passage.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus had called the disciples to follow Him. Jesus knew there would be a storm. Still, his simple command was “let us go”. Let US go. Not only was Jesus with them in the storm but He calmed the waves. He made a way to continue the work He had called them to do. He took their eyes off the overwhelm and refocused them on their faith.

What if we stopped looking at our overwhelm as something to survive and started looking to the one who can calm the winds rushing us through life and the waves of our worry? Rather than focusing on the overwhelm let’s look to the throne of grace to carry us through the storms that will inevitably come our way. Let’s surrender to His will for our lives no matter how difficult it may become. And all the while, let’s turn our eyes to Jesus, the perfector of our faith who also calms our storms.

Linda’s health is diminishing since I visited her a week ago. I know this saddens her, but I know she is surrendered to what God has for her. She has not let her situation overwhelm her but has looked to Jesus to calm the storm as she moves forward pointing others to Christ. My heart is both heavy and full. It seems God may soon gain this amazing woman in Heaven, but I have gained from her faith here on earth. In hearing her story, I hope you have too.

***As we continue our conversations about turning our hearts to God, we realize we are covering some real and difficult emotions. If you would like to talk to someone, we are here for you, and we would love to connect you to resources in our church to help you find the support you need. Need to talk or looking for some support? Email women@saddleback.com and we would love to help you find the support that you need.

Additional resources:

• Support Groups: https://saddleback.com/care/supportgroups

• Celebrate Recovery: https://saddleback.com/connect/ministry/celebrate-recovery/lake-forest?

• Counseling: https://saddleback.com/connect/ministry/church-counselors/lake-forest?