Overwhelmed

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? According to dictionaryreference.com, overwhelm means:

1. to overcome completely in mind or feeling: overwhelmed by remorse.

 

2. to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush: Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.

 

3.to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as floodwaters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge: Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.

 

4. to load, help, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything: a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.

 

5. to overthrow.

 

I feel like all of the above definitions are overwhelming me!  My mind and feelings have been hard to understand lately. I look at all I need to do and begin to feel the cracks where chunks of my armor are falling away. I am afraid I will "lose it" by being  overwhelmed with all I am facing. I am trying to continue on each day, one day at a time, but each day can be so difficult.

Last week, my daughter got an ear infection, then she got a heat rash, then my son smashed his finger at school. It was definitely an overthrown feeling like being buried under too many burdens, or being crushed by them. Ugggh!

I don’t want to have a pity party, but I am feeling like any party at this point would be better than what I am facing! What changed so much to make me feel this way? I began last week feeling so encouraged by my mentor! She told me how proud she was of me and gave me some challenges to help me press on in the direction I was going, but then, sickness came…

When I finally decided to do something fun last weekend, my fears tried to paralyze me, so I prayed and realized that God gave me the choice and although I’d had a rough week, he wasn’t telling me not to go…however, on the way there, my tire warning kept coming on, only to cause me to wonder if that is why I had some forebodings about coming.

Overcome with debris. Yes, that is me right now. I am praying and asking others to pray me out of the avalanche though…I know it will work!

I really believe that Satan has been attacking me with these feeling of overwhelming stress/anxiety/ feeling helpless/etc. I really believe too, that he has no power over my GOD.

MY God reigns Supreme. My God is ALL POWERFUL. My God is the God WHO SEES ME! My God is CREATOR, why should I worry about my messes, which are so puny in His sight! My God is the one who upholds me, delivers me, keeps me in the shelter of His wings. My God delights in me and rejoices over me with SINGING. He Holds me on His SHOULDERS and carries me joyfully. I AM NO BURDEN TO HIM. He LOVES me. I am His princess, his BRIDE, and one day He is coming back for me. NO, I will not Be Overwhelmed by anything or anyone but MY GOD!

Isaiah 43: 1b-3

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...

Photo by Mark Tipple