When Overwhelmed Paralyzes

The overwhelmed screams loudly as the crazy of the season catches up with me.

I can’t shake it.

Even in the midst of a freed-up morning, I feel paralyzed by all I have to do.

I get my kids to school and return home to the dishwasher full of clean plates and bowls and silverware and the sink that overflows with their dirty counterparts. Where do I start? I ask myself emphatically and literally spin around in my kitchen hoping for a sign.

I have so much to do I don’t even know how to pick where to start.

It’s like trying to find the end of the Scotch tape roll. My mind spins, too.

But somehow even in the spinning, I hear a sort of whisper in the deep places where my thoughts form.

I remember the quiet Almighty God offers. I want the peace He gives.

I see my Bible on the table, but I don’t reach for it. Not yet.

I go straight to my knees instead. Face to the ground, and I bow before Almighty God Who thought up Christmas and knew about this very day before He even started time. He knew the crazy overwhelmed I would feel. The stress and the busy and the too-much-to-do list.

So right in the middle of the minutes I have to get something crossed off my list, I lay on the floor and tell God He is Lord. Lord of the whole earth. Lord of my life. I know He knows, but I need the reminding.

The loud overwhelmed quiets as I ask the Lord of my life to show me what to do. Let me know how to do it. He reminds me that this is His plan even today. It’s His hand that’s brought me to right here.  His hand that’s pointed me straight into this season. 

Then right there — in the middle of my living room floor — the Living God breathes air into the lungs of my soul, and He whispers away the paralysis. He reminds me Who He is as I exhale my desperation.

I get up off the floor and find my dishes still undone.

But their effect is quite different now.

No almost-swearing or hopeless burden of busyness. Somehow now I can think clearly.

No longer paralyzed by overwhelmed that had me frozen just minutes ago, I check my list and start on what’s easy. I notice a hope suddenly restored.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get something done today.

Do you feel paralyzed by the overwhelmed of life right now? Why not take three minutes to hand it over to the very God Who already knows?

Can I pray for you?