How do we weed out what overwhelms us?

Our own coping mechanisms may satisfy for a time, but most wind up causing more stress than good.

Like eating an entire pizza (ok, maybe six pieces out of eight).

Perhaps for you, it’s eating nothing at all, or snapping like a turtle, or turning back to old habits.

You’d think we’d go right to prayer, right to the source of true help.

You’d think we’d be more prepared; because we know life doesn’t happen one thing at a time, and even if we’re good at multi-tasking, it becomes a multi-blast of all at once.

If we look closer at what overwhelms, there’s always a root.

Deep under layers and deep under feelings of upside down and inside out,

lies a root, well-hidden beneath overcommitted, overworked, overemotional,

threatening to overtake, like weeds in a garden.

If we dig deep, and if we are real about what’s real, we face this root.

True, it may simply be a season of juggling schedules, of changing and growth, of decisions to stay or go;

or it may be that deeper kind –

Regret, resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear…

According to Merriam Webster

The origin of overwhelm is this:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.  Isaiah 43:2

• Pray it out: God already knows, and praying it out brings the root to the light.
• Talk it out: with a sibling, a parent, a trusted friend, a Christian counselor…
• Write it out: journal it, write notes, write your experiences down on paper.
• Walk it out: exercise has physical benefits, and also stimulates brain chemicals that help to relax and uplift.
• Rest when we need to-the Energizer Bunny is a fictional character.

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Romans 8:37