Tackling Life When It Feels Overwhelming
As I prepare to begin working on my Master’s degree again after a summer break, I look around my house at the piles of laundry. We’re out of laundry soap. The dishes are piled up. There’s no dishwasher detergent. I have no time to run to the store. I look at my calendar to see 3-4 items written on each day. Each evening and weekend is packed with kids and sports. Very quickly, my head was spinning, trying to figure out how this was all going to get done in addition to my schoolwork. Did I get to work on it all right away, tackling my massive to-do list? No. I sat there paralyzed, staring at my schedule, worrying about how it would all fit.
Could I make this all happen?
Last month I took a road trip and drove all by myself from Central Wisconsin to North Carolina. As I pulled out of the driveway of my home, seeing the long, seemingly never-ending list of turns on my GPS, my anxiety ramped up. Could I really do this alone? It’s not too late to change my mind. Maybe I should just stay home?
Then, I discovered if I took it off the list view, the GPS only showed me where to go one step at a time. That was easy. I just needed to focus on the stretch of road and the next turn at hand rather than everything for the whole trip.
Every once in a while, when I stopped for a snack, I would switch back to list view to have a peek at what was ahead. I could immediately feel the overwhelm creeping back in. My heart rate would escalate. Doubts would spin through my head. I had to remind myself to stop trying to look ahead and focus on where I was.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes we need to learn the same lesson more than once?
Here I was making the same mistake in a different context. I was looking too far ahead instead of worrying about what God had for me to do today.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Don’t you think this verse is God’s way of telling us to take life one step at a time?
He’s not just telling us to stop worrying because we need to trust Him more, although that’s also true. God knows that if we look too far forward, it’s too much for us to handle at that moment. He knows that our anxiety will skyrocket, and we won’t be able to do anything other than worry about it. He knows how much we can handle, and that’s the stuff we are facing right that very moment, not what’s coming next.
“God knows that if we look too far forward, it’s too much for us to handle at that moment.”
Sometimes I tend to read God’s words as a set of stern rules that I will most definitely fail to follow when I should be taking a slightly different perspective. God’s Word is really wise advice from literally the wisest person in existence. I take advice from my wise friends, so why should I bypass advice from the God of the universe? The answer is obvious. I shouldn’t.
Luckily for me, God is gentle with His lessons.
He patiently teaches me the same things over and over. He teaches me in a way that I can understand, even though His word has already taught me.
So for today, I’m going to finish what needs to be done today, close my planner, and leave tomorrow’s work for tomorrow. I will trust that God will provide what I need to get through tomorrow...tomorrow.
Meet the Author
Megan grew up in rural Wisconsin, where she was always known as the quiet girl with a book in her hands. Now Megan is working on her lifelong dream of becoming the author of her very own book. Out of her own struggle with trauma, addiction, and mental health, she created the Jordan Crossings Blog to empower those who are healing from trauma and educate Christians on how to minister to those who are hurting. Megan is a chosen child of God, writer, speaker, trauma survivor, mental health advocate, foster mom, and fire wife.
