Feeling Overwhelmed? Remember this Truth
I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I’m overwhelmed. In fact, I feel that it's an all too common state of being at the moment. It seems like everyday, I see more and more people taking breaks from social media. And there is nothing wrong with that.
It feels like I’m juggling too many hats and wearing too many plates on my head. (See what I did there?) I’m essentially working three part-time jobs on top of my full-time SAHM/homemaker job. And unfortunately, that one–the most important one, is the job that is taking the heaviest hit.
And I am overwhelmed.
It feels as if I cannot get ahead–that I’m just barely treading water. I work because we have bills to pay. I write because I have stories to tell. I stay-at-home because my children are one of my biggest blessings and my most intentional discipleship relationships.
I aspire to homeschool when my oldest becomes of age. I desire to continue writing and publishing God-honoring books. But it seems that those goals are so far out of reach. So much of my time needs to go toward working on other things so that one day I can just do the thing. But we have bills to pay. So I will work to help pay them.
Just this week, I got a call from the hospital where I gave birth to my son (4mo) saying that, even though we’ve been making regular payments to those hospital bills they weren’t “big enough” payments and we have 30-days (now 28-days) to pay in full or it’s sent to collections.
We’re still paying off hospital bills from an emergency gallbladder removal I had in 2023. We’re still paying off two student loans. One car payment because the car I drove when we first found out we were pregnant with our first, wasn’t safe enough. We have a mortgage. We have to eat. We have an electric bill, water, Wi-Fi–you get the point.
And I am overwhelmed.
Launching Solar Stories has been a true stepping out of faith. And I will continue to pray and to do my best to be obedient to what I believe the Lord is saying. Right now, that looks like many late nights and early mornings trying to juggle four jobs to ensure that my husband, who already works nearly 55 hours a week, can have time to be home with our kids in the afternoon. Plus, I like to spend time with him too.
It looks like making to-do lists that aren’t getting done. It looks like piled up laundry and a partially unloaded dishwasher. It looks like telling my daughter “Wait, Mamá is busy at the moment” for the hundredth time. And it looks like my son crying when I put him down once again.
And I am overwhelmed.
But God is Sovereign.
And because God is sovereign, He knows my current state of life. He sees my overwhelm and doesn’t leave me alone in it.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. (Great is Thy Faithfulness)
Praise the Lord.
So, as I cry because I look around and see only failures, the Spirit reminds me that the Lord is steadfast and that, even though I may have not completed my entire to-do list, I will have new mercies in the morning. God will give me strength to accomplish the tasks that he’s set before me. And he will give you new mercies tomorrow, too.
God always keeps his promises.
Even though I’ve had “one of those weeks” (it’s felt like since June), there are blessings in each of “those” weeks too. My daughter (2yo) said that she loved us for the first time this week and I legitimately stopped in my tracks, sat down, and cried. I have tears in my eyes even now thinking about it.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
My husband–whom I love dearly–picked up pizza this week because he knew I didn’t have time to make dinner. My son smiles and laughs when he sees me for the first time in the morning. My parents looked into plane tickets to come celebrate with me for the pub day of my debut novel. I had an ARC reader reach out and exclaim how excited she has been to read it. I was able to listen to most of a sermon for the first time since my son was born.
His mercies never come to an end.
So, again, I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I’m overwhelmed . . . but I know that I’m not alone. He will hold me fast.
