Going Under

Does your life feel like it’s out of control? Do you wonder where you’re going to turn next for help? Are you experiencing any of the following?

~You wake up feeling overwhelmed, unable to face the day.
~You’re touchy and on edge. You make mountains out of molehills.
~You’re hardened towards others’ needs or requests. You don’t want to hear about people’s problems.
~You seem to be developing a critical, faultfinding spirit. Nobody can do anything right.
~You feel the need to withdraw from people more than usual.
~Your inner dreams, passions and desires seem to be choked out. You have to work hard just to make it through the day.
~You really want to escape. There is a part of you that deeply wants to ‘run away from it all’.
~There is a troubling temptation in the back of your mind to do something, anything to add feeling in your life.
~You are afraid of what is lurking to pounce on you, even wondering if that’s what God is up to.
~You feel like you’re circling the drain, ready to finally go down any minute.

These feelings are often called ‘overload’ or ‘overwhelm’, and are a sign of deep concern in our spirit. They are a sign that we are being deconstructed, perhaps like an onion having our layers of protective skin peeled back.

One of the first realizations that helps us in our time of need is the fact that God is there in our pain seeing us with eyes of compassion. He is tending to us, trying to bring healing and wholeness, not inflicting pain and torture.

Matthew 9:36
When he saw the crowds, Jesus had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint Exupery

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair. Abraham Joshua Heschel

Overcoming overload also involves a process. That process will entail a series of births and deaths. We must die to the addictive concept of 24/7. When we do, we can be born into the sweet savor of enjoying a Sabbath. Steve & Mary Farrar

David Crowder has given poetic expression to this state in his song, “This Is All I Can Say Right Now”.

All I Can Say by The David Crowder Band
Lord I'm tired
So tired from walking
And Lord I'm so alone
And Lord the dark
Is creeping in
Creeping up
To swallow me
I think I'll stop
Rest here a while

And didn't You see me cry'n?
And didn't You hear me call Your name?
Wasn't it You I gave my heart to?
I wish You'd remember
Where you sat it down

Chorus:
And this is all that I can say right now
And this is all that I can give

Bridge:
I didn't notice You were standing here
I didn't know that
That was You holding me
I didn't notice You were cry'n too
I didn't know that
That was You washing my feet