Are you feeling Overwhelmed?

Are you feeling overwhelmed? I have heard this word quite a bit starting in February.  It seems a lot of people are feeling this way.

This post will offer you some practical steps on how to handle this if this is how you are feeling. I’ve processed this with the Lord a couple years ago and so I was reminded of the things He told me back then and was also given other scriptures which I would like to share with you in this post.

Psalm 142:3

When I am overwhelmed, You alone know the way I should turn.

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There was a prophetic word that was posted in 2022 that is along this same line, it is titled Time to Fuel up.  Reread it as I believe it will help you. I enjoyed reading it again myself.  Funny it was posted around the same time of year.

Dr. Charles Stanley, one of my favorites, used the acronym HALT which stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.  And he basically taught the you should never make any decision if your life aligns with any of these because you’ll surely make some big mistakes.  Hence, halt which means stop do not move forward.

Think Esau and how his hunger caused him to sell his birthright. (Genesis 25:29-34)

Think Moses how his anger caused him to do things that prevented him from entering the promised land.(Numbers 20:10-13,Deuteronomy 3:23-28)

If you decide to marry someone when you’re lonely just so that you wouldn’t be lonely anymore, there’s a chance you may choose the wrong person and the minute you’re not lonely you find out that you made a mistake and should’ve waited because the loneliness led to desperation.

When you’re exhausted or tired you want everything to stop, so yes, you’re going to accept the first thing so you can just rest!

What does all of this have to do with being overwhelmed?  Well, for me, they fall into the same vein.  Because if you don’t pay attention to HALT, you’ll get overwhelmed.  But you can also become overwhelmed when there is no HALT.

The definition of Overwhelmed

1 overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

2 overcome by superior force

3 charge someone with too many tasks

4 cover completely or make imperceptible

Simply put, it is an overstimulation of your senses – eyes, ears, smell, taste, touch.

You took on just a little too much until you are either at your breaking point or you are about to break!

The danger comes when you don’t deal with it and you go past the breaking point.  Here’s what can happen:

• you’ll turn down things that you should accept because you feel like you just can’t do anymore. So, you stop listening when you should listen.  You don’t look at what you should be looking at.
• you’ll accept things that you should turn down.  You’re tired of waiting and with everything else going on in the world, you’ll accept any offer so the worse one comes and you grab at it because you just want it to be over.
• you start accepting help from people you shouldn’t be accepting help from because you’re just glad someone came along to offer you assistance. The devil himself will show up and ask you to carry those packages and you’ll accept the help because you’re overwhelmed and can’t think straight.
• you are not thinking clearly and for sure you are not going to hear God clearly.
• your choices and decision are not aligned with the will of God.

Think Elijah, he just came off a mighty battle and won – easily – then came up against Jezebel and he ran away (1 Kings 18 & 19).  What was the first thing he did when he ran away?  Ended up under a tree sleeping, an angel came fed him, he got up ate, fell asleep AGAIN, then got up and ate again.  He was SUPER tired and hungry.  Stick a fork in him, he’s done!

When you are overwhelmed you cannot think straight, it’s like your perception is OFF.  Things seem so much worse than they actually are.  To make it worse, you don’t even realize that you are not thinking or seeing things clearly.  As an example, read this…

1 Kings 19

⁹ There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”¹¹ And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.^{[a] 13} And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. ¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. ¹⁷ And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. ¹⁸ Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

The first time I read this, I thought to myself why is he repeating himself?  I put it in bold when he said it twice.  Until I realized that this man was so overwhelmed that his whole perception was off so God had to make him repeat himself so that he could hear himself say it twice…and he was still OFF.

Think of it this way, he’s in a cave sleeping God comes to him and asks him why he’s in there which tells me he shouldn’t be there, he tells the Lord what the issue is but what he says makes absolutely no sense!  Why?  Because in the chapter before (1 Kings 18:13) he knew that there were 100 prophets of the Lord hidden away so he’s not alone.

What the Lord does to make sure that he hears himself is tell him to come out of the cave, stand outside, then a wind comes (which means breeze was blowing on his face) and then an earthquake (which means the ground began to shake) and then fire (which means it got hot!  And basically the Lord says after making sure he was WIDE AWAKE

Come again?  Repeat what you just said?  Say that again?  And, he repeats the same thing!  That is how off he was!  The Lord just showed up in a sign and a wonder, he called fire down and killed 450 false prophets, he knew 100 prophets of the Lord were hidden in caves and he still repeated the fact that he was alone.

His perception was completely off.  Did you notice God didn’t even correct him after that?  No, he just told him to go anoint the others.

Wow!  This just goes to show you that you can’t ever be too anointed and appointed or to gifted or talented to fall into the trap of being so overwhelmed that you’ve lost all sense of perception.  Your brain just isn’t braining!

The point here is this, you need to know when you are almost at this point so that you can back up quickly because all the enemy has to do is overwhelm you to a point where you make the wrong choices.

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Some practical steps to fix the feeling of being overwhelmed

1. Remember that being overwhelmed is an overstimulation of your senses.  So, you need to shut down or change the stimuli immediately.

2. If you can back off from these people or this thing that is making you feel overwhelmed, that’s what you need to do.  Take a break.  Limit contact. Think senses – stop listening to them, stop watching it on TV or social media, stop reading about it, stop listening to music that puts you in that mindset, remove the scents/fragrances from your environment that pull you into that, stop physically visiting or going to places where you may be exposed to that.  Just shut it down.  Tell your friends or your family members you don’t want to talk about that anymore.

3. Do not allow other people to define your boundaries or limits for you.  Some people have the capacity to handle huge burdens while others don’t.  We are not the same.  You know where your breaking point is so the minute you find that you are getting really close to that just say NO to adding anything further. What I mean is, if someone comes and asks you to do something (it doesn’t matter how small it is) if you know that you do not have the mental, emotional, physical or spiritual capacity to handle it, say NO.  For them, this may be a very small request but for you it may be the straw that broke the camel’s back for you. We are not the same; therefore, our limits and capacity are different. Know yourself and set your own boundaries. If you are OK, you need to pay attention to the people in your household or those who are around you.  Check in on them.  Sometimes just talking about something can make you feel so much better.  Be a sounding board for someone.  Sometimes just talking about something can make you feel so much better.

4  Laugh!  Laughter and joy can completely change your countenance. (Proverbs 17:22)  Find a comedy, watch reruns of your favorite comedy.  This really helps.  Follow some comedians on social media so that every time you’re on there, you’re laughing about something.  Laughter should be a part of your day, every day!  Make sure in your friendship circle you have one person that has a great sense of humor because this will help you.

5 Breathing Exercises.  Yes, knowing how to breathe properly when you are stressed or feel overwhelmed can help.  Here’s a quick video on how to do this.  You can also search up others until you find the one that does it for you.

6 Take a vacation.  Can you afford to go on a vacation?  Take one.  Being away from your environment will do you some good because you can come back and see things much clearer.

Last year I had quite a few things to do and I remember at one point I felt like it was going to take me a kazillion trillion years to get it all done.  I was overwhelmed.  Then I went on vacation and when I came back this task that I thought would take forever to complete was a simple 2 hour job!  Again, the brain is not braining when you are overwhelmed so you need to take a vacation so you can clear your head.  When you return to the situation you will realize it is not as bad as you originally thought.

….you’re not so alone Elijah!  You have help!

For those of you that can’t take a vacation right now there’s a way for you to get the same effect and this is something I also do when I find the need to get away again and I can’t.  What is the essence of a vacation?  It’s taking a break and feeding your senses something different than what you get at home, right?  Changing the stimuli.

Feeding your senses the vacation

-Do you ever notice that you listen to different music when you’re on vacation?  Music has the ability to transport you into a different time, era and place.  Therefore just by filling your atmosphere with whatever you deem to be “vacation music” you can immediately transport yourself into that place. Close your eyes and enjoy it! ….You’re welcome!  LOL

-Did you know that when you go on vacation the smells are different?  Why do you think they sell all that pumpkin spice stuff in the fall?  Because it transports you to the fall season.  Therefore you need to find all the scents that give you the vacation vibes and have those around you.  Spring and summer fragrances – your plugins/candles at home, your perfume/cologne.  Yes!  You can literally change you entire mood with the smells you have around you.  In your home, your car, at your office, what you wear.  Smell will transport you out of your environment into a vacation.

-Same story with the food.  Why do you think they have Easter food, Christmas and Thanksgiving food?  Because your tastebuds also transport you into a time and season.  So what would equate to vacation food for you?  What do you eat to celebrate a special occasion?  What do you drink?  That’s what you need to do.

Just think about something that would evoke a memory of joy and happiness and get the smells, photos, sounds that transport you there and look at that, listen to that.

-What are you looking at?  Because a vacation takes you away from your usual location.  How do we recreate this without actually taking a trip?  Well, change your location.  OK, so you won’t end up on the beach (unless you live near one) but you can change your environment which will clear your head by going to a park, a spot near a lake, the beach, watching birds, looking at the mountains, away in the bushes somewhere in your village where you are not looking at your environment.  By yourself. Take a break and find a place where you can just go away and sit quietly.  Schedule it on your calendar – 2 hours away by yourself.  Doing nothing, just relaxing and not thinking about all the things you have going on and listen to some music, even take a nap if that’s what you need to do.  Visually changing what you are looking at helps because it gives you a break from that stimuli and affords you the opportunity to think about it more clearly when you’re not looking at the same environment.

Even Jesus changed his environment when He needed time alone with the Father…

March 1:35

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

You can just do this for one day and see how well it worked for you.  Perhaps just doing one of these will make all the difference.

Once you take this vacation, whether it’s literal or mental, you will be able to clear your head for a moment and then when you get back in your environment you can reevaluate everything and see what you need to cut and what needs to stay and how you can better handle the things you need to get done.

Try it!

You just learnt how to feed your physical senses, with the proper stimuli to help remove the feeling of being overwhelmed but the truth is that this is not complete until you spiritually address the issue.

Yes, you need to address it spiritually as well.  This is a two fold solution.  Didn’t Elijah eat twice and sleep twice and he was still off, so that means there was something missing in it.  It means that what you just read is temporary it can change your mindset very quickly but it doesn’t last unless you follow this up with a permanent solution.  Take a look at this scripture…

Psalm 61:2

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

The verse says when my heart is overwhelmed.  That’s not physical, that is spiritual.

Psalm 142:3

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.

While you may be able to point to physical things as adding to your problem these verses are telling us that this is a spiritual issue as well.

Here is the spiritual solution which will completely clear this away.

When you take the vacation (literal or mental) you need to focus on these scriptures…

Psalm 121:1-2

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

Notice, that your eyes have to be focused upwards to get help.  You can’t be looking at your environment and think that’s how your help will come, no.  It’s not vertical, it’s horizontal, look up.  God may send a person to help you, but that person may only show up AFTER you’ve prayed and sought the Lord about it.

Isaiah 26:3-4

You will keep in perfect peace
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in You.
⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

When you focus your mind on the Lord, peace will flood into your situation.  Shut off the stimuli from your physical senses and turn on your spiritual stimuli of focusing on the Lord.

Philippians 4:8

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

There are moments when we feel overwhelmed because we are not truly thinking about those things or people in a manner in which pleases God.  Examine your thoughts. As we begin to wrestle with our thoughts we can feel overwhelmed.  Reevaluate each thing and pinpoint your thoughts around it.

Let’s pretend you’re Elijah, the minute you start thinking you’re alone the first response to that thought should be a bible verse “never will I leave you, never will I forsake you says the Lord“. So immediately you know that this is a lie from the pit of hell. Examine your thoughts.  If you feel that Jezebel is more powerful that you, “we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony” – I’m saved so I’m covered under the blood of Jesus and didn’t I just call down fire and God devoured 450 false prophets?  That’s my testimony!  So what is this one woman to God? Nothing!  Examine your thoughts.

Don’t allow the enemy to overwhelm you! If you pay attention to what is happening, it’s like there is this demonic agenda to completely overwhelm you so that you just give up and approve everything, you agree to everything because you are so overwhelmed and you just want it to stop.  You need to be so clear in your thoughts that when they present the foolishness to you – no matter which of the 7 mountains of society it comes from – you are the one that turns around and says to them…

via GIPHY

When we begin to see how our thoughts, and what we are being told, lines up with what scripture says it is at this moment that we’ll be able to realize those thoughts or those words are not from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 10:5

We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

ONE scripture from the word of God will cast off that spirit that is trying to overwhelm you.  Yes, sometimes it is the devil himself that is trying to get you so discouraged, so hopeless so that you feel you have no other hope.  It’s spiritual.

What does the Bible say about the situation you are in?  Read the Bible.  Get the permanent solution.

 

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

There are times when we do have to handle some things that we don’t want to handle.  God can ask us to carry things or take on things that make us overwhelmed and it is at these times that we need to know how to squarely put it back in His hands. No matter how long Elijah stayed in that cave and how many times he slept and woke up, Jezebel still needed to be dealt with.  No matter how long I went away on vacation, that task that I was trying to avoid was there waiting for me when I got back.  It still needed to be dealt with.  So know that there are some things in life, you need to deal with it but the Lord is saying that you need to put the burden and the anxiety of that on Him.

Matthew 11:29-30

All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

The Lord is saying, let’s have an exchange – you can take what I have and I’ll take what you have, your burden.  What does the Lord have?  Gentleness, humility, you will have rest so there is peace and it will be very light.  How beautiful is that?  He doesn’t want us to walk around overwhelmed.

 

Isaiah 40:31

but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. 

Sometimes we can have misplaced hope.  Where is your hope placed?  In a man, in the government?  You can’t hope in anything or anyone else but God.  This feeling can be there because you don’t trust that these “humans” will do what they say they are going to do.  You can’t trust them to protect you, provide for you or help you in any way!  TRUST God to work it out and to bring everything that is for your good and not for evil.  When you do this you will feel light as a feather.  Take some time while you’re reevaluating things to see where you placed your hope for each thing.

 

Psalm 94:19

When worries threaten to overwhelm me,
Your soothing touch makes me happy.

 

Philippians 4:6-7

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

If you hear or see something that makes you feel overwhelmed, go into prayer about it immediately.  The faster you can have that yoke exchange with God, the better.

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

You can face anything and go through anything when you are standing in God’s power.  It is our own heart and our spirit that feels overwhelmed.  The minute you tap into God’s power that whole feeling goes away.  Step out of your own strength and step into His.

All of these scriptures that you just read can be used for meditation and these will help you gain some perspective and help you to offload what you have been carrying.

Prayer:

Abba Father, thank you for providing this opportunity for me to come to You and offload all the things that I have been carrying.  Thank you for showing me how to look up to You for help. Give me Your yoke and take this burden from me.  Bring me into this divine exchange and allow me to feel the gentleness that You carry, the humility, the peace, bring me to a place of rest.  I find rest in Your Sovereignty because I do believe that You are in full control.  I pray now for wisdom to know the things that You want me to work on and be involved with and ask for humility to let go of the things that I need to let go of.  Thank you that I am not in charge of any of this.  You are in total control. I trust You to sort out the things I am letting go. Forgive me for taking on things that I should never have.  Deliver me from carrying things for decades that I’ve accepted as my responsibility when You asked me to carry it. Allow me to humbly rest it all at Your feet and ask You for direction, for guidance on how I move forward.  Thank you for the lightness of Your yoke that You are flooding into my body right now.  Thank you for the clarity of thought.  Thank you that I can now have a new perspective governed by Your word to think on the things that are true, pure, lovely, praise worthy, things that are uplifting and now I can release everything that doesn’t align with Your word. Give me speech that is filled with grace so I can say NO when I need to say NO.  Deliver me from the fear of missing out. Fill me with Your love so that I will handle everyone around me in a way that is pleasing to You.  Show me how I can support my spouse, children, family members and friends in the way and capacity that You are calling me to support them and show me the things I need to let go.  Lord thank you for loving me enough to get my attention on this so that changes can be made to set me back on the right path with You, in Jesus name, Amen!

I pray that this blessed you.  Do you know someone who could benefit from this?  Send it them.

Blessings