Overwhelmed. Have you experienced an overwhelming sensation of any particular feeling or emotion? You could feel overwhelmed by someone’s generosity towards you or your family, or by the amount of laundry in your floor, or by your level of exhaustion. Most recently, you may certainly have experienced a sensation of being overwhelmingly STUFFED from all the yummy food at your Thanksgiving feast! The fact is, we ALL have, at some point in our lives, felt overwhelmed by something. Often, we aren’t sure how to handle all of the schedules, sickness, children’s fighting, grocery lists, laundry…..life seems to throw our way. Everyone deals with stress differently, but I dare say, the vast majority of us could use a class in “How to better prepare and handle life’s little surprises”. We so often lose our temper, project negative feelings or stress on someone else – most often, those we care about the most, or simply crawl in our bed and cry, when we are overwhelmed. Basically, we fail at the tests given. The problem is, most of the time, our bad choices don’t only affect us; they affect people all around us – some people we know, and a lot, we don’t. We have no way of knowing how many people are watching us, that we never know of. It’s frightening to ponder.
To those in middle and high school – you are living in such a rough time. No one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but take it from me; you do NOT have to give in to peer pressure. I have such a love, and soft spot in my heart for youth, and I want to spare as many of you as I can, from the pain, heartache and disappointment, of thinking you have to be someone you aren’t, to fit in. Take it from me, I hung out with the popular kids. I dated the “QB” and baseball boys/jocks, and was friends with the beautiful cheerleaders, but never felt the need to party, smoke, drink, do drugs, put myself in questionable situations with boys…and yet, here I am – fully alive! It is possible to “Just say no” to ANYTHING you don’t feel COMPLETELY comfortable with, and still maintain your friends. If someone doesn’t respect your wishes on ANY subject, guess what? You don’t need them in your life. Find someone – a friend, family member, school counselor, whomever you feel most comfortable with, and talk to them. Don’t keep quiet and feel like no one is willing to help. I don’t know what you are going through, but I felt a deep stirring to share this. I hope it helps someone.
It seems the bad news just hasn’t stopped flooding in from all over the world. It would be very easy to feel overwhelmed, and completely fold under pressure, and at times, I have wanted to do just that! However, as difficult as some moments have been, I know Who holds everything in this world in His hands, and He has a greater purpose, than I could ever comprehend. I didn’t think I’d ever understand how losing someone you love could ever be used for good, but when my own father passed away in May of 2010, there were countless people then, and now (people still come up to my family and talk about the impact my dad’s testimony and spirit had on them!) who’s lives have changed drastically, by the living, and even dying example my dad gave them. When I hear people talk about their memories with and of my own father, I am overwhelmed at the person he was. I can’t argue that Christ takes the bad and makes it good. Always.
Lastly, we all struggle with something and/or someone. Whether it be a bad habit, a difficult family member or friend, or weakness we are working on – NO ONE is perfect. What one person may be really strong in, someone else will undoubtedly struggle with. We are here to build one another up, not tear down. Loving others may not always be easy, or what we WANT to do, but I promise you – in the end, it will be worth it.
As Christmas creeps closer and closer, time seems to disappear, even more quickly than usual. As we move ahead from giving thanks for all the blessings we have, to Christmas, lets not forget the SPIRIT of Christmas. Christ gave the best gift we could ever receive when He gave us His Son. Don’t get so overwhelmed by the hustle of bustle of fighting for parking spaces, and making sure each person gets everything on their list, lets take a step back and become overwhelmed with compassion for someone who really, truly needs a blessing this holiday, and GIVE instead of looking to GET. This Christmas, get OVERWHELMED by the love of Christ, and stay that way! This Christmas season, give the gift of love. Because, I have news for you – Christmas isn’t about gifts, food, shopping, traveling…it isn’t even about family. Christmas is about LOVE. God’s love for us, while we were still sinners, running so deep, He gave us the greatest gift of all; Himself.
Everyone of us is broken, in some way. Some of us are even “Cray-Cray”. 😉 We have wounds. Some of them are surface scrapes or bruises that have healed, and left no scar. Some of us are physically wounded – with deep lacerations that require stitches and casts. Many of us are emotionally wounded. Some of us so deeply, with wounds which are still open, and we can’t heal properly without a transfusion. But, there stands Someone who has the only blood that can fully heal any wound, help any scar fade, and make us completely whole again. He patiently waits, holding His hands out, filled with His blood, shed so many years ago. This Christmas, begin the healing process. Trust. Believe. Accept. Heal. Completely.
Merry Christmas!