When life is overwhelming

In this life, it is so easy to get overwhelmed, especially this time of year, with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and the coming of a New Year. We can get overwhelmed just by the everyday stresses of life, even if it’s not a holiday. I know I have had lots of people tell me, ” Let go and let God.” They have said that so much to me that I began to walk around saying,”Yeah,yeah,yeah.” But nobody would even offer to help me. To someone who doesn’t know how to let go of anything much less to God, what does this even mean?

Where would I start to learn to let go? I am the type of person my hands turn white from hanging on to things. I like to be in control of everything. I have had to be the one in control for so long that it’s an automatic reaction to stuff no matter what it is. But the truth is, I really wasn’t in control. That’s why life was overwhelming.

Only God can be in control of everything, and we are not God. There are so many people who believe God exists or maybe know about God intellectually, but they don’t know God personally. Then how can we “Let go and let God” if we don’t know Him personally? How can we trust God enough to let Him be in control of our lives if we don’t know Him? We wouldn’t let someone we don’t know be in control of anything in our day to day lives. It takes trust.

Trust is not easily given. It is for most children, but as adults, we tend to have let the scars of life form who we trust and don’t trust. Then how can we begin to trust a God we don’t know or even see?

How can we trust God to take care of us or our families and loved ones? We see so much chaos every day. We see people suffering and our feelings of being overwhelmed take over.

I can’t tell you to do anything, but I can tell you about what God did for me. When it looked the darkest, like nothing was happening, and I was going to either starve to death or freeze God came through for me. When I saw no way possible for anything in my life to work out, God made a way. He really did.

But we have to get in His Word, the Bible, and hang on like a football. The enemy is very real, and most of the time, we are our own worst enemy. However, God gave us His Word. In John chapter 1, the Word became flesh, that Word is Jesus. It’s a process. Start with the Word. What have ya got to lose except garbage, bondage, and things that hold you prisoner? Jesus came to give you life. The first step is to accept Him.

Then ya may be like me when I was a new baby in Christ, I had said I wish there was a book that I could read so I would know what to do and not to do. Nobody ever told me there was. It is called the Bible. Then I had older Christians tell me that only the KJV is the one to read. I tried to read it, but It was like reading a different language. I couldn’t understand a word of it. I was very upset about that, I even fell back into depression and felt so lost. Get a translation you can read and understand. My favorite one is the New Living Translation (NLT). And stop listening to all the many voices telling you to do this and do that.

There is a big difference between followers of Jesus Christ and religious people. A very big difference. I have heard people say they don’t go to church because of religious people. They don’t want no part of it. I can understand. It was the religious people who killed Jesus.

Read the Bible, and you will see and understand for yourself. Listen to what God tells you. Find you a church. It’s like a piece of coal or piece of wood in the fireplace. Together, you stay on fire, but if you remove the piece of coal or wood from the others, it becomes cold, and the fire dies. I even hear others say they don’t go to church because of the hypocrites, so not everyone there is a hypocrite. You will have all kinds of people no matter where you go. Get in the Word and pray, God will lead you where He wants you to go.

But you have to take the first step. The first is always the hardest. I am not going to lie, but just move your feet, make that call. The first step is up to you.