SEASON OF OVERWHELM

We are currently in a season from the Lord of “overwhelm”.  We are “out there” so far in the deep that we only have two choices at this point:  sink or swim.  Just as the Spirit of the Lord led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, so we too are being tested to see where our hearts are strong and what we still need to surrender to the Lord.  Jesus, of course, passed every test, even though He was weak with hunger and tempted with things which directly impacted His heart.  As He passed each test He was taken to higher levels of temptation.  How did He pass these tests?  He slew His enemy and passed each level of testing with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  (Matt. 4).

The Lord sets before us two choices:  life or death, blessing or curses, Deut. 30:19.  He will not overrule our freedom to choose, nor will He force His will, overriding ours.  We make thousands of decisions each day.  For those choices to impact our life correctly, we need to make the right ones, which God clearly says will bring us blessings and life.  To choose independently of the one who is Life and who brings blessings, would be foolish as it would bring curses and death, of which can come in many forms, not just physical death. This sounds so harsh except the reality of this spiritual law is this:  we have a Father who loves us more than we fathom, who is motivated by this indescribable love, and leads us to do those things which will open us up to the blessings He holds in His heart to bestow upon us. But it's still our choice to decide which one we will operate.  We truly don't get that there are only two choices; it's one or the other of which we are operating. 

So how does that amazing love equate to putting us into a season of overwhelm???  Being presented with the two choices stated above, we are now at a time we must choose which way we are going to go.  We must decide on purpose to either:  be overwhelmed with stress, worry, anxiety, fear, dread, rush-rush-hurry-hurry mentality; which all creates frustration and a negative attitude; or be overwhelmed with His goodness for our lives by letting go of all the fear-based things from the list above and press into getting to know Him and His nature of goodness for us.  How do we do that?  Just as Jesus overcame in the wilderness with the Word, we too will overcome this season of overwhelm with getting to know the Word, Jesus, (John 1:1). 

We tend to want to spend time with God and His Word, but we just are too busy to actually do it.  Once you decide you are going to take the plunge and take time from your busy schedule to make space for God and you, I can predict some things will probably occur with your effort to do this: 

1.  You will have to seek the Lord about what is the best time for you in your life circumstances to spend that time with God.

2.  You will be challenged to keep that time with God. 

3.  If you are able to keep it, you will have a hard time focusing or feeling like you are in His presence. 

4.  You will succeed in the above if you are determined that NO MATTER WHAT, you won’t give up but will keep pressing in. 

5.  As you keep pressing, you will begin to catch the wave of His Spirit, learning more of Him each day, learning how to flow with Him in His will for your life; where and how He leads you. 

6. As you flow with His Spirit, the Kingdom of God will manifest in your life which is:  righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, Romans 14:17. 

7.  As the fruit of the Kingdom manifests in your life, you will learn how to cast cares upon God along with all of the fear those burdens bring which try to overwhelm you.

8.  You will then be overwhelmed with His goodness of: peace, joy, open doors, closed doors, provision, miracles, divine connections, timing, wisdom, abundant life, and the pressures of this life will not succeed in stealing your joy and peace.  Even if the storms are enormous and you may have uneasiness because of them, you can still know deep in your gut that your Father has His hand on you.  You will know He is guiding you, helping you navigate the storms to come out on the other side with even more than you would have had, had the storms not occurred.  He works ALL things out TOGETHER for our good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose, (Rom. 8:28).

Looking at our peace lily this morning I realized that it finally bloomed after changing my watering habits.  Instead of just maybe once a week, I water a bit everyday now.  It hasn't bloomed in a very long time.  Now it has five blooms; 5=the number of grace!

God drove home His point with a dream I had last week which has been a reoccurring dream for years.  The specifics change but not the overall message each time I have these dreams.  Interpretation is in ( )’s.  I was in college, (higher learning opportunities in the Lord) and trying to find my dorm room, (the place or season where we are “living” right now.)  I found my room and it was large.  Usually the rooms in the previous dreams are small and cluttered.  (This room being large symbolizes more opportunity in this particular season.)  The room was entirely the color of red from the painted ceilings and walls to the carpeted floors and furniture.  The walls had murals of people who seemed happy but it still felt very overwhelming to be around so much red.  It made me feel completely over-stimulated and anxious and I knew I had to change that immediately to something more soothing and calm.  (Nuff said)  Immediately after that decision to obtain a peaceful living environment, I found myself with a man who I knew very well, intimately, who seemed like my husband yet also comrade, friend, etc., (Jesus.)  There was a dance contest that a group of us in the college were getting ready to go participate in and everyone needed time to practice.  My partner and I just started flowing in our dance routine.  I didn’t even need to know what He was going to do next, I could just follow him, (trusting the Lord and letting Him lead us step by step.)  At one point, however, I did attempt to lead which threw us off and out of step.  Discerning what happened, I immediately exclaimed, “Oh dear, I just tried to lead.”  I got right back in line with him as the lead, which caused us to glide and flow effortlessly together all over the dorm.  It was a fun and magnificent dance to which others watching were in awe.  (When we try to lead, it will throw things off in our life and we need to be quick to repent, calling out what we did and immediately turn away from it.  This puts us right back in line with His perfect will for us and our life will flow in peace and joy again.)  It was time for the contest and somehow I got separated from my partner.  This is also a recurrent part of dreams in the past whereby at this point I usually am panicking and not able to find him.  I feel stress, loss, and fear that I won’t find him and will miss out on what I am supposed to be doing/receiving.  However, this time I chose to react differently than all the times in the past.  I chose to believe that we would meet up on the stage as we both knew where to go.  I chose to decide that if something went differently than what I thought, then that was ok.  He now has me in a place where I trust Him and that all will go according to His plan since I am yielded to Him anyway.

If we look at our plans and what we actually get accomplished of those plans, we will feel a sense of loss and like we are always fighting time.  We will bear fruit of worry, anxiety, fear, dread, frustration and foreboding.  If we surrender our lives/day to the Lord and look at what He is ordering for our day and our steps, we will sense a feeling of gratitude for how He is using us and accomplishing His purposes for our lives.  We will bear fruit of peace and joy.  We will know which decision we made by the fruit we bear.  If we have cast the care, we will be able to say to the care, “I don’t care,” and to the circumstances, “Oh well…this is how God wants it or it would have turned out differently.”

Just today, I had much on my plate of VERY IMPORTANT things I HAD TO ACCOMPLISH by a certain deadline…when the Lord interrupted MY plans and told me to write this blog.  I must consider and choose to believe all our times are in His hands, all in due time, He is sovereign and goes before us ordering our steps, it’s ok for us to plan but the end result is in His hands.

After finishing this blog my husband informed me that he awoke from a dream this morning.  I didn’t tell him what this blog was about or even that I was writing it.  In his dream he was with a large group of people.  He found himself with all of them in a vast, dark basement that was open at the top as if the foundation had just been poured.  The walls were high, creating a deep foundation.  Everyone was following him and he felt fear that he led them to an empty hole.  The Lord spoke over him in his dream, “Just tell them to be at peace.” 

We can feel like we have dug ourselves into deep pits of problems, but God is saying in the midst of it all, let peace be your strong foundation of which He is building something wonderful!

Out of the mouth of two or three witness every fact is confirmed: Peace, be still and know that I am God, Psalm 46:10.

Peace Out!

Photo from my daughter's photography business-Glory Photography.

Glory Photography Facebook page 

I was initially going to write this post about peace in June, but honestly, things kept stealing my peace so I was in no frame of mind to do it.  How can someone write about peace to help others obtain and keep it when I lose my cool over silly things like a driver who hits his breaks when approaching an intersection with a green light?  (GO!!! IT’S GREEN NOT YELLOW!!! YOU IDIOT!!! YOU DON’T YIELD ON GREEN!!!  And yes, I’m indicating yelling with my all caps and multiple exclamation points!!!)  

How can I possibly tell you about peace when I freak out with Customer Service of a company that has screwed up their agreement with me?  I get tested every time by having to speak to someone in a foreign country who doesn’t understand me very well, and I surely can’t understand their thick dialect!  I escalate quickly over outsourcing to someone who isn’t going to quickly fix my problem.

Do I have the right to talk with you about how you too can obtain peace in three easy steps when I lose mine so easily over my husband not tuning into me perfectly?  He should at every moment consider everything I have to say to him as the most important thing he ever heard!  (I really do take issue with the “male selective hearing” but that’s another post!  :)  )

There is definitely a pattern described in the above incidents.  Those situations that I was letting steal my peace are all small and insignificant in the whole scheme of things.  As my daddy used to tell me over and over; and now I see with good reason, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”  I sometimes still do though and in seeking the Lord about why I do that, I feel He has shown me something most of us probably suffer.  He showed me that when I am frustrated or have unresolved anger, those types of situations cost me my peace very quickly and easily.  

My next question is, what am I angry or frustrated about?  I now have an amazing husband who although not perfect, he gives me the life in marriage I always dreamed of.  I feel so emotionally satisfied in that he is making effort to “hear” me and effectively communicate with me.  Even though we sometimes fail at those attempts, we keep trying.  He is my supportive companion and truly connected to me in spirit, soul and body.  I am a blessed woman in marriage which was always something I deeply wanted.  

I am also a very proud mother and grandmother of absolutely beautiful children, (I always consider my son and daughter in-law-kids as my own kids who likewise make me so incredibly blessed in who they are and how they are with my children and grandchildren.)  They all give me such a sense of satisfaction and pride along with delighting my heart and soul in unmeasureable ways.  I have no doubt in the love of my family for me and I certainly love them with all my heart.  

Most importantly, I have the love, adoration, delight, care and attention of my daddy God; my lovely Savior Jesus who has given me everything; and my sweet friend and helpmate, Holy Spirit.  That alone should be enough to make me so content and happy.  What then, is my problem?  Why is it so easy to cast off the precious gift of peace that the Lord, who is the Prince of Peace, has given me?  

Could it be that in living in this fallen world, with its trials and tribulations, I feel like I have not had enough of the things manifest in my life that I am holding out my faith for?  Perhaps I have been seeking God for answers about things for such a long time now, that in my opinion, enough is enough, and now I feel like God is holding out on me.  Instead of enduring and trusting God that His timing is perfect and just honoring Him with my patient pursuit of Him instead of constant frustration over what I don’t have, I instead lose my cool and let my peace go by the wayside only to have to go after it once again.  Then, lets add guilt in the mix to that because what the heck do I have to feel “cheated” about when I just told you what a blessed woman I am and how amazing my Lord is in giving me LIFE?

One day a couple of months ago, God gave me a clear picture of this predicament.  I was following my husband in my vehicle as he was driving his own and leading me through an area of town I was uncomfortable and not familiar enough to just go by myself.  We had stopped at a red light.  I patiently waited and the light turned green.  However, the line of traffic remained steadfast.  I patiently waited for what I consider enough time for the realization to set in that “Hey…you up there in front of everyone…get off your phone and realize you need to move!”  Still no movement, so I gave my horn a quick “Hey buddy, you need to go” tap.  To my mounting frustration, there was still no movement.  I honked ever so slightly longer, with a little more determination, but to no avail.  Being totally exasperated, I now lay on my horn!  I saw my sweet hubby look in his rear view mirror at me and frankly, couldn’t understand why he hadn’t taken the lead in the honking brigade.  He just sat there as well, as if oblivious to the green light!  Traffic finally began to move and wind to the right as the traffic light is located on a curve.  As I rounded the corner, I could see what the holdup had been attributed to.  In the middle of the road was a fire truck that needed to get into a specific area and therefore needed to stop traffic until it could maneuver into position.  From my vantage point, I was limited in my capability to see what all was up ahead of me.  

I immediately thought of the prophet Balaam, in the Old Testament, whose donkey wouldn’t move forward like Balaam wanted him to because he had the capability to see into the spirit realm and could see danger ahead.  The donkey’s refusal to budge actually resulted in saving Balaam’s life, even though Balaam was very impatient and thought about destroying the donkey.  Balaam was the true ass in that story…as was I!  I felt so convicted of my impatience and lack of trust that God can see all things and knows best in His supreme wisdom.   I am short sighted in my humanness and know only in part.  

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  (James 1:2-4 NASV and AKJV)

Peace due to trust in God is my gift from Him to help me get through those times of waiting.  Seeking peace is more important than seeking my answer.  When I go too far in seeking my answer to something, I will know it because I will lose my peace and get frustrated, angry, anxious, bitter, or confused.  In that, I am in pride as I want to override God’s timing and ways.  I have therefore removed myself from His grace which helped me when I humbly trusted Him.  This all demonstrates that I have become focused on the problem/solution instead of God and have become impatient.  

 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it may tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”  (Habakkuk 2:3)

The Bible tells us “Let the peace of God rule your heart, acting as an umpire; deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your mind.” (Collisions 3:15 Amplified Bible)  Just as with ballgames, and the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, so are we to let peace make the calls for our lives.  

How do we know if we have peace?  What if we don’t feel like we have any peace because our heads are a mess with thoughts, fears, conflicting opinions, etc?  Where is our peace?  

First of all…be still…be quiet.  Settle down your mind and emotions and perhaps even your body.  Take some deep breaths, (breathe in for 4 seconds, and hold for 7, exhale for 8 seconds.  Repeat a few times until you feel a sense of calm.  You can Google “4 7 8 breathing” to get more specific information.)  

Your spirit, where the Holy Spirit resides in Christians, is in your belly; “Out of your belly flows rivers of living water,” John 7:38.  That’s why we say, “gut feeling.”  It’s that place deep in your gut, also called your “heart”, not your head with all its “change-by-moment” emotions and reasonings.  It’s the place that even if your head is saying one thing, your heart can say another.  It’s the place of “knowing.”  You just know…  We’ve all experienced a time when we overrode what our heart was telling us, then suffered the consequences of that disobedience.  We thought, “Dang!  I KNEW better!”  Listen to this deep place inside your heart and refuse to let your thoughts or emotions rule.

 

Some reading this post may have to Google what a Polaroid Instamatic camera is to help you understand this next analogy.  A Polaroid operated by pointing the camera at your subject, clicking the button and out would shoot a blank, square sheet of plastic.  As you watched, patiently, that plastic would instantly begin developing the subject of which you just focused your camera.  It would take a couple of minutes and then you would have the complete image developed before your very eyes!  This is how our spiritual focus works as well.  Whatever we focus our attention on, that is what will develop in our lives.  That’s why God gives us choices and tells us the right way to focus, because He wants only the best to manifest in our lives.  

If we keep our focus on the Lord, He will keep us in perfect peace.  There are times when I am so tempted to freak out, that I then have to picture myself like a horse with blinders on.  I cup my hands on both sides of my face and picture His lovely face directly in front of mine, so close it blocks out everything else.  I focus on keeping my eyes straight on Him and not looking to the right or left at all the things that are vying for my attention.  Those distractions are being used not only to get me off track but cause me to give up my peace.  If I have on the full armor of God, then I also have on the part of that armor that I need to walk successfully in this life.  I’m speaking of those lovely shoes of peace which are more beautiful than any pair of hot, six inch stilettos I have in my closet!  Those shoes of peace help me continue to move forward, with each purposeful step.  Just as I have to choose to take each step I take, I also have to be purposeful to stay in peace.  It is a choice.  I can choose to keep my peace or I can choose to let it go and blow up, freak out, get in fear, get frustrated, cuss, or whatever other method I choose to be in the stead of peace.

I once had a dream in which I was underwater on my side.  I was struggling ferociously with trying to breathe.  I was gasping with eyes closed and fighting through the water to just try to breathe and come to a place of rest.  I opened my eyes and could see a man floating quietly alongside me.  He was likewise on his side and watching me but not interfering or trying to assist.  He was just waiting.  I began to be more focused on Him instead of my struggle and instantly a sense of peace and calm washed over me.  Although still under water, I realized I had begun to breathe rhythmically and deeply.  Once under the influence of peace, He and I began to swim together, side by side, stroke for stroke.  It was a spiritual water ballet of its own beauty and splendor; a communion of the dance in a way that transcended the most elegant waltz.  I know the choreographer of that lovely dance and the Life Guard who saved me from drowning in that dream was Jesus, my Lord and Savior.  I learned from that dream that if I would just surrender to Him, He will give me His peace which passes understanding which will move me through this life with all its struggles and disappointments, wounds and trials.  It’ll be ok.  I will be alright, and I will have emerged from the things that tried to steal my peace more than an overcomer in Him who loves me. 

If you are feeling like you are struggling, you are going counter to the peace the Lord is trying to give you.  Tell yourself, “STOP!”  It’s time to draw back, get quiet and focus on Him.  

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10