Counselor's Corner: Feeling Overwhelmed?

What are you chasing after more? Time with God, money, people, or possessions? When you begin to experience stress, fatigue, and a feeling of being burdened, it’s time to pull back and reevaluate why.

Oftentimes, we take on too much that God has not called us to, and we take on the responsibilities of others; this is called a false sense of responsibility. When we are living in God’s Divine plan, there is peace and order. When we don’t place God first, our lives become unmanageable. We have a sense that we cannot handle all of life’s problems. Let’s face it, life is tough and without spending time with God to hear His voice and direction; we will get burdened.

The enemy has a plan to create as much havoc and chaos is our lives, and keep us distracted.

Just because something seems good, does not mean it is good for us. We are not to copy what others are doing either. So many times, people get frustrated and overwhelmed because they are trying to mimic what someone else is doing.

You are not meant to do everything and be everything to everybody, this can lead to people-pleasing. If you please man more and not God, you are going to be weighed down.

God has specific tasks for each one of us, but you will not know what those are unless you spend time with God. Our busyness, is not Godly or Holy, but a tactic of the enemy to wear us out.

Don’t try and follow what the crowd does, but know what your unique plan is from God.

Other people will not like it when you tell them, “No,” be prepared for this. You must know what YOU are supposed to do. Stop looking around at everyone else for direction. God has not called you to be a copycat. You will find that others will want you to do what they are doing, but you must step away from the desire to please man.

To get your life back in order and free from the pressures and demands of people and life, pull away and be with God alone, especially when you are exhausted. Being tired and overworked is not God’s plan for you. It does not matter what other’s expect from you, but what God desires for you.

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-30

Some questions to reflect on:

1.      What do you need to cut back on or cut out of your life to be free from over-responsibility?

2.      What do you crave and desire most from your life? Are you pursuing God first?

3.      Are you a people-pleaser? How do you know? What can you do differently?

4.      Do you feel overwhelmed, burdened? If yes, why? Do you believe this is God’s plan for you?

Counselor's Corner: How-to Walk-in Freedom from Concerns That Weigh You Down

Have you had trouble experiencing joy? Perhaps the reason is that your concerns are weighing you down.

I was feeling a little sluggish today and just not able to experience joy. It felt as if something was pressing on me or weighing me down. In my time with God this morning, He revealed to me that I was concerned over many matters and that was causing me to feel the way I was.

→How do you know you are overly concerned about a situation?

You repeatedly think about or talk about the situation that concerns you. God had showed me that I have been daily thinking about the same concerns. It is not all bad to have concerns but when they become repetitious in manner than we can lose our joy and our peace.

When we hold onto the same concerns after we have prayed about them and refuse to surrender the outcomes to God, a heaviness can come upon us. We are not built to carry our concerns. If we carry our concerns daily we cannot experience enjoyment of life.

As women it can be especially challenging not to think about our concerns. A woman’s brain is compared to spaghetti, meaning that experiences and thoughts all run-together. The problem is when you can’t turn the switch off in your brain for the situations you are concerned about.

→How can you walk in freedom from your concerns?

1.      Write out what you are concerned about, be aware of those concerns you repeatedly think about (those are the ones that cause heaviness and robs you of joy and peace).

2.      Look over your list of concerns and ask yourself the following questions over each one: Have you prayed about that concern? Are you trusting God with the outcome of your prayers? Which concerns do you repeatedly think about? Get to the “root” of why you repeatedly think about those concerns. Are your concerns rooted in fear?

3.      Are you trying to figure out the outcomes of your concerns?

4.      Become aware of the concerns you are repeatedly thinking about. Submit the concern immediately to Christ and move on. When the Holy Spirit wants you to act, then He will give you the grace, strength and peace to do so. Remind yourself that you have prayed about those concerns, and God has heard you and He will answer you. If you are repeatedly thinking about the same concerns most likely fear is involved and you are in bondage to whatever is controlling your thoughts. Fear does not come from God, so it must be broken by the name of Jesus. Fear can come in many forms, fear of the unknown, fear of man, fear of disappointing others, fear of being hurt.

5.      Obsessive thoughts about concerns can be broken by discipling your mind, or retraining your thoughts. When a reoccurring obsessive thought comes to your mind, don’t entertain, dwell, or analyze that thought. Stop thinking about that thought by replacing the thought with a scripture and/or a faith-filled response. You may need to do this often before the obsessive thought is broken. Think on those things that are lovely, a good report and things that are praiseworthy.

►Disciplining your thoughts takes time and effort, but it can be done. You can have freedom from what concerns you. For additional practical help, check out my latest book, “Disciplining your mind 30 days to a better you!”. You can find my book on Amazon and on this blog.

►If you are a subscriber to my blog, or a book reviewer and would like to do a book review for Amazon and Good reads for my book, send me a message and I will send you a physical, signed copy of my book for you to review.

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