Counselor's Corner: Projecting the Future Will Cause You to Feel Overwhelmed

Are you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, burdened or anxious? When you project what may happen in the future you forfeit your daily grace and lose strength.

Recently, I started feeling quite overwhelmed and experienced unusual exhaustion. I realized during my morning time with God that I had begun to project scenarios that may or not happen in the future. I had begun to figure out what may happen or could happen in the future. I was not even doing this intentionally but it came as a result of trying to figure out problems and situations for a loved one.

I am a problem-solver and fixer by nature. You present me with a problem and I will have twenty different ways for you to overcome your problem. Being a problem-solver can be a good thing, but it can also hinder the work of the Holy Spirit hat tmay want to do in our lives or the lives of others.

If the Holy Spirit directs you to do something, you will know what to do and what way to go. If Holy Spirit is not leading but you are leading with your emotions and feelings you will begin to figure out how to solve problems.

Figuring out your problems or others problems will lead to feeling overwhelmed and burdened.

If you are concerned about future events, pray, and then be still and wait on God to direct your move. The Holy Spirit never leads in fear or anxiousness. Taking life one day at a time, one step at a time can alleviate the need to project future outcomes of situations.

Living in the past or living in the future will steal your peace, joy and daily strength.

When faced with tough decisions and you just don’t know what to do and feel to get a sense of relief you have to project what may or could happen, stop, and be still. The enemy magnifies situations to keep you focused and distracted on all what may go wrong, or if you don’t step in and do something there will be disaster.

Hold your peace. Most of what we worry about never happens, in fact 85% of what we worry about never happens and 15% of what does happen we can handle better than we thought we could.

Sufficient for this day is its own troubles (Matthew 6:34) Why go projecting “future troubles” you don’t even know that will happen?

Word of Encouragement: 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?