I have been overwhelmed again. This year, I have been praying for God to give me more clients in my job because it has been a hard year financially. I was hoping that maybe He would give me a new client every other month; I need a space between clients because of the workload. Unfortunately, I have only had one new client this year. God heard my prayer though! And He answered it. However, because God goes above and beyond, He decided to answer it three times all in one month.
Sometimes, I think I am prepared for what I am praying for, until He gives me what I ask, and then I end up like this. Completely overwhelmed.
I know I should not be stressing. This is part of the reason I became sick in the first place and now that God has healed my body, I am not about to go there again. So, I made it a goal during the past few weeks to use every tool I know to get rid of this stress. I have read my bible more, prayed, focused on being grateful, blasted my worship music−and all that helped−but I still returned to focusing on all that I had to do, and what has yet to be done. It seemed no matter what I did, the worry would always come back.
I continuously thought, “What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just let it go and trust God? After all, He DID answer my prayer by giving me these three new clients, and He would not give me more than I can handle. Right?”
Well, at least that is what I thought.
Instead of trust, God decided to talk to this very overwhelmed daughter about peace. Earlier this week, John 14:27 came up on my computer’s Daily Verse and it spoke straight to my heart:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The part that hit me the hardest in that verse was, “my peace I give you”. I thought I had to work hard to get peace. I thought if I was overwhelmed it was completely my fault because I was not focusing enough on God. Then those words came. His words spoke and said peace was a gift.
I turned to John 14 in my bible and then verse 14 caught my attention, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
I prayed to God and said, “Oh Papa, is this true? If I ask for peace, would you give it to Me? Would you give it even though I am struggling with giving my life to You? It does not seem fair. Shouldn’t you only reward me with peace if I have fully put my trust in You?”
I did not understand this new thing God was trying to teach me. It seemed too far-fetched, like making a wish to a genie in a bottle. However, I decided it could not hurt to try. For many weeks, my prayer had been: “Lord, help me to trust you more so that I can have peace.” That night, in a voice that was no more than a whisper, I said: “God, I am really having trouble trusting you. Would you give me your gift of peace?”
The next morning I woke-up and I smiled. I said, “Good morning, Papa! Thank you for this day!” I was focused, I was rested, and amazingly, I was not worried about anything. I felt more in tune with God than I had for 2-3 weeks. The next few days were spent in a total worry-free zone. I did not understand how but I had complete peace about my life. God answered my prayer and this time, instead of His answer making me overwhelmed, it removed all traces of it.
Phil 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I am not sure if God will always answer so quickly, but this time, I believe it was because He wanted to teach me about His gift of peace. Peace comes in many ways. It can come when you are sitting amongst nature and it can come when you are reading beautiful poetry. Our worship attracts God’s presence and we can feel His peace or sometimes, through the words of a scripture. However, as I am learning, that there are times when no matter how much we try to get peace, it simply will not come except as a gift from the Father.
Princesses, I don’t know you, your life or your to-do list, but I do know Jesus is the Prince of Peace; I am living in His glorious peace as I write this post. I believe God has a good plan for your life, full of hope, peace, and all the other inheritances and gifts He gives us as daughters of the King. I used to believe God would not give us more than we could handle, but I do not think this way anymore. He certainly will give us more than we can handle, in order to draw us to Him. Have you heard Philippians 4:13? It says we can do all things through Christ, however, it does not say we can do all things by ourselves! Just a thought.
If you cannot seem to stop worrying about things, feel defeated, or like me, have been completely overwhelmed, I would really like to pray with you.
Papa God, thank you for this day. I mean it. Thank you for all the wonderful things in our lives today. I ask you to strengthen my sisters and give them your gift of peace to be able to enjoy this day and not dread it. I ask You to remove any worry, stress, anxiety, pressure, shame, or anything that is not in the plan You have for their lives. I pray your daughters would experience Your joy daily, Your peace increasingly, and Your love always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
You are loved sweet princesses.
Till next time,
Katya
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.