Hi everyone! Long time no write. It has been one heck of a month so far. So many things have been going on and, unfortunately, I've been using those things as an excuse to not write for this blog. So I thought it best to write about overthinking today.
I just recently moved back up to Flagstaff for school. Before I got up here, I was majorly stressing. I was stressed about packing, I was stressed about unpacking, I was stressed that my car wouldn't make it up here, and so on and so on. Anything you can think of regarding moving in and school, I was thinking of. But why? Why was I stressing so much to the point of physical exhaustion?
I found out that anything that I don't have immediate control over, I will stress about it until I wear myself out. If I can't snap my fingers and have everything completed, I will worry about it until the task is done.
It is exhausting to live this way. And I've tried being encouraging with myself. I drink tea, I read, I write, I will do anything under the umbrella of self-care to get rid of the crippling stress I feel on a day-to-day.
Let me tell you, downing cup after cup of chamomile tea did not do anything for my stress except make me want to sleep it off. I feel like nothing can stop my brain from going a million miles an hour.
I feel like part of it is because I don't trust God with what is going on inside my head. Crazy right? The fact that I don't trust the Almighty who created us and who died for us is a crazy notion. And yet it's true.
For a majority of my life, I didn't accept that I don't trust God all that much when it comes to healing me from my own mind. I wanted to be a good Christian who never doubts God. No matter how much I told myself that I trust Him with everything, I still kept my thoughts and stress in a tight grip close to my heart. It was as if I told God, "This is mine. I know how to fix it so let me fix it". God is probably sitting there going, "If only you knew what I know".
I feel like only recently have I learned of the best method to help me handle my stress and overthinking. "Recently" as in only two weeks ago recent. Below I am going to include the first sermon in a series called "Peace/Anxiety" by Pastor Bill Bush. Within the first sermon, he explains how some of us are stuck in a anxiety/depression loop. He also explains how to deal with it. The first step being:"Bring it all to God/ Ask God for help". Here is the link ---> https://rockpointchurch.com/archive/peace-anxiety
The first step seems simple enough, right? For me, no. I am one of those people who does their own thing first, their own coping habits, their own cycle, before going to God. After all of my methods have failed, THEN I go to God. We should be going to God right when the anxiety, stress, or problem hits. Asking Him for His help and guidance first saves us all from our self-destruction. Also, I don't know about you, but it bring such joy to my heart to know that we can talk to God about ANYTHING. You don't have to worry about Him talking about you to His friends, you don't even have to worry about Him judging you because He forgives and loves us that much! How cool is that?!
The best part is, He knows us the best. Every one of us. He knows every single person on this earth better than anyone else. Therefore, He knows what we need to live a genuinely happy life! He knows what we need when we are depressed or anxious. He is THERE FOR US.
I was going through a pretty rough patch in one of my relationships a couple weeks ago and I tried the steps that Pastor Bill had said we should try. I gave God everything I had and I acknowledged that He knew best and that He is the Almighty. Let me tell you, I fell asleep right after that and had a great night's sleep. But, I didn't readjust my focus and outlook on my certain situation and I landed right back to where I started. It is so essential to try and change how you look at certain situations.
One verse that I labeled "College Motto" is Luke 12:22-26 ~ "Then Jesus said to His disciples: 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?'"
I feel totally called out by this. The part when Jesus said, "Who of you by worry can add a single hour to your life" I thought, "Daaannnggg. Okay, Lord. Okay. I see what you mean". But it is so true! This is not to say that if we have Jesus in our lives that we won't feel worry and stress, but that we need to turn to Him to help deal with it so we don't spiral out of control! Psalm 63:1 got it right, we need Jesus in this dry and parched land where there is no water. We need Jesus is every.single.aspect. of our lives. There is no way that we can function properly if we do not have the hope and light of Jesus living in our hearts.
I want to challenge y'all to do the three steps Pastor Bill illustrates for us:
1) Go to God and ask Him for help and guidance
2)Acknowledge God and know that He is the Almighty, that He is Peace
3) Readjust your focus
Let me know what you experienced when you followed these steps.
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