She could barely describe the situation, so overwhelming it felt. Yet she knew she could not rely on her feelings… they were capricious, diaphanous, wispy like foggy droplets wafting on the breeze. They were without substance… just feelings. And yet they flew at her like ice pellets in a raging storm. She felt her head would explode. Was there no relief? Even her loved ones brought irritation and distress to her… she wanted to run far away to who knows where. Silly that, for she was wise enough to know her problems would just gallop after her. “God, help me!” she cried. “I have absolutely no place other than You to go…”
She had experienced something like this years before, when life became overwhelming. “Snarky”decided to move in, along with “impatience.” These relatives of “anxious” she did not want to host, such noxious attitudes. They were known to be inhospitable to others, rude, self-serving, unkind. Nope. Time for help.
It turned out that her brain chemistry was somewhat out of whack, and, thus, her emotions. Pair that with the stress of life, and she felt undone. A few specifically prescribed supplements, and miraculously within a few days the bad attitudes started packing and moving out. Of course she still had to deal with the various attitudes in others, and the repeated pounding on the door of “fearful”, “nasty”, “grumpy”, and their friends trying to move back in. Like some squatters, they were a pain to convince they were not welcomed back. Still intentionally she hoped on, one day at a time. Prayer, medical help, supplements, good counsel, and keeping on keeping on was what she could do… with gratitude.
~~~
What then when all we’ve tried, exhausted, fails? Like a frog clinging to a lily pad in a storm we have no where to turn, nothing else on which to rely, lest we dive deep into that soul-life in which we live. When God’s Spirit has been invited to dwell with one’s human spirit, becoming part of the Kingdom of Heaven happens immediately, available now as we wrestle with those things that overwhelm our earthly body and mind, strain our soul. “God, help me!” Turning eyes to Him, especially in the devastation of our pain, loss, fear, grief…invites hope, and increased awareness of God’s hovering presence, the Holy Spirit, as He ministers to us. Beyond the diagnosis, beyond the prognosis, beyond man’s statistics and vulnerabilities is One Who knows even more… the outcome of all we face. What joy to rest in the assurance that the God of Heaven cares for each of us personally! Step by step trust is built as one looks to Him, seeking to find His way and to understand.
Keep looking for His presence, vulnerable sojourner. Fear not! Though bewildered and afraid, He will lead the way through fearsome heights and depths, through raging waters, floods of overwhelm, even through the shadow of death itself, and will carry us when we can no longer go on. He will lead, hand held firm, never letting go. He will bring all that we need, and will safely see us, and those we love, home. We are never ever abandoned or alone.
Psalm 23:4 (NKJV) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jeremiah 28:13 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Dew Upon The Arbor 