Hi! I wanted to share with you the post I wrote for Revelation Wellness blog. Getting overwhelmed feels like a normal part of society these days, but I love how God’s story through song brings us back into His narrative, and restores our joy and perspective on life. I hope it renews you today, too.
It’s dinnertime. You’re tired, kids are clingy, and the healthy meal you want but everyone else is already complaining about is far from ready. The kitchen counters are full of unfinished homeschool projects, you step on something sticky with your bare feet, then bump into a family member standing there on their phone.
“Ugh, you’re in the way! Set the table, carry the baby, SOMETHING!” The words fly like shrapnel and your family is collateral damage. You’re overextended and overwhelmed.
Dinner is silent because your anger has silenced everyone else, but you’re too mad and can’t seem to pull yourself out of it.
Then…
You turn on some music and start doing dishes.
“In Christ alone, my hope is found.
He is my light my strength, my song”
The familiar worship song comforts your heart, lifts your spirit, and as you sway, your mind feels free. You can breathe again.
You start to remember that a healthy dinner, well-behaved kids, and a clean kitchen are not your hope.
Jesus is.
He becomes your light, your strength, your song, too.
Nothing around you has changed, but in a way, everything has changed.
Your perspective has been realigned in the love of Christ!
A SONG OF SURRENDER
While you were striving to keep it together, a simple song reminded you that Christ alone holds all things, including you. Surrender becomes your greatest strength in moments of overwhelm.
How can a thing like lifting our hands up in praise lift off the heaviest burdens?
Music is like the heartbeat of the Lord, and tuning in settles our own heart and keeps us in step with Him. Right foot: lyrics, logic, sound mind. Left foot: melody, love, Spirit. Right, left, right, left, and here we are, back on track, out of the backcountry of burdens and onto the tracks of the freedom train.
Pastor Watchman Nee wrote, “Our prayers lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.”
When we’re too overwhelmed to stop and pray, too frazzled to remember any Scripture, a familiar song in our hearts leads the way.
WHEN YOU’RE STRESSED, LEAD WITH PRAISE
Do you ever try to fight stress with more busywork, thinking, “If only I can finish this next task, I’ll feel more ‘on top of things'”?
Unfinished work causes untamable overwhelm, but the finished work of Christ creates unstoppable peace.
Every single famous battle in the Bible starts with praise, letting Christ alone lead the way because He is the way:
1.When you’re cut down with self-criticism: Judgement is usually the first thought in our mind, but God has a reverse order, shown in the pattern He gave the Israelites when they would set out from their camps in the wilderness. God’s presence went first, then Judah (praise) followed, the tent of meeting was in the middle, and the tribe of Dan (judgment) came last. Let us step aside and let God go first, praise His presence within us, and His judgment will guard us. In Christ alone, God has judged us free of all condemnation!
2. When the proverbial walls are closing in: Start walking and singing praise music. Keep going until the walls come crumbling down. That’s how God’s people took down Jericho.
3. When you can’t break away from work: Cry out to God and let Him lead you into a quiet space to worship. God broke the Israelites free from their Egyptian slave masters not to work for Him but to worship in the wilderness.
A SIMPLE STRATEGY FOR OVERWHELM
Not sure what song to start with? Try a familiar classic.
“In Christ Alone” is my go-to simply because it sunk deep into my heart when I was a kid. It spoke to me when I was overwhelmed with loneliness and finding my value in performance. Eighteen years later, the song still plays in the church and in my heart. It has become long-term memory, so I don’t need to search around in my head for a song when I’m in the middle of a panic storm.
Choose a song that has been with you for years, as an enduring reminder that Christ is a firm foundation for you to regain your footing.
We can find overwhelm wherever we are, whether that’s a busy schedule shuttling kids back and forth to activities, or shut up in the house hiding away from a virus, trying to keep it all together and get dinner on the table on time.
No matter what overwhelm you’re facing, Christ alone can calm you, center you, and restore your priorities. Go ahead, sing the words, and watch what He does in you:
“This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.” (“In Christ Alone,” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, 2001)
In the comments below, share what song gets you back on track when you’re overwhelmed!
