For when you’re overwhelmed – Part 2

I’m confident they’ve been trained.

Fire alarm batteries know how to strike with the precision of Seal Team 6. Their needy chirp to be replaced always occurs in the dark of the night. When it’s cold. And when my husband is out of town.

When you’re already overwhelmed (and trying to sleep), this is not a welcome noise.

My last post shared an important reminder for coping when we feel we are drowning in life. Today’s suggestion can (and should!) be applied in two ways: with people and with God. 

Ask for help.

Yep, that’s it. This isn’t rocket science, gang. When we’re overwhelmed with what’s going on in our lives, there’s a darn good chance that we’re not meant to handle it all alone. (You might want to pause here and read this post from three years ago to see exactly how hard this is for me. Still is.)

Every time I’m overwhelmed, I find myself thinking the same thing:

If it’s expected of me, I’m supposed to be able to handle it.

Believing that I am “supposed” to be able to do/handle/manage whatever is happening in my life is what keeps me from asking for help. The problem is, my belief is false. God didn’t give us the ability to self-clone on days when we have to be in three places simultaneously. Nor did He design my body with Inspector Gadget’s super-bionic-extender arms (Wowsers!) to reach the fire alarm battery taunting me from the cavernous vaulted ceiling. Instead, God gave us the Body to help when we are in need.

Proverbs 27:10 speaks to this issue:

Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. (ESV)

We’re supposed to rely on those near us when calamity strikes! It was hard to send a text to my neighbor when it was past bedtime, saying I needed help with the batteries. And it’s hard to request a ride to practice for our athletes when we were the ones who signed them up for the team. Admitting we need a meal just to make the nights when husbands are away run more smoothly can be difficult. But this is God’s provision. Are we so prideful that we’d rather drown than ask for help? We needn’t wait for a crisis to arise before we ask for assistance.

Likewise, I fear we’re too slow in taking our needs to God in prayer. Do we ask Him for help or just try to muddle through on our own? Do we think our feelings of drowning in life are too inconsequential for our God — that He couldn’t possibly care that we don’t know how to meet the demands we face? Just as a mother (or father) wants to hear all the needs of her children because her care for them includes caring for whatever is concerning them, God wants us to bring Him our needs whether large or small. Isn’t this the heart of Philippians 4:6?

…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God… (ESV)

Are you overwhelmed today? (Or everyday?) Ask God for help: pray for Him to grant you wisdom, provision and peace in the midst of those circumstances. Then ask your friends to come alongside your need. My neighbors were willing to come stand on a ladder when they should have been in bed.

And we never have to worry about waking God to hear our cries.