I Started 2016 Feeling Overwhelmed
"Day three of the New Year and I am incredibly overwhelmed" ~ this is how I started my prayer to God. I was overwhelmed by the hype of entering into a new year and the pressure of making moves in 2016. Seeing everyone's life goals, mood board, planners and hearing people shout "This is my Year of [insert goal here]"*, pretty much put my mind in overdrive and I began to panic and concluded that I hadn't achieved much in my 20+ years of living, unlike my social media** peers. I was overwhelmed and anxious because I had not 100% trusted God with my life.
I knew I had to pray - both my heart and mind were racing and formulating thoughts at speeds I could not keep up with - so I headed to the shopping centre where I went to grab the coffee I was craving for, buy some socks I desperately needed, window shop like a baller and most importantly pray because it was necessary.
After leaving the shopping centre I felt reassured. The time of necessary prayer at the shopping centre was the right thing to do.
~ Doing the right thing at the right time is God-honouring. ~
My 2016 motto.
Walking to the bus stop and feeling at peace, God reminded me of King Saul in the Bible and He made me understand that it is detrimental not to seek His instruction, His guidance and His help in ALL things even if 2016 is your year....because every day is a battle and we can only win our daily battles with God! That's 365 battles a year... I had to seek God's face this day because I didn't have the answers (and will never have the answers *No Kanye*).
King Saul failed to seek God in the battle mentioned in 1st Samuel chapter 14.
King Saul was anxious, afraid, overwhelmed and he did not believe God was enough, which lead to his disobedience.
In his anxious, overwhelmed and disobedient state, King Saul shut God out by having the ephod*** put away; he rejected the opportunity to speak to God and to ask God for direction. I intentionally went to the shopping centre to pray not to buy coffee, socks and window shop but after doing all these extra things I was so close to heading back home because of time; God nudged me just when I was about to leave and He told me to sit down - I couldn't leave without praying. It was because of 'time' that King Saul chose not to wait for God.
King Saul was such an impatient man that in the previous chapter he took on the role of Priest and it cost him his crown for generations because he was a man so uninterested in God's opinion. I could have gone home and ignored God's prompting and who knows what I'd be blogging about today. One thing for sure is that I would have been even more overwhelmed and I would have felt 'bad'**** for not taking time out to speak to God about the things that were bothering me. Who knows what I may have forfeited as a result of disobedience, but I am glad I listened because I concluded that not having any plans/goals for 2016 wasn't a bad thing. If anything, I guess my 'goal' for this year is to simply “go with the flow” of Christ.
DISCLAIMER: Before you read ahead, please note that having plans/goals for the year and years to come is a good thing. In my personal case, God is working on my heart and teaching me to trust Him with the life He has given me. I simply need to live freely in Him. For another person, God may be teaching them to be more organised with the time He has given them as a means to develop their trust and faith in Him. As for me, I have expectations and desires for this year that I have trusted God with. Whether you have plans or not, it doesn't take away from the fact that God is still God and He has plans for us that we are yet to even imagine. So chill.
Back to the blog post...
Conversations with God are SO vital to living our ever-ending lives well (yes, our lives begin to end from the moment we're born so why live it without God?). Proverbs (chapter 3 verse 5) reminds us to "Seek the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
My prayer for 2016 and beyond is to intentionally seek God in ALL things, even in my anxiousness because I experience joy, freedom, health, peace, love & more when I depend on Him.
“Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor GOD with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent GOD’s discipline; don’t sulk under His loving correction. It’s the child He loves that GOD corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.”
Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message Version
P.S., References & Clarifications:
* Every year is their year... sit down please. Thanks.
** Social Media is deadly - just killing dreams anyhow. Comparisons can lead to underachieving (because one doesn't believe they are good enough), envy, jealousy and more. People will claim they are motivated or inspired by others, when deep down they're jealous or going about life out of selfish gain. Social Media has it's benefits, but there is a fine line between beneficial and detrimental.
*** Garment worn by [Jewish Levite] Priests in times of praise and worship to God and seeking Him for direction. For more information click here.
**** Christ took away all my guilt and my 'feeling bad' when He died on cross for my sins. God's love doesn't bring guilt, it brings conviction, hope, change and importantly love - guilt is the enemy's way of making us believe that God is not a loving Father, it is prideful and self-righteous. A loving Father corrects His child because He loves His child and does so in love.