When it piles up...

I've had a breakthrough, ya'll.

(And I can say ya'll, because I live in Louisiana.)

I've had a breakthrough, and I want to share it with ya'll. (hehe)

Seriously - you know that overwhelming feeling of stress you get when you're just DONE? When everything is piling up and you can't see the way out, and you think, man this SUCKS. How is any of this ever going to get fixed? Maybe its financial issues. Maybe its parenting issues. Maybe its marital issues. Maybe its this test you have coming up that's consuming you, maybe it's a job promotion that's just out of reach. Maybe it's frustration over your weight or a missing goal or a deadline.

Or maybe it's like me - all of sudden you look up and realize you just got laid off one of your at home day jobs that paid the most money, you have a conference coming up in 2 days and haven't even located your suitcase yet, have piles of laundry begging for attention for said conference and said left behind family, you just paid bills and saw a somewhat grim outcome of the immediate future if the part time job you interviewed for last week doesn't come through, you've got 3 deadlines for the newspaper you write for due TOMORROW, you have a fundraiser to attend tonight and an appt in the morning and snacks to bring to a bunch of preschoolers tomorrow night at Cubbies, an approaching book deadline, a bunch of stuff needing to be mailed at the post office and your computer is running slower than molasses and your car AC is making a really funny noise and the lawnmower and weedeater broke simultaneously and...

it's okay.

Yep. It's okay. I'm not stressed. And no I'm not lying, either. The above would  have normally had me running for chocolate and hiding and crying and making everyone around me miserable, but I'm GOOD. This isn't a peace bubble that will pop. This is lasting.

And you know why?

I'm seeing the bigger picture.

Please hear me. This is not to brag on me but to brag on God. And what He is capable of doing in your life. He is changing me in this area so completely, and it's the most freeing thing in the world. If something in the above list doesn't get done, oops. My bad. I'm going to try my best to knock it all off, and I probably will. I usually do. God made me good at multi tasking and organizing and made me very productive.

But if something doesn't get done - it's OKAY.

Seems really simple but I struggle in this area, guys. It doesn't come natural to me.

Yet in the past few weeks I've had something come up in my life that has literally MADE ME stop and seek God on a new level and realize - not a whole lot matters outside of Him. Outside of people and His Kingdom.

Have you had that wake up call?

I even stopped the above list to write this blog and share with you. :) Because I want to encourage you. When life is messy and chaotic and overwhelming, stop. Breathe. Seek Jesus. Get HIS perspective. And suddenly all this big stuff gets really, really tiny.