Overwhelmed and Overanalyzing

By Jennifer Byerly

Dear Sisters in Christ,

How often have I been lovingly encouraged not to over analyze.  How often I have tried to fix my problems by thinking and thinking and thinking them out.  Have you ever wondered why we think overanalyzing is going to help a situation?  I have found myself having to make a phone call and pondering what exactly I’m going to say and what the other person might reply.  As women we really do tend to over think way too much!  Is there a situation in front of you that you just don’t feel like you’re in control?  If you don’t have one in front of you now you most likely will very shortly.  I want to try to give some practical pointers that will help us not to let our thoughts take over.

Remember who your God is. “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.” ~ Psalms 142:3.  This verse first became real to me while I was on an old train heading back to Prague from Opava, Czech Republic.  I was facing a trial at the time and my mind was a pitter patter of a million thoughts.  I was in tears and as I looked down at my Bible that was in my lap and this verse leaped off the page.  At the time, I didn’t know my path.  I didn’t even understand what I was thinking or feeling.  I was as the passage says “overwhelmed.”  As I look back I see how God knew my path.  Just because I couldn’t see what God was doing doesn’t mean that He is not God.  Dear Sister, He really does have a plan in all of this.

Sit still, my daughter. “Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.” ~ Ruth 3:18.  God used this verse to teach me to rest in Him.  There are many times when my thoughts want to run in the wrong direction and I hear “sit still my daughter.”.  When you are waiting for someone’s reply, sit still my daughter.  When you are waiting for that answer to prayer, sit still my daughter.  When you are waiting for that next stage of life, sit still my daughter.  And while you are waiting reflect on what God has done for you in the past.

Find your Ahava. There is a place in the heart of every Christian that I like to think of as the throne room.  In this room, there is a throne.  In front of that throne there is a massive computer with flashing lights, like the kind of computer that could be found in an old 1960’s movie.  The person that sits on that throne has the master computer key to run the heart’s computer.  There can only be one person on that throne.  So what does it mean to find your Ahava?  “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.”  ~ Ezra 8:21.  Ezra came to the river that lead to Ahava, it was here the people sought God by surrendering all to Him.  What is that area that you need to yield?  Let’s focus more specifically on our thoughts.  When we over think as often we do, who is on the throne?  Can we honestly say that the LORD is on the throne when we are over thinking?  A few years back my sister Joycelin wrote a song called the sweetness of surrender.  She penned these words:  “When you give your life to Jesus there’s a price of letting go and a sweetness of surrender that this world will never know.  Jesus Christ is all you’ll ever need, you’ll find there’s joy in giving and letting go.  Because it’s when you’re down to nothing that God is up to something and the sweetness of surrender is oh so much better than the un-surety of standing on your own.  When you let go of your ambitions you’ll find that all is lost in Him.  Throw away these vain traditions as your life before grows dim.  Live by faith and by faith you’ll be set free.  You’ll find there’s joy in giving and letting go.  Because it’s when you’re down to nothing that God is up to something and the sweetness of surrender is oh so much better than the un-surety of standing on your own.  Have you knelt before your Abba and laid your life down at His feet.  Have you come to your Ahava to find in Him life is complete.  Life is sweet when fully lost in Him.  You’ll find there’s joy in giving and letting go.”

Hold on to God’s Hope. Remember, dear sister, that Joy Cometh in the Morning.  We can’t make our problems go away by over thinking.  Over thinking just makes us more anxious and more fearful.   Think back to a time when you were over analyzing a situation and you made the situation bigger than it really was.  Have you ever done that?  I know I have.  It is times like these that I think God looks down from heaven and shakes His head at me and patiently says “hope in me.”  “Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are though disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”  ~ Psalms 42:5.  I liked what Allison encouraged us ladies to do at the Spring Up for Joy Social.  She encouraged us to keep a Joy Journal and write down a verse, a thought, something that we can reflect on and have joy in the good times and the bad times.  Saturday night I found myself over analyzing yet again, and tossed and turned through the night.  In the morning, I awoke with this phrase in my heart “But Joy Cometh in the Morning.”

My dear friend, you might be facing a trial and your thoughts may be running wild of what ifs and what could bes, please take time to look up at the sky and remember who your God is, than listen and you will hear “sit, still my daughter.”  Let God show you your Ahava and let Him sit on your throne.  Surrender all to Him and let Him take control.   Remember to hold on to hope for joy’s coming in the morning.