Overwhelmed...

I recently subscribed to the magazine Just Between Us/Encouraging and Equipping Women for a Life of Faith.
I received my Winter edition last week, and took it with me in the car as we drove to the Global Health Outreach Conference in Louisville, Kentucky (an other post!), this past weekend.
I opened the first page to find a note from Jill Briscoe, (Executive Editor). It was very timely. This week has been a bit overwhelming. I wanted to share it with you...

"...Have you ever felt overwhelmed? That life is just too much? That the demands on your time are just too heavy, your problems too painful, and every task too daunting? Then hurry to the Deep Place where nobody goes. I remember such a day. I was overwhelmed. It wasn't one thing but many. Suddenly, one morning, I didn't want to get out of bed. So I stayed there for a bit and went and sat down in the Deep Place, on the steps of my soul. You can, you know, even when you're in bed! "I'm overwhelmed." I announced loud and clear, expecting Him to come running, He didn't. I hung around for half an hour or so and became gradually aware of a sweet darkening of the windows of my soul. It was as if someone had drawn the curtains to help a sick child rest better. I laid still. "I'm overwhelmed", I said, quietly this time. No need to shout; did not He whom my soul loves say, "My ear is not heavy that it cannot hear?" The sweet safe shadow around me deepened. Then His voice said clearly, "When you're overwhelmed, remember that you are overshadowed!" Oh! So that was it. The Overshadowing! I was "under His wings." I remember Mary, and reaching for my Bible read a little of her Christmas story, and how the beautiful angel came and told her he had come to interrupt all her really personal plans for her life with Joseph. When told she would be the mother of the Messiah, she had asked a very practical question, "How?" "That was a brave question," I said out loud. "Yes," He replied, close at hand. "She was very brave. She didn't ask 'Why me?', she asked 'How me?' She was overwhelmed with the 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?'" "I can only understand such a small fraction of what she felt," I said. "But I can relate to her sense of inadequacy. That's my problem right now. How can I do so much, care so much, work so much, love so much, travel so much, give so much? It's all so much much! I'm overwhelmed!" "I told you - " He began. "Yes, yes," I interrupted Him. " I know. When I am overwhelmed, I've to remember I'm overshadowed. But - but, Lord Jesus - just what do you mean?" Then the wonderful shadow seemed to wrap itself around me and hold me close into God, as if it were a warm, comforting heavenly blanket. "The Holy Spirit", He said, knowing I needed no more talk, just touch. "The Comforter." "Yes, the Comforter. That's what Gabriel told my mother, when she was overwhelmed. 'The Holy Spirit will overshadow you,'" and ever after when she was overwhelmed she remembered she was overshadowed." Wrapped warmly in that same promise and reality, I got up and went out into my day. The challenges hadn't changed, but I clothed myself in a "garment of praise" that covered over my "spirit of heaviness." It would be alright. I vowed to keep the conversation in mind. When I was overwhelmed, I would believe that I was overshadowed..." Jill Briscoe.
I pray that this article encourages you as it has encouraged me this week.