Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Bad Days

What do you do when you have a bad day?

I sleep. I do not like to deal with problems, and the more that piles on my plate, the further under the covers I burrow. That really doesn't help my situation any, but I haven't figured that out, yet.

I have a tendency to get overwhelmed. I think of the things I need to do for the week, and then the things I want to do for the week, and then the things I should do before I die (and I might as well put those on this week's To Do list), and I get overwhelmed.

I'm learning to differentiate between need and want. Next, I need to learn the discipline to do the needs before the wants. I need to work on keeping my To Do list short, and actually do-able.

When I have a bad day, and feel overwhelmed, I don't need to sleep. This is what I need to hear:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:6-7
Sleep does nothing, but this verse gives me a very clear-cut--and manageable--To Do list.
  1. Do not worry
  2. Be thankful
  3. Present my requests to God
And the beautiful promise of God follows: He will grant me peace--a peace that I can't understand, but that pervades my whole being. Peace that tells my heart to slow its frenzy, and my mind to stop racing. Peace that calms my spirit. Peace that frees me from the paralysis of anxiety.

Peace that allows me to throw off the covers and do what needs to be done!

This promise is not mine alone, but yours as well! Don't worry! Thank God for the things (good and bad) that He's given you. Share your worries and requests with God. Then take hold of His promise of peace.

6 comments:

  1. Such an encouraging word. I have been blessed by this verse lately too because I tend to worry about things...you know, jobs, houses, pets, etc :) Thanks for the reminder. And I hope today wasn't a bad day for you. If it was, just think, you have someone all the way across the world who misses you and wants to help you cross somethings off your to do list, you know especially ones like buying a new pair of shoes :)

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  2. Today wasn't necessarily a bad day. I just have a big To Do list this week, and no time to get it done.

    And I'll definitely take you up on that shopping help! Can't wait for you to come home! I need a shopping buddy!

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  3. I wanna go shopping!

    I sleep when I'm stressed too. But then when I wake up, I'm even more stressed because I feel like I just wasted time sleeping.

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  4. Exactly! I do the same thing! So then I go back to sleep. :)

    Sometimes sleep is a good thing. Sometimes I don't have enough sleep, which distorts my perspective. A little sleep, and I feel much better about life when I wake up. However, I know when I need sleep, and when I just don't want to be awake to deal with stuff. :)

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  5. I believe on a bad day, you should eat comfort food. Nothing solves one's troubles better than really good chips and salsa, besides sleeping and a fun date with your sweetie.

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  6. Hey there Lydia,

    Great post. I have been having several of those feelin' poopy and feeling overwhelmed by the length of my to do list days too. It's funny, sometimes the thought of our tasks are much more overwhelming than they turn out to be. And sometimes things just aren't as important as we thought they were.

    On the other hand, our small sufferings can be good for the soul. I was just praying over some very overwhelming things with Mike and I think the Holy Spirit helped me to pray, "Lord, thank you for our deficits, our needs, and our burdens, because they draw us to our knees. If we had everything easy it would be so tempting to never seek your face."

    Hang in there and keep leaning on Phil 4!

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