Overwhelmed: How Christ Bears a Mother’s Burdens
Two Sundays ago, I stood with my friend Jo at the Connections Center after service. Usually, we see each other coming and going—our girls are the same age and overlap in several activities. But she started a part-time job working at our church this last year, and something in her eyes made me stop for more than half a minute. We chatted for a bit, and then something in her bubbled up.
“I’m overwhelmed, Ann.”
I nodded, understanding what she was talking about. We wear a lot of similar hats—we’re both working moms in ministry families, we’re both homeschooling moms, and we both have daughters on the cusp of being tweens (along with some younger brothers in the mix). Some days—most days—life feels like a weighty burden of responsibilities and longings.
“I know, Jo. I know the feeling.”
And I did. I do.
When I talk to other moms, regardless of the season of motherhood they’re in, the answer is often the same—many of us feel overwhelmed on a regular basis. The reasons why we feel this way vary from the needs of our children to our work, our home, and our marriages—or the weight of single parenting. We acutely feel our spiritual needs, along with the practical needs we have that don’t always feel like they’re getting met. The lack of sleep, friendship, health, or financial stability can make us feel like we’re defeated before the day even begins.
But there is hopeful news for every mom who is overwhelmed. Though we may not fully or immediately experience relief from our burdens, there’s an antidote to the deep sense of defeat that resides at the core of our overwhelm. That antidote is Christ.
Here are three biblical ways to face the feeling of being overwhelmed:
Let limitations lead to reliance.
We live in a world that is constantly telling us to do better, be better, and accomplish more. Marketing campaigns are built on the back of fear: the fear of not measuring up to the impossible standards of beauty and perfection that we are told to have. And so, if we look around, we start to think that, in order to measure up, we should have nicer things, fitter bodies, or more well-behaved children. We may start to believe that we should be able to do more than we currently are doing or that we need to increase our capacity to do X, Y, or Z.
The truth is that we can do nothing of eternal value apart from Christ. Our Lord declares this in John 15:4-5, when he tells his disciples: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
When we try to do things in our own strength, we will be constantly limited. We will bump up against our weakness again and again. And actually, this is a good thing. Feeling our own limitations—and even feeling overwhelmed by all that must be done or by all that we must carry—is a gift that calls us to deeper intimacy with Christ, who is our sufficiency.[1] He knows how limited and incapable we are, and he desires to make his strength known in our weakness.[2]
Feeling overwhelmed is the heart response to our human limitations. But praise our Lord, he is more than able to do all that must be done in and through us! He has no limitations,[3] and he has no equal.[4] As we rely on him—and not on our own capability—he will sustain us and give us what we need for what he has called us to do (even if that list of things might look different than we imagined): “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
God gives us daily means of grace to help us walk through life with peace, such as Scripture, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. He may also lead us toward other practical tools to help us mitigate feeling overwhelmed, such as time-saving solutions, asking for help from others, or relinquishing certain commitments. Sometimes, however, the feeling of being overwhelmed is simply the unfortunate consequence of living in a fallen world. In either case, we can grow in our reliance upon Christ as we daily bring him our burdens and seek his strength rather than our own.
Worship through the overwhelm.
The Apostle Paul intimately knew the feeling of being overwhelmed: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). As a follower of Christ and proclaimer of the gospel, Paul had gone through more pain and pressures than many of us can imagine,[5] and yet he did not fix his eyes on those stressors. Instead, he fixed his eyes on Christ Jesus. When he was imprisoned, he sang hymns to the Lord in jail.[6] When he was in the middle of a storm on the seas, he broke bread and gave thanks to God on the boat.[7]
In every circumstance that was rightly overwhelming by earthly standards, Paul fought overwhelm by choosing to worship. He focused on Christ, rather than on his circumstances. And with his gaze on Christ, Paul found contentment: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). As we do the same, we can find ourselves content in Christ even when circumstances overwhelm us.
Look to Christ and his coming kingdom.
Feeling overwhelmed is essentially the sense of being buried or drowned—of feeling that no matter what we do, we can’t overcome the massive burden of work and responsibility suffocating us. Those burdens might be relational in nature, or they might be physical. The weight could come from our jobs or the upkeep of our homes. The heaviness may be from our marriage or the needs of our children. No matter how we are burdened, though, the outcome is the same—we feel as if we are drowning in the constant needs and changes in our lives.
Still, Jesus offers us his peace in the middle of our transitions and trials. How? Because he is offering us himself! Peace is not ultimately a feeling or an emotion—it is the person of Christ. As the Scripture tells us, “he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14), and so we always have access to peace, because we always have access to the Lord. And he is unchanging: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). His love and goodness, his perfection and truth, and his mercy and grace—these things will never change! We can rely on him no matter how other people or situations let us down, and that can give our hearts peace when we are feeling overwhelmed.
Take heart, sister. The same Christ who paid the highest price for your salvation is the One who sustains you today—and he is the one who will return to make all things new![8] In Christ, we cannot be ultimately buried by our circumstances or our sin, because he has overcome the grave. No matter what we face today, there is a day coming when all overwhelm will finally be overwhelmed—when death will be swallowed up by life![9] In the new heavens and the new earth, we will no longer struggle with the burdens, pains, and anxieties of this world, for “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
When life and motherhood overwhelm us, we can rely on Christ as we seek to faithfully steward our time and energy, worship him in spirit and in truth, and rejoice in the freedom that we have from death. And on that great and glorious day when we see him face to face, all overwhelm will be gone, and we will know nothing but joy and peace.
[1] 2 Corinthians 3:5-6
[2] 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
[3] Ephesians 3:20
[4] Isaiah 40:12-31
[5] 2 Corinthians 11:16-29
[6] Acts 16
[7] Acts 27
[8] Revelation 21:5
[9] 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
