A Compass for When Life Gets Crazy

This cross-cultural life can get wild and crazy enough to send you into a tailspin some days. Many of you, like me, strive to balance ministry with caring for your families. Living cross-culturally can bring new challenges like language learning, fewer household conveniences, and visa paperwork. If your kids are small, caring for them can be overwhelming; if they’re teenagers, they need special encouragement to thrive and make the most of their TCK lives. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you ever struggle to keep balance?

Pressed for Time

Okay, I have a confession to make that’s going to sound obsessive compulsive: I use a kitchen timer to help me with time management. This might sound like something you’d expect a from a software engineer in Silicon Valley, but not from a cross-cultural servant/housewife who lives in the Middle East, where time management is NOT a high priority.

I started using a timer for home school to keep my kids and me on task. We work for 25 minutes, take a 3 minute break, work for 25 minutes, and then break for ten.  Twenty five minute work sessions are supposed to help you to focus on your work and avoid interruptions. (This is the Pommodoro technique, named after the red tomato kitchen timer.)

How to React to Life's Unexpected Turns

Have you ever noticed that no matter how carefully you plan, life has a way of taking unexpected turns?  Last Wednesday my daughter and I spent the night in Helsinki, Finland, the last place on earth I would have expected to visit. We had just the clothes on our backs. No pyjamas. No toiletries.

A bus stop in Helsinki

My husband and son were travelling from Turkey to the United States on a different airline, and we planned to meet up in New York City to spend a day sightseeing before we continued our trip home together.  I was excited because I’ve dreamed about going to New York City all my life. We planned our day carefully: Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway, and Lombardi’s pizzeria.

The first hint that things were not going as planned came when we checked in for our flight.

Ways to Give More than just the Leftovers.

Why is it so easy to let the relationships closest to you slide? If you’re like me, family members are the first ones you take for granted. Last week I wrote about Giving Your Marriage More than just the Leftovers.

My husband is my best friend, but it’s easy to overlook him during daily routines with two teenagers excited about life and bursting at the seams to talk about everything. It’s easy to overlook him as I rush out the door to the supermarket, or get ready for an occasional evening out with girl friends. Through the ins and outs of life, we can end up going our separate ways in the same house if we’re not careful to cultivate oneness.

Giving your Marriage More than just the Leftovers

One of my favorite photos of my husband and I, taken 3 years ago.

When was the last time you sat down and had a great conversation with your spouse? On the tail end of a week of stressful conflict, my husband and I recently had a wonderful coffee date.  We had already spent enough time talking through the issues, which we both later agreed were trivial. Our coffee date was just for fun.  We sat in a pastry shop holding hot mugs, looking out at the cold winter day and sharing our ideas, plans, goals, and thoughts with each other. This conversation spilled over into the rest of our week, and we came together at several different points to continue the dialogue.  This awakened in me all over again the delight of discovering my husband.

Cross cultural life involves stress and adaptation issues that can be hard on a marriage.

Holding up under Holiday Crunch?

I have a confession to make. I can’t wait for December to be over!  Whew! I said it. Is that a terrible thing to say or what?

I’m carrying around a mile long Christmas to-do list in my mind. I haven’t organized myself enough to sit and write it down, but it looks like getting ready for Christmas could be a full time job.

Together with two other families, we will host a Christmas celebration on December 25^th in our home for Chrstn and Mslm friends. We plan to have food, games, and a short Christmas program of carols, a dramatic reading of the Christmas story, and a brief message. This week my husband and I will deliver invitations to friends, a team mate and I will meet to finish planning the celebration, my son and I will rehearse music, and our family will prepare an enactment of the Christmas story! Of course I can’t forget shopping and food preparation.  Sound familiar to any of you out there?

I’m excited and joyful over this opportunity to serve, but I’m also hoping I won’t be stressed out over having 30-40 people in my living room. And I don't want to be so busy taking advantage of Christmas as an opportunity to share Christ that I neglect to celebrate it with my own family and make it special for them.  

The Most Urgent Thing We Can Do: Rest!

The moment I’d been looking forward to all day was finally here.  I was just sitting back to put my feet up and listen to some soft music when the doorbell rang.  It was a repairman, who arrived to install our new hot water heater at JUST the moment I was planning on spending a 10 minute mini-retreat to focus on God’s presence.

I felt exasperated as I answered the door and showed him to the bathroom. Should I wait until the installation was over to take my mini-retreat? Or should I sit down and listen to my soft music anyway, despite hammering, drilling noises in the background?

People over Projects

Our Visit to Zehra

Effective Cross-Cultural Servant

I still smile as I remember 60 year old Roy, a gray haired gringo in jeans, cowboy boots and plaid shirts in Monterrey, Mexico.  He spoke Spanish with a strong American accent, and he looked more like a Texas rancher than like the Mexican professionals he worked with. I was back in America after two years in the Middle East, and Roy invited me to speak on Middle Eastern culture and Islm to his young professionals group. I’m ashamed to admit it now, but with youthful zeal and ignorance, I judged Roy at first glance.  He looked and sounded just like an American. Surely he hadn’t had much cross-cultural training. 

I was wrong.  It didn’t take long to see how much the Mexican young people in his group loved him. A young woman told me “Oh, I just love Roy. He’s like a second father.  He’s one of us.  Anytime I stop by his office, he’s ready to set aside his word and talk to me.  He never says, ‘I’m busy.’  He just puts aside his work and smiles.” To her his accent and cowboy clothes didn’t matter.  What mattered was that he had time for her.

15 Hacks for Avoiding Burnout on the Field

Turnover of cross-cultural workers is high in our corner of the world. We’ve heard informal statistics indicating that over half the ex-pats serving in our country have been here two years or less.  In ten years we’ve seen foreigners leave for many reasons:  visa problems, difficulty learning the language and adjusting, job related stress, health issues, problems with children and their education, but I suspect the number one reason is discouragement. The soil is hard here and the fruit is slow in coming.

After an intense year working on a new outreach project while homeschooling, I had the opportunity to slow down this summer and invest extra time in my own personal life.  Now I feel refreshed and ready to face the challenges of seed sowing again.

Taking time for personal renewal helps to avoid burnout and increases our effectiveness.  Here’s my brainstorm list for spiritual renewal and avoiding burnout:

1.  Quiet Time.

Spending half an hour daily reading the Bible and listening for God’s voice gives me a fresh perspective on life every morning. It’s the backbone of my spiritual life.

2.  Invest in your Spiritual Growth.

Read Christian books, listen to podcasts, seek out a mentor or attend conferences when possible. One of my favorite on-line resources is the daily devotional, Word for Today.

3.  Make sure your goals are realistic.

My husband and I struggled over the slow progress of our new outreach effort until we realized that part of our discouragement stemmed from unrealistic expectations.  Others expect to come and master the language in just one or two years. Very difficult unless you are super human.

4.  Invest in your marriage.

My husband and I have a weekly date time, which started when we watched the Alpha Marriage Course DVD’s five years ago. We went on a marriage retreat for the first time last year while on furlough, and found it to be a great investment of time and money.

5.  Make time for fun with your family.

We have movie nights and play games while listening to vintage rock.  (Only my family has heard me belt out “Like a Rolling Stone” along with Bob Dylan!)

6.  Make sure your kids know the language and have local friends. 

This is important if you are homeschooling. We insist that our kids participate in at least one community extra-curricular activity each year. Other friends put their kids in local schools for a year or two. Bottom line: Kids struggle to be happy if they don’t know the language.

7.  Cultivate true friendships where you can be yourself and share your struggles, both with nationals and other foreigners.

8.  Continue learning new things.

Last year I joined a Turkish folk dancing class for several months.  This year I’ll be learning Latin with my kids.

9.  Enjoy a hobby. 

Check out Creative Contentment for a great example of someone who makes time for creative pursuits in Western Turkey.

10.  Follow a secondary (or primary) pursuit that gives you an outlet or additional avenue for fulfillment when spiritual fruit is slow to develop. This could be a secular job, a hobby, or academic studies. My outlet is being a “professional” homeschooling mother.

11. Reach out to others when you are lonely.

12.  Keep in contact with family and friends back home.

13.  Read for pleasure. 

14.  Get involved in your community.

15.  Make time for regular exercise.

What about you? Do you have any other suggestions or ideas for maintaining spiritual vitality and avoiding burnout?

Back to Real Life After Vacation

Getting back from a glorious day at the beach to unload sandy towels and bathing suits into the washing machine and unpack the picnic basket can be a dismal wake up call to reality.  It reminds me of going back to work on Mondays after the weekend. A little voice inside me says, “If only the good life could continue.”

Last week God gave me an amazing gift vacation.  My daughter and I planned to visit a friend who was house sitting on the Southern Turkish coast. I had no idea beforehand that my friend’s place was a luxury apartment right on the beach, with lovely gardens, four swimming pools, and two water slides. I had a chance to reconnect with my daughter as we spent five relaxing days at the pool and on the beach.  More importantly, I had a chance to reconnect with God during the morning hours I spent on the balcony reading, journaling, and enjoying the view and the cool ocean breeze.

By Thursday I was beginning to dread returning home, and when I walked in the door on Friday night, I was struck by the reality of a hot apartment, dirty kitchen floor, and laundry. 

Returning home from vacation has me thinking about enjoying everyday, ordinary life.  When Jesus said he came to give us abundant life, what was he talking about?  Surely he meant more than taking an occasional vacation!  Surely he was talking about a rich and rewarding everyday life. I want to cultivate an attitude that recognizes the abundant life God gives me every day, not one that longs for a perpetual vacation.

Here’s what I’m trying to focus on as I contemplate starting home school again after a summer break:

• Enjoy what you’re doing:

I used to look at work as something to get over with so I could finally do what I really enjoyed: spend time with friends, read a book, talk a walk.  A friend challenged me with a surprising statement: “I try to enjoy what I’m doing as I work.  Otherwise my life will go by with my wishing I was doing something else.” That simple statement changed the way I view everyday work. Now I pray almost daily that God will help me to enjoy the tasks and responsibilities in front of me.

• Cultivate contentment:

We all have life circumstances that we wish were different: financial problems, struggles with a child, stress at work.  Getting away from these while we’re on vacation is healthy, but they can loom larger than ever after we return. I want to cultivate a healthy attitude of acceptance and contentment even though everything in my life is not perfect.  I want to focus on the positive.

• Thankfulness:

Often I don’t appreciate everyday life because I’m blowing through in a hurry, not taking time to stop and notice the good things God gives me.  In an effort to make myself slow down and take notice, I continue with my 1000 Gifts List:

340. A cooler night and more sleep

341. My daughter’s excitement over the book “Heaven is for Real.”

342. Prayer in the morning with my husbands.

343. Homemade jelly from summer apricots.

 If I pay attention, I see that my life is full of God’s gracious gifts, evidences of His care and blessing over me.

These are my efforts to bring a relaxed vacation mentality into real life. How do you look at getting back to ordinary life after time off for R & R?

Taking Hospitality with a Grain of Salt

Blessed is the man who can laugh at himself, for he will never cease to be amused. 

This proverb is one of my favorites. It reminds me not to take myself so seriously.

Last week I wrote about hospitality mishaps, and this reminds me to take things that go wrong with a grain of salt.

Being able to laugh at myself certainly helped me during a recent catastrophe. My husband and I had guests, and when I stood up to re-fill the tea glasses, the slip I was wearing under my skirt mysteriously slid down in perfect ring around my feet!  I won't go into that story now, but I'm pretty sure it broke the norms of hospitality in any country, not just here in Turkey. (I still can’t believe that really happened.)

On a more serious note, one thing I appreciate about living here is the chance it gives me to learn more about hospitality. Turks are some of the most generous and gracious hosts I've ever seen. Hospitality is a virtue and an art, whether it's a casual visit over Turkish coffee and a piece of chocolate or a dinner with 10 different dishes. I've learned a lot about how to receive guests in my home, but honestly I sometimes feel pressured to somehow live up to Turkish standards, and If I compare myself to them, I'll always fall short!

Here are some helpful lessons I’ve learned:

• Relax and be yourself

I'll never be the Perfect Turkish Hostess (P.T.H.), and that is okay!  Instead I try to relax in and be who I am. The P.T.H. is elegantly dressed and serves delectable treats while she chats effortlessly with guests. She probably only exists in my head. I'm much better at being myself than at striving to put on a show of elaborate hospitality that just leaves me feeling stressed.

• Keep it simple

Sometimes it feels like I’m forever in the kitchen preparing food for meetings or for guests.  This is a warning that I’m striving too hard to be a P.T.H., and I’d better simplify things instead. I've seen Turks get out a simple assortment of nuts, fruits and bought cookies for visitors. That’s a lot easier than baking a cake.

• Focus on your Guests

I can't prepare a 10 course meal and be happy and relaxed when my guests arrive. What I can do is a salad, main dish, rice and maybe a vegetable or soup. If I keep things simple, I'm more relaxed and able to actually enjoy time with friends.  

•  Find a Middle Ground

I want to be cross-culturally relevant, so that Turks can relate to me. I try to do some things their way. I can kiss my guests, offer slippers, pass around lemon cologne (if I remember) and make Turkish coffee. But on the inside, I’m still American, and I need to be myself as well. For example, a few weeks ago, I had to gently explain to a guest that I needed to leave, something that a P.T.H. would try to avoid. I find that most of my Turkish friends are extremely understanding and kind when I do things differently.

• Laugh at yourself when things don't go as planned

During the Classic Turkish Moment I wrote about last week, when I found myself serving a dinner I’d made for 4 to 9 people instead, I laughed.  What else could I do? Keeping my sense of humor helps me to continue enjoying cross-cultural life and time with my friends.

After all, isn't enjoyment what gracious hospitality is all about?

Living with our Purpose in Mind

I mentioned last week that sometimes it feels like I’m juggling my roles of wife, homeschooling mother, homemaker, cross-cultural worker and friend.  How to keep the right balls in motion at the right time?

I’m intrigued by the thought of life-planning.  I want my life to be more than just a series of reactions to the people and events around me. I want to invest my time in what is truly important.

Several years ago when I read Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, I was challenged to think about my passions. I wrote a life vision statement for the first time.  Since then every year or so I review and revise my vision and goals statement.  I’ve kept it simple, spending a few hours writing a few pages.

When I turned 47 a few weeks ago, I spent some time updating my life plan.   This year I’ve been encouraged by Michael Hyatt's writing on life planning.. He makes the point that many people spend more time planning their yearly vacation than they do planning for their lives! He presents a simple system for life planning.

Here is my life vision statement followed by 7 general goals.  For each goal I have a supporting verse and specific commitments.  (For the sake of brevity I’m omitting the supporting verses and specific commitments for goals 3-7.)

Vision Statement: I want to live for Jesus, to know Him and to make Him known through my character, actions and words. I want to remain in Him and bear fruit!

Verse: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

1. I want to know God and grow to be more like Jesus.

• Cultivate intimacy with God  
• Work on developing Christ-like character. 
• Live a life of love, joy and peace.

1. Daily Quiet time
2. Maintain and use a prayer List           
3. Read Christian books
4. Weekly time for reflection

2. I want to love and encourage my husband.

• Cultivate my relationship with Jose.
• Encourage and support Jose in his roles.
• Become a better listener

1. Weekly date time with Jose
2. Daily prayer together.

3. I want to model God’s love for my children and help them develop into the people God is calling them to be.

• Model and teach loving God
• Encourage a healthy self concept
• Help them discover their gifts and interests

4. I want to encourage and empower others to know God, be like Jesus and serve Him.

• Cultivate friendships
• Pray for my friends
• Share with them what God is doing in my life.

5. I want to be an ambassador and witness for Christ, a fisher of men.

• Share His love with lost people
• Daily Intercession for non-Christian friends
• Cultivate friendships
• Pray for and seek out divine appointments 

6. I want to grow and develop skills of writing and teaching to encourage others.

7. I want to care for myself and invest in my own growth.

This year I hope to grow in living purposefully by glancing at my vision statement when I do weekly planning, 

so I can make sure I’m planning goals in all of the areas that are important to me.

Have you ever written a vision and goals statement for your life? What kind of life planning do you do?

Life Management for the Fast Lane

Do you ever feel like you’re juggling?  I do. Home school, Ministry, Caring for my family, and Outreach.  How to keep all of the balls going?

 Last week I had a particularly intense week.  A team of 10 young people visited our city.  Three of them stayed with us, and we planned several outreach activities with the group.  The day before the team arrived, we hosted the closing of our home school speech club for five families.  During the team’s stay, I hosted another meeting for Latin workers in our city.  All week long while young people came in and out of my house, I tried to carry on homeschooling as usual.

The week went well but ended on a crisis note. An extra person stayed at our house on their last night.  In the morning our guests got up, ate breakfast and were finishing last minute packing when the team leader got an emergency call.  One of the boys had collapsed at his hotel near our home. The leader rushed to the hotel and called an ambulance. My husband drove to the hospital.  I focused on keeping the kids on track with school while trying to encourage team members on the side.  Two hours later we learned that the young man had a kidney stone, and I realized that five people would be staying one more night.

On one hand I enjoyed having a great group of young people in my home and getting to know them, but on the other hand it was a challenging week.   Somehow God gave me supernatural grace and strength for each day.  Here are some life management skills I tried to remember along the way:

• One step at a time

 I mentally prepared myself not to think about the next day’s activities in advance.  I enjoyed my speech club closing without worrying about how I was going to clean my house for three guests who would arrive the next day.  The following day I took care of everything as best I could.  Over planning adds stress.

• Let go of control

 I have strong leadership tendencies.  (Ask my poor husband!)  But this week I let others take charge of things rather than striving to do everything myself. A few times my husband handled things with the team differently than I would have.  Rather than stepping in to get things done the way I wanted, I focused on keeping our home school and family running while supporting him and the team as best I could.

• Stay positive

 When things turn out differently than I hope, I have a tendency to fret and fume. One evening at 9:30 we learned that the plan we had for the team the following day had fallen through.  Another day our plans for street outreach were foiled by rain. Fretting and fuming gets me nowhere. I tried to stay positive.

• Let go of perfectionism

 The floor didn’t get mopped every day, I wasn’t focused on home school one hundred percent, but I tried to relax and do what I could.

• Be flexible.

 The ultimate flexibility test came when I was secretly feeling relieved that our dear guests would be leaving, and I found out they’d be staying an extra night instead.  At times like that you take a deep breath and roll with the punches.

Remembering these strategies helped me not get overwhelmed (most of the time) and they probably made life easier for those around me as well!

What are your life management strategies for busy weeks?

The Power of a Baby Step

You know the saying, “It never rains; it pours.”  The last few weeks life has been one thing on top of another.  My husband returned from two weeks of doctoral study abroad, and we needed time to reconnect.  Both of my children had extra-curricular activities that required my involvement: debate and ice skating! My Turkish sister had an important life event, and I wanted to support her.  Two friends had birthdays. I’ve had lots of family business to attend to besides the daily responsibilities of home school and putting food on the table.

Add to the equation an out of town guest whom we were privileged to host for a week, a pastor’s group in for two days from Latin America, and a couple who was in town for one day, and you have one basket case woman! Is your life ever like this?

Of course caring for my family and friends is an important part of my ministry, but I began to feel frustrated about having little time for my other calling: reaching out to share God’s love with M. friends. So I complained, “God, I’m so busy with family.  How can you expect me to reach out to others?  I keep thinking I’ll have more time soon, but that convenient time never comes!”

But God reminded me of the power of small steps. Instead of waiting for my schedule to magically clear up, so I’ll have time to reach out to people, I’d better ask the Lord, “What baby steps can I take to fulfill my vision now?”

So I prayed and God showed me three baby steps for the first week:  

1. I called a few friends. 
2. I made two cards with scripture I wanted to share with non-Christian friends. 
3. I stopped by a friend’s workplace for ten minutes.

The second week I took another baby step. I stopped to see my friend Nalan, whose son was dying of a rare genetic disease. I read John 11 (I am the resurrection and the life.) to her.  We sat together at her son’s bedside,  and I prayed for her, not knowing Emre would die a few days later.

My husband and I are discovering the power of a brief visit. Last Sunday we made three:

• We took a birthday cake to Ali and Damla, Christian friends who are in a busy season at their dry cleaning business and must work on Sundays.  They were busy ironing shirts when we arrived, but Damla's face broke into a smile when she saw her candle lit cake.  We pulled plastic plates and napkins out of a bag and spent a half hour talking, laughing, and eating cake.

• Next we visited Nalan and Ahmet.  Knowing that they’ve been inundated with visitors after Emre’s funeral, we didn’t stay long. Just long enough to talk quietly and let them know we care about their grief.

• Last we visited Ibrahim and Neriman, whose son is leaving this week for his 1 year military service.  This is a significant event for Turkish families, who worry about their young men being sent out East, where there are constant skirmishes between separatist Kurds and the army.  We drank coffee with them, and before leaving, we read Joshua 1:9 (Be strong and courageous!) to the young man and prayed for him.  The whole family expressly thanked us for our prayer as we left.

How does God work through these baby steps?  I'll leave that to Him.  My part is to be faithful to complete the small tasks He gives me.

What baby steps can you take right now towards fulfilling your vision?

How God Reminded Me I'm Not Superwoman

 

Have you ever planned something that just didn’t turn out as you’d hoped?

I thought I had a great plan for myself during my husband’s two and a half week trip out of the country. I knew I’d miss Jose, but I was almost looking forward to a little extra freedom to plan life on my own for two weeks.  During his absence I planned to visit a few women friends that I’m seeking to share God’s love with.   I would use the time alone in the evenings after the kids were in bed for working on a writing project, and I hoped to spend time with a few girlfriends I haven’t seen recently.

My plans came to a halt when I woke up with the flu the morning I had to take Jose to the airport.  After he left, I struggled through the days trying to accomplish the bare minimum of keeping house, cooking, homeschooling and driving the kids to their extra-curricular activities despite feeling lousy.  On week two a hacking cough set in. How could this be happening?  I hadn’t been this sick in years.  I felt overwhelmed by responsibilities and frustrated that I couldn’t make the visits I’d planned.

I was forced to rest. Sick in bed, I realized again my own human frailty and weakness.  God reminded me that I’m not superwoman.  Of course he’s taught me this before, but I guess I’m a slow learner.  I had time to think about several things:

I am dependent on God’s grace.

Being sick reminded me that I am not as capable or strong as I think I am. I can do nothing without God’s power and grace.  I kept remembering Paul’s words in 2 Cor. 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” That was good news because I was definitely feeling weak.

God doesn’t need me to accomplish his work.

I felt frustrated about not being able to visit the m friends I’ve been praying for and want to reach out to.  My husband and I have a vision for cp., and I had looked forward to continuing our ministry of sowing seeds while he was gone. So I was discouraged until I finally had a fresh realization: God’s work is not dependent on what I can do in two weeks while my husband is out of town!  He will still bring people to himself even if I have to take things easy for two weeks.  This is a no brainer. I was even able to laugh over how seriously I’d been taking myself.

I can let go and trust Him.

When I was able to let go and accept that God’s plan for the time during my husband’s absence was different than mine, I ended up with extra time to focus on my relationship with the Him.  I couldn’t meet friends and do many activities, but I spent some extra minutes with Jesus when I could, did a bit of reading, and enjoyed time with my kids.  Last month, I’d been feeling the need to be refilled, and perhaps God allowed this because it was the only way to get me to slow down.

I’ve decided once more that I don’t want to be superwoman.  I just want Christ’s power to rest on me.

How about you? Has anything happened to you lately that reminded you you’re not superhuman?

Overwhelmed by the Fast Lane

Fast Lane Life

 Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life? Like you’re racing down the fast lane? Sometimes life seems to speed up on its own.

Here’s what fast lane life looks like for me: One Sunday after breakfast with our weekend guest, my husband took my daughter to skating lessons while I cooked for our 12:00 house church meeting. I was just about to jump in the shower at 10:30 when the doorbell rang. Out of town visitors had arrived one and a half hours early. I was in my pajamas.

I ran down the hall to my son’s room. “Andres!" I said, “Open the door for them! I’ve got to take a shower!”

I raced into the bathroom, locked the door and somehow emerged 15 minutes later with clothes and makeup on. I made tea and talked with our guests until my husband returned. Other friends arrived at 12:00, and we had a great meeting. Afterwards I served soup and snacks and made tea. Everyone left by 4:30, just in time for me to make tea a third time for a couple who came at 5 for marriage counseling with my husband and me. After two hours of marriage counseling, my brain was fried, but my children, who had hadn’t had quality time with us all day, wanted to talk!

Overwhelmed

The fast lane is that state of mind when we are racing from one thing to the next, wondering how we can make everything fit in to our overloaded schedules.

Last week I was feeling overwhelmed by life and ministry. We believe God has called us to church planting, which involves visiting people, making new friends, and seeking to share the gospel. Only I still have a real life too. I home school two kids, juggle extra-curricular activities and run a weekly speech club. Of course I have to cook, clean, do laundry and get myself to the grocery store. I went to bed one night thinking, “How on earth can I do all of this and still find time to work on church planting?”

One Thing

I woke up early the next morning with the same thoughts and shuffled into the kitchen to make coffee. I sat down with my Bible. A familiar verse struck my eye:

One thing I ask of the Lord,
This is what I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

As I thought about these verses, my anxiety began to melt away. I sat quietly in God’s presence and sensed His Spirit touching me. Slowly, peace filled my heart and mind. Everything came into focus. Life was not as complicated as I made it.

I don’t have to figure out how to fit everything into my day. All I have to do is make my relationship with God my first priority. He will order my life according to His plans as I seek Him first. I can trust that He will guide my steps as I walk through each day, living in His presence. If I seek God first, everything else, home schooling and church planting, will fall into place. That morning God transformed my thinking in just 20 minutes, and I had new peace and courage.

Of course it’s easy to forget this on those fast lane days when life spins out of control, but I know where I can go for an attitude adjustment.