Overwhelmed By Hope
For the last few weeks, I knew I was supposed to write this blog. God laid this on my heart, and I hope it’s an encouragement to you today in whatever you are walking through. It is as much for me as it is for you.
My daughter, Caitlyn, and I ran to Tractor Supply after church on Sunday to grab some milk replacer. My kids are raising two bottle calves in our barn, which is always fun! We found what we needed, and she said with confidence, “I got this.” She bent down to pick up the 50 lb. bag and reality set in. In her defense, that bag weighed about as much as she does. Telling her that as she struggled didn’t seem to be terribly helpful. She bore down, grunted and got it up on her knees, but she ended up crashing with the bag on top of her. Overwhelmed (and with an annoyed smile on her face), she looked up and asked if I would kindly assist her.
I want to talk about this idea of being overwhelmed. I’ve had many times where I felt overwhelmed throughout my life and career – maybe you have too. It’s pretty sneaky how quickly things can build up over a season. Before you know it, you feel inundated with everything that life is throwing at you.
“Overwhelmed” is defined like this:
“Feeling buried or drowned beneath a huge mass or weight”
“Feeling completely defeated”
“Feeling overcome by a situation, task or emotion”
I’ve been through a number of seasons like this in my life. Maybe you have too. Let’s talk about it.
Build Up and Burnout
Ten years ago, I decided I was going to go back to school for a Masters degree. Honestly, I was already neck deep to begin with! At the time, we only had three Chaplains caring for 7,500+ families, and I had two little ones at home with a third one on the way. I also decided to start raising cattle (in my spare time). I ran at about 6,000 RPM for two years straight. I graduated that May, but once I cross the finish line my body was cooked. By mid-summer I was really struggling to keep it all together.
Our bodies keep score. Look, our bodies are amazing, and they can withstand an immense amount of stress and output. But it can’t run at that high of rate without ever resting or stopping for a check-up. I did neither of those. The buildup of everything I was involved with became too much. My body (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) began to shut down. I had to reach out for help.
I believe build up and burnout are real, but they are different. I look at build up as the natural accumulation of stress, grief, emotional, mental or physical strain, etc. Each of these are things we can work through and eventually find peace in. But, if these go unaddressed over a period of time, buildup can lead to burnout.
Burnout is a pile of ashes after everything burns to the ground. Burnout is absolutely possible, and I’ve walked with a few people through it.
I can’t say that I burned out, but I could certainly smell smoke. I’m thankful for the people around me that leaned in and held me up during that season.
Overwhelmed by...
There are many things that can build up for us in life. Our Chaplain team walks with people every day who express that they are overwhelmed by things like:
Health concerns
Relationship issues and unresolved conflict
Financial problems
Lack of support
Major life changes (getting married, having children, moving, etc)
Loss and grief
Excessive workload
Information overload (social media, news outlets, etc)
Anxiety and depression
Traumatic experiences
Emotional distress
All of these are part of life. And, they can build up rather quickly and begin to starve the light right out of your life. Just one of these can be challenging, but life tends to throw alot of these at us at the same time. It can compound very quickly.
I was sitting on my back porch Sunday morning before church. I’ve been thinking about this blog for awhile, and I got to wondering what it would be like to be overwhelmed, but by something positive. To be overtaken and inundated by goodness. God planted a seed with the thought of being “Overwhelmed by Hope”.
This thought has captivated me ever since and I can’t stop thinking about what my life would look like if I were to take all of the energy and brain space I spend (waste) on all of the things in life, work, relationships that overwhelm me from time to time, and reinvested that energy into something positive and eternally true.
WISHING vs HOPING
I believe we interchange “hope” and “wish” poorly in our culture. For example, let’s say someone who is not great with money writes you a check. You ask (politely) if this thing is gonna clear. They raise their eyebrows and respond, “I hope so...” You are probably not feeling too confident, right? A better response might have been, “I wish...” Because let’s be honest...there’s a 50/50 chance the funds are not there.
A wish is something that would “be nice if it happened.” Another definition of wish is to “feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable; to want something that cannot or probably will not happen.”
There are a lot of things I wish for. I wish I could shred a mandolin like Ricky Skaggs or Bill Monroe. My fingers just don’t move like that, haha! I wish I could grow hair on top of my head and not just my ears, haha (#oldmanproblems).
I went back to define “Hope” and here’s what I found:
“A feeling of trust”
“A desire with an expectation: wanting something to happen, accompanied by a belief that it should happen.”
“Beyond the feeling itself, hope can also refer to the thing that provides the reason for it.”
Hope is different. True hope is a cashiers check you can take to the bank with confidence. Hope is a belief in a desired future based on what I know to be true. It is more than a feeling; hope is rooted in truth, and there is a pathway to get there. Hope changes everything.
Hope goes beyond what I want or could accomplish, but it looks above ourselves and sees things through an eternal lens more than the temporal lens we often view our life through. This kind of hope is not just wishful thinking, but a confidence and certain expectation of what God has promised. The Bible calls it a “Living Hope”.
LIVING HOPE
There is a theme in Scripture about “Living Hope” and it is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This kind of hope focuses beyond this life and into the next.
The Scripture that came to mind immediately was 1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
The phrase “living hope” leads me to a couple thoughts:
Because of Christ, we can have a confident hope that whatever we’re going through, He is going to work out for His glory and our good.
We can have hope in this life in the midst of challenges – and hope provides strength amid uncertainty.
Hope gives us the assurance that through Christ we have the strength to persevere through challenges, overcome setbacks and disappointments, and resist temptation. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
Hope is a source of peace. The hope we have in Christ helps us navigate through the worries and anxieties of life, and helps us foster confidence, patience, and courage to approach life – not because of our strength, but Christ’s strength overcoming our weakness. (Galatians 2:20)
There are many Scriptures that speak to this idea of being overwhelmed by hope:
Romans 15:13: "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Hebrews 10:23: "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."
Jeremiah 17:7-8: "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence."
Isaiah 40:31: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Romans 5:1-5: “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”
I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW
This study on hope reminded me of an incredible song by The Isaacs, “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow” (Listen). It’s inspired by John 16:33 where Jesus doesn’t mince words – life is going to be hard, even for the believer. Jesus calls us to have an eternal perspective: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” We can confidently lean into the challenges of this life because of what Christ accomplished.
We can be overwhelmed with hope when life happens, emergencies pop up, disappointments and heartache come – and they will. Our hope is that in Christ, this life isn’t all there is. This is living hope - that even while life will bring its challenges, we have our eyes on eternity. Even while we experience really difficult seasons, we can get up the next day and continue living with purpose.
What if?
I’m guilty of creating “what if” scenarios in my head all the time. “What if” something were to happen to my wife or my kids? “What if” I lose my job? “What if” _______________ (enter your worry here). I can get pretty wound up over this! Is this familiar to you?
What if we flip the script a bit. We’ll use the same, “What if?” phrase, but instead of a doom spiral, let’s ask the question: “What if I was overwhelmed by hope?” That no matter what happens in the news today, or the loss or disappointments I will face, I am so overwhelmed by hope that all of my thoughts and emotions that follow will be filtered through the hope I have in Christ. It is a premeditated hope - regardless of the circumstances. I will choose hope.
Trust me, I’m not making light of what the human experience can be like. I’ve had the experience of finding my brother who just took his own life. I know what darkness and loss feels like. In those hardest moments though, I also experienced a peace that far surpassed my circumstances. When I share about being overwhelmed by hope, I think of the many moments over the last year when the grief felt like the heaviest fog you can imagine. There were times when the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see my feet. I had to come back to what I truly believed about God, His grace and mercy, and He kept drawing me into this place of hope. Moments where I felt like the world might cave in under the weight of everything, I experienced a hope and a peace like I’d never experienced before.
I wish that didn’t have to be the story. I wish there was another way for me to learn this. But my faith is stronger now than it has ever been, because of what I went through. God’s faithfulness is magnified in some of those darkest moments. You have a story of your own and it’s filled with mountain tops and valleys. I know that for you and I, there will still be challenging days ahead too. But what if we approached the rest of our lives from this day forward overwhelmed by the hope we have in Christ?
Reflection
Stop for a moment. Take a deep breath and release it.
Imagine you wake up tomorrow morning before the sunrise. Picture yourself sitting in your favorite chair with your favorite cup of coffee or tea. Feel the warmth of that cup in your hands. The challenges you are experiencing right now in life are still reality. And, imagine that you are completely overwhelmed by hope.
What do you feel?
Close your eyes for 30 seconds. What does being overwhelmed by hope feel like for you?
I’ll tell you what I experience. Peace. My heart quits racing from anxiety and worry. I took another really deep breath. No fear. My hands went from being a clinched fist trying to maintain control, to relaxed and open hands - letting go and trusting God. My shoulders dropped. Courage. Change in perspective. Confidence to get up out of that chair and lean into whatever the day holds.
Life can really be lived like this. I want to consistently live my life with this kind of authentic, genuine hope. Whatever you’re going through, if you truly have hope in Christ, your perspective should be viewed through a hope and trust in God. Lift up your eyes. Focus on Him – not things on this temporal plane. My prayer for you is that you would be overwhelmed by hope in the days ahead.
“For the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. It’s only through His resurrection that I can have an ounce of hope in this life. Would you help me today to trust You. I am struggling with _________ today. I’m putting it into Your trusting hands. Help me to experience Your peace as I live with confidence the hope I have in Jesus. If I am going to be overwhelmed by anything today, help me be overwhelmed by hope. Amen.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”