Dear Ms. Mabel,

I feel overwhelmed by one problem after another. The heaviness of it all makes me feel like I’m drowning. How do I get through it?

~ Overwhelmed in Orlinda

Truth be told... some seasons feel like one problem after another, with no end in sight. You put one fire out and turn around to find another one smoking in the kitchen. And lately, it seems like just about everybody I talk to is standing there with a bucket in one hand and fire starter in another.

Everybody has seasons like this. They don’t last forever—unless, sometimes, we keep choosing to make them last by feeding them with worry, fretting, and the belief that everything depends on us fixing it.

That may not be easy to hear, darlin’, but it’s worth asking: Is all this fretting and fussing actually helping anybody?

Does one more minute of worry add a moment to your life? Does it give you a little extra time at the end of the day when you can magically solve every problem?

I’ve yet to see worry earn anybody overtime.

Some of us get hooked on finding the answer. We start looking for the next problem before we’ve even caught our breath from the last one. And when it’s somebody else’s trouble, we may start believing that if we just try hard enough, we can become the solution.

But the solution isn’t always another to-do list or more time spent playing the hero.

When you’ve reached the end of your rope after giving it your best, the answer may not be to try harder. It may be to slow down.

Now, that’s the last thing you want to hear when your mind is smoldering with fires you feel responsible for tending or putting out. The hard truth is, your mind can get so used to scanning for trouble that it forgets how to rest.

So make yourself have a bare-minimum day. Take an actual Sabbath once a week. Write down what you truly have control over, and talk to God about it. And ask Him what He may be trying to teach you through this.

You may not understand the answer right away, but it’s a good place to turn your thoughts.

In those moments, all you may be able to do is the next right thing.

My daddy used to ask, “How do you eat an elephant?” And for those who don’t know the answer, it’s one bite at a time.

You don’t have to swallow the whole thing before supper.

I think one thing that holds people back from praying honestly is the worry that it might be irreverent to speak plainly to the Creator of the universe.

Sometimes I feel guilty bringing God my little piddly problems when there are people out there in far worse shape than me. But God doesn’t measure our hurts on a scale and tell us to come back when they’re bigger.

He cares about all our worries.

And then there’s that familiar phrase: “Keep your eyes on Jesus.”

Some of us have heard it so often it’s almost lost its meaning—like typing “thoughts and prayers” under a Facebook post when somebody dies, without stopping to think about what we’re saying.

So let’s look at what it means.

Those of you who remember the old hymn will know the words:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

I’m no scholar, but to me it means looking for Jesus in every situation.

The problems may still be there, but the fires in my mind seem to get smaller when I remember who He is.

Jesus has already overcome the world. We ought to stick with Him as the hero of our story, instead of fumbling miserably toward the finish line like the whole thing depends on us.

Things very rarely turn out as bad as we worry they will.

And when another problem comes along, we can take a breath, tell God the truth, and do the next right thing—one bite at a time.

I’ll be praying for your peace, Darlin'.