Overwhelmed

I was overwhelmed. Not by the amount of painting I needed to finish for my wife. I’m not even overwhelmed by the amount of tasks that need to be completed by our first service on September 20. No, I was overwhelmed by the love my God has for me and shows me.

It all started about 12:30 am on Monday night/Tuesday morning. I had just finished 14 hours of painting and trimming in our master bedroom and installing a ceiling fan. I was tired and drained from a long day of smelling paint fumes. My arms were tired from the strokes of the brush and lifting a fan above my head while balancing on my ladder. (Side note, I now own my own ladder. Kelly bought it for me as a “gift”. It is one of those cool 5 in 1 ladders that can be a step ladder or a 13 foot extension.) Sorry, a little excited about owning my own ladder!

After cleaning up from the day's activities, I retreated to the man cave to catch up with the day in sports and fall asleep. Our bedroom furniture was still pushed into the middle of the room as we continue to work on the “labor” day project, so sleeping in the man cave was a great option. However, as I sat down to unwind and doze off, I was intrigued by the lyrics of a song that I had been listening too and singing along with all day.

David Crowder covers a song on his upcoming album entitled “How He Loves”. As I started thinking through the lyrics, God began to press deep into my soul the necessity of understanding who He is and the purpose of my life. I have a great gig! I have a beautiful wife, two unbelievable sons, a career that I enjoy, friends that make life fun, and a God who sees beyond my past and future and still loves me. God is not waiting on some future me to show up to love, He loves me now! Yet, we spend most of our time trying to impress those around us with our spirituality, regardless if we really have it all together or not. And we just don’t stop with those around us. We try to impress God too. Our checklist relationship is often so stale and stagnate because we fail to live up to the standards we think God wants from us. Don’t get me wrong, we need Bible study, we need prayer, we need fasting, we need fellowship with other believers, but what we need more than anything is to remember that God loves us regardless. Living in that love draws me to the Bible, draws me to intimate conversations with Him, draws me to fasting for spiritual breakthroughs, draws me to other believers to share what He is doing in my life.

God is more than a priority, He is my life. Paul reminds us of that when he writes, “When Christ who is your life appears...”(Colossians 3:4). Think about these phrases from the song, “We are his portion, He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes”, “I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections for me.” The chorus serves as a simple reminder, “Oh, how He loves us.” Seems pretty basic, yet we have complicated it.

So when God’s love overwhelms you at 12:30 in the morning, it is hard to sleep. When you are acutely aware of His presence, there isn’t room for anything else. So what do you do? You read, your pray, you sing, you listen, and you rest! Being overwhelmed by His presence was the rest I needed and something we all should crave and desire.