A big problem I’ve had in my life is excess busyness, resulting in feeling overwhelmed, drained and physically exhausted much of the time. I also have felt responsible to fix everyone and everything, which caused much stress, and mental and emotional burnout.

God had to teach me to set boundaries and release everyone and everything to Him. I was trying to do His job, which of course I wasn’t equipped to do. I learned to do my part of praying for others, and then giving them to God to do the rest.

Years ago the Lord gave me two word pictures of my life when my mind was bombarded and spinning out of control just thinking about everything I thought I had to do and all those I was carrying and trying to fix.

I saw myself as a box of a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle sitting on a shelf. Suddenly the box of my puzzle pieces fell off the shelf, and as it hit the floor the cover flew off and the thousand pieces of my life were scattered all over. I had no idea how to put the pieces of my life back together again.

Then a few more boxes of 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles of others’ lives fell off the shelf. The lids of those boxes also came off, and thousands more puzzle pieces spilled out, mingling with my puzzle pieces. Now I knew I was really in trouble as I had no idea how to separate everyone else’s puzzle piece lives from mine.

I needed someone else to separate the pieces, remove those that weren’t mine, and put me back together. I needed Jesus to clear the clutter out of my mind, and to show me what was mine and what I needed to let go of so that He could put others’ lives back together too.

The second word picture dealt more with the excessive busyness. As a day began, I would enter a huge warehouse-type room filled with boxes. It seemed like every square inch of that room was covered with boxes, with no path to get through the room. My assignment was to make it to the other side of the room.

I would spend each day moving one box at a time out of my way to clear a path for me to get through the room, inch by inch, step by step. It took all day long to make it to the door on the opposite side of the massive room. But when I returned the next morning, the boxes were back and I had to do it all over again, day after day.

These word pictures helped me to see my need for change. I know there are many others who also long for something to change. They are continually exhausted, overwhelmed and burnt out, putting unrealistic expectations upon themselves or allowing others to do so. They feel responsible to help and fix everyone who comes across their path.

As we cry out for the Lord to help us, and surrender our lives and the lives of others into His hands, He is faithful to teach us a better way. We need to trust the Lord to do that which only He can do, as He alone knows what is best in each life. We need to let go and let God.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 482-5300.