Squashing Frustration

Are you frustrated? Does it feel like you’ll never “get it?” Does freedom feel like an elusive dream? Do you sometimes wonder if you even have what it takes?

In our increasingly instant world, we tend to want everything NOW! We have little patience for things that take an extended period of time or require tedious work. Unfortunately, recovery often requires both.

Recovery is ultimately about surrendering to God but, in getting there, we must wrestle with the thoughts, beliefs and wounds that keep us from being able to do that. That’s the part that can be grueling.

We may experience “recovery exhaustion” at some point along the way. We just want it to be done. Instead, it seems like the more we dig, the more we see that needs fixing. It can feel absolutely overwhelming at times.

This is exactly where my husband was some months into his counseling sessions. But, as much as it felt like it, he wasn’t alone. God was right there in the middle of his frustration and exhaustion, cheering him on. When he least expected it, God gave him a visual lesson that helped him persevere. Here’s what Bruce wrote in his journal that day:

“Even though Sunday night was usually my night off from my building maintenance job, I had to go to work because some big wig was coming up from Portland.

My supervisor told me that I needed to strip and wax the whole variety end of the store.It was a HUGE section of floor and I was upset and angry. I KNEW I couldn’t get it done in just one night.

I started looking at how much I had to do and it felt absolutely hopeless. But, after I got going, I began concentrating on one aisle at a time. I just kept going and going and by 5:30 the next morning I had only one little section left to go. I looked back at how far I had come and I felt the Lord tell me, “See, I will give you just enough strength for one aisle at a time. Stop looking at the whole store or the ‘mountain of your problem’.

I instantly realized that that was exactly what I had been doing. I had allowed myself to become overwhelmed by the enormity of my issues when I really needed to be focusing on taking just one small step at a time.”

—from our book “Now Choose Life!“

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, ask God to help you see just one “aisle” at a time. Let him show you that singular next step that he wants you to focus on today.

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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.”  — Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV)