Overwhelmed

This past week was a good one to be Overwhelmed.

As we all step back into school, work, or whatever our role on the ship of life might be, we faced some Thanksgiving waves that could not only have overwhelmed us, but sank our boat quickly if we were not careful. Let me explain.

Did you get "Overwhelmed by football?" As our family watched one final game on Sunday night, all of us realized that we had sat in front of our flat screen and taken in more football games than humanly possible in a 4 day period. It's unreal how they are all timed so well that you view one right after another and never have to get off of the couch. Just when you think you have a break, ESPN throws in some holiday hoops. It was a never ending stream of good games to see but when is enough a enough?

Were you overwhelmed by "Black Friday?" Just for kicks, our family drove around Branson on Thursday night (just to get out of the house and away from football) to see who was out there waiting. At Walmart, it was a madhouse. They were open and people were lined up in the electronics and toy department like the starting line of White Rock Marathon in Dallas. At Best Buy, people were camped out in make shift tents by the door and sitting in chairs with their winter coats on to stay warm. One family had even parked their RV 10 yards from the front door in anticipation of the 5am sale price on the IPad. Are you for real?

If you weren't disciplined, you might have succumbed to being overwhelmed by food. Were you? Due to the size of turkeys now a days, they can last 3-4 days and if they don't, the sweet potato casserole and the pecan pie do. We might just concede that it will go bad so someone has to eat it and it might as well be us because it is so good.

And the list could go on and on.
Non stop football. Non stop shopping. Non stop eating... are you overwhelmed or what?

Regardless of what happened during your last week, I hope you were overwhelmed by God's goodness in your life and acknowledged that all you have and experience comes from His hand. James 1:17 says "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

Our family is tackling some memory work in James this week and he quickly reminds us of what we truly need to be overwhelmed with in our lives: Him.

God is sovereign and will not change. God desires to give us good things and perfect gifts...we just have to take the time to recognize what we have and how we received them.

Be overwhelmed with thankfulness as your start this week and keep your focus on Christ being the centerpiece of this next month. Don't miss a single opportunity to be overwhelmed by His love for you.