Sometimes we get stuck, whether it’s in the fear cycle that keeps anxiety-inducing thoughts circling our minds or in another type of cycle that makes us feel stuck, unable to move forward from our problems. I remember as a young mom feeling stuck and overwhelmed by anxiety and fear, and laundry. Yes, laundry. Maybe that sounds silly, but when you spend half your day doing laundry every other day or so—washing, drying, folding, and putting away said laundry—it can feel like you’re not accomplishing anything because the cycle soon repeats itself. When you have to start over from scratch doing the same thing you just did a few days before, you can start to feel like your life is wasting away. You wonder if there’s any purpose in what you’re doing. Yes, I believe laundry can legitimately become a sticking point in your life that keeps you from living freely and fully. This is when you have to stop and ask yourself these three questions: What am I trying to accomplish? Where am I stuck? Who or what can help me?
If we don’t stop and consider alternative solutions and thinking, we will remain stuck, and this is not where God wants us! God did not send His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life and die on a cross for us to remain a captive to anxiety and fear, or laundry, or ________ (fill in the blank with where you feel stuck). You are promised complete victory in Jesus! We serve an amazing God who wants nothing more than for us to walk in complete freedom.
Psalm 34:17 gives us hope stating, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”
Obviously feeling stuck because of piles of laundry is one thing, but feeling stuck in a deep, dark pit of anxiety and fear is quite another. There was a time when my kids were young that my anxiety and fear hit an all time high. Drowning into hopelessness and despair, the thought my life was no longer worth living began to take hold. And I wondered, how had things gotten to the point that I no longer thought my life was worth living?
One dark night of the soul, the realization of just how bad things had become hit me, and deep down I knew . . . the only way I am going to get out of this pit of anxiety is with the Lord’s help. So I got down on my hands and knees that night and cried out to God for help.
No, it wasn’t the first time I had cried out to God in desperation. Maybe you can relate. You’ve cried out to God time and again, but it’s as if your prayers have fallen on deaf ears. You wonder if God even hears you, if He cares. You think, What’s the point? Why keep asking God for help if He’s not going to respond? So, you stop asking God for help.
Here’s what I can tell you: each time I cried out to God in the past and didn’t receive the help I needed, it wasn’t that God didn’t hear me. It was that my pleas were for Him to do what I wanted done. I prayed, God, take away my pain. God, stop anxiety from controlling my life, release me from its grip. God, stop these panic attacks from debilitating me any longer. God, remove these anxious thoughts from my mind and free me from the torment of all my worries and fears. God, take away this fear getting in the way of me living my life. I had genuinely sought God for help through these prayers, but I hadn’t been ready to put in the work and partner with God in my healing. I wanted God to wave a magic wand to take away the pain I felt and solve all my problems for me. I wasn’t praying, God, let your will be done in my life. I was praying, God, let my will be done. I hadn’t humbled myself or submitted to His will and His way of helping and healing me at all. This time, when I called upon the Lord for help, my prayers were coming from a place of true humility and surrender.
Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46). Jesus was with me when I could not find my own way out of the darkness. In my darkest hour, when I called upon His name, Jesus came to my rescue. His light broke through. My Savior was right there fighting for me—His light shining within me and all around me, commanding the darkness to flee. Jesus is with you now, too! He will lead you out of the darkness of living in fear and into the light of living perfectly loved in relationship with Him. It will take time, but by calling upon the Lord for help from a place of humility and surrender, you can begin the process with Him.
