Where do I start?

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with life. I’m constantly trying to figure out how to make everything fit and work. Balancing family life, ministry, friends, responsibilities, physical fitness, and still finding time to sleep is a challenge. Now throw on top of that the fact that we should all be growing spiritually and as individuals and it can make you want to scream. There are so many of these areas that we feel we simply cannot neglect that dealing with our spiritual life and growth as an individual can fall way down the list. The problem is this one needs to be way up the list.

The other issue is that it can feel overwhelming and often frustrating when we try to deal with spiritual and personal growth. Many Christians handle their personal development and growth like they do the need to eat healthy or workout. “I’ll start tomorrow.” Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I will sometimes make the decision to have a healthy day eating, and then someone invites me to lunch and the next thing I know cheeseburger and fries with a sweet tea is what I tell the nice server I would like to have. I tell myself I’ll do better tomorrow. Here’s the problem tomorrow never actually comes because we can just keep kicking the can down the road. It’s easy to look at your life and say something needs to change, but then the actual moment you take action never happens. It just seems so overwhelming. It can feel like there is so much we need to improve it’s easier to just do nothing, and if do nothing then there is no chance of failure. It is safer to just do nothing, but then we never move forward.

Here’s how we should approach this overwhelmed feeling when it comes to our relationship with God and personal growth. Do something small. Do something that may not feel like it will make much difference, but it is something that can be accomplished. Where ever you are at today in this area of your life find one positive thing you can do. Think about it like healthy eating. You may not become a vegan or cut out all processed foods, but you can order water instead of sweet tea. It may not be an earth shattering move but it’s a start. This is where momentum is built in our any area of our lives, and it’s true in our relationship with God. When we accomplish a positive thing it spurs us to accomplish another.

When it comes to your walk with Christ don’t try and take in everything and work on every area at once. If you are anything like me there is so much to work on that you can become overwhelmed and just throw your hands up and quit. Look at one area of your life, and how that area can be changed to better reflect who Christ wants you to be. Start there and make a change. Confess and repent of a sin, and remember that repent means to change your mind. This means you will have to change your action. You can begin to do something you know you need to do. You may be a follower of Christ that doesn’t pray enough, or at all. Start out with 3 minutes of prayer. Set a timer on your phone and make an appointment time with God, and for three minutes have a focused time of prayer. I promise you that time will grow as you fall in love with prayer. You many know you need to share the Gospel with others, but you are nervous and intimidated by the thought of it. How about you start by just inviting someone to come to church with you. Stop looking at how far you have to go, and start looking at what can be accomplished between you and God today. Have one good day. Have one good moment, and then build from there. Every skyscraper that has ever been built was started by moving the first shovel full of dirt. That one shovel full didn’t seem to make much difference, but one shovel after another eventually led to that skyscraper. Start building your skyscraper today by making the choice to take one positive action.

If you enjoyed this post please share it on Facebook and Twitter. Also feel free to leave a comment below.