Monday, March 11, 2013

Overwhelmed?

With PPD life can get overwhelming pretty fast. I remember feeling pretty overwhelmed with where the Lord was leading me one spring and making a list of all the things I needed to accomplish within the next year. I then worked out a plan to get them all accomplished, little by little, with a daily schedule. I had been thinking that more children may have been in the picture at some point in the future, but not now. I was praying that the Lord would send me another one when he thought I was ready. The next month I found out I was pregnant with twins. Whoa! Now what? I thought I had quite enough on my plate already! I may not have thought I was ready, but God did. I decided to try my best to do as much of the stuff that was on my list, but a lot of my own interests got put aside. I now had new interests, anyway, like making sure I got enough calories and water to grow two babies, getting enough rest, and making plans for how to work things after the babies got here. But it wasn't just that. I needlessly worried about what other people might think of our situation and, with twins, there are always emotional issues to work through. There were also those that worried for us, wondering if we'd be able to handle all that we were undertaking. If I thought things seemed overwhelming to me before, now they were doubly so.

Fast forward almost two years. Recently I have wanted to work at preparing for the future. Getting things ready in case of an emergency, preparing my children's minds for "the real world", putting my house in better order so that we can find things quickly and easily, and so on. I was so interested in this, because I found myself fearing what the future may bring. Then the scripture "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30) came to mind. And then the scripture where it says to "prepare every needful thing" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119) came to mind. I liked these scriptures, but if your day seems as chaotic as mine does with floors to sweep and mop, children to feed and comfort, dishes to be done, laundry to fold, messes to clean up after, etc..., then a phrase like "prepare every needful thing" can seem daunting and overwhelming, to say the least.
Well, that is, unless you know what is needful. Remember the story of Mary and Martha? (Luke 10:38-42) After reading this story, we see that there is one thing that is needful. Hearing the word of the Lord. I love verse 42. It says, "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." How many times do we feel like the things that we want so badly in our lives no matter how good, seem to get taken from us or seem to stay just out of reach, or really don't satisfy us the way we imagined they would once we do get them (or fit them into our day)? Well, choosing that one needful thing shall not be taken from us!
Yes, the dishes and the laundry most certainly will not stay done, the family will be hungry again within a few hours (or shorter). There will definitely be work you do that gets undone today, thus needing to do it again tomorrow. But, if we choose that one needful thing - that good part - it will make all the difference in our day.
Here is a link to my online source for scriptures. The icon is right above the home page picture. It has the Holy Bible as well as The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price.  http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This is going to be a great blog. Thanks so much for sharing. I appreciate your willingness to open up about your struggles and trials. I know that many women will be able to connect with you and your journey. We need to talk one on one about your desire to be a more prepared.