This is an excerpt from Will I Make It Through? | Finding Comfort in Christ When Life Feels Overwhelming

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27,375.

That’s the approximate number of days lived by a seventy-five-year-old. 27,375 sunrises. 27,375 sunsets. 27,375 opportunities to open sleepy eyes to the fresh beginnings of a new day. Days made up of laughs that turn to laugh lines. Wounds that turn to scars. Heartaches that turn to lessons learned. Days memorialized by monumental moments that one never forgets—the once-in-a-lifetime vacation, the final moments with a loved one, the birth of a child, the buying of a home. And yet, I can’t help but wonder what percentage of those days are actually the “monumental moments.”

What if our days are made up of the accumulation of mundane moments rather than monumental ones? If I am being honest, the first time this thought entered my mind, it slapped me in the face. Like a reflex, I cried quiet tears, right there in our church sanctuary in the third row on the left. I felt the weight of conviction settle on my chest—the ache of knowing that I’ve gotten it all wrong. As silly as it sounds, I felt like our pastor was having a one-on-one conversation with me—just me—out of the other three hundred people in the room.

“Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts,” he said, quoting Psalm 90:12. Number our days. What did that even mean? Gently, he taught that our days are not measured by the vacations we enjoy or even the tragedies that mark us, but by all the in-between moments. The dishes washed. The drives taken. The tears wiped. The hands held. The decisions made. The clock-ins and clock-outs. The umpteen nights of tacos for dinner.

My heart was pierced with conviction, guilt, and embarrassment. The mundane moments in my current season usually feel like survival. Often I feel more overwhelmed than overjoyed, more stressed than surrendered, more panicked than peaceful. During that sermon, the Lord allowed me a peek into the rearview mirror of my life, and I didn’t like what I saw.

In that reflection, I saw my frazzled self telling my son to stop singing his favorite song because mommy “just can’t do it right now.” I saw tears on my laptop as I took inventory of the week’s demands and realized, once again, that there’s far too little time. I saw the sleepless nights tossing, turning, and considering all the angles for an upcoming decision. I felt the exasperation of too many voices demanding my attention at once. I lamented the desire to hide in a closet or numb my brain with Netflix.

Being a mom of two (with one on the way), working full time, leading a Bible study with my husband, and being involved in our church, I’m busy in the best way. On paper, my family and I have it all. Don’t get me wrong—I know that we are blessed immeasurably. Beyond anything we could ever do on our own, the Lord helps us through each week. Whether we get all the things done or have to say “no” to something good, our little family makes it through. But that’s not without feeling like we are maxed out, wiped out, and burnt out. The car breaks down, a kid gets sick, traffic makes us late, the grocery store bills are expensive, projects require after-bedtime attention—honestly, the list goes on and on.

As I looked in the rearview mirror that day, I saw my response to these mundane, middle moments. I saw a woman who often feels crushed beneath the weight of her responsibilities. A woman who is still discovering what it means to lean on the Lord’s strength in my weakness. A woman with a long way to go.

This book is written for those in-the-middle moments. How do we worship God in the middle of our overwhelm? How do we cling to faith when we don’t see how God is going to carry us through?

I think as Christians we sometimes struggle with the math of our faith. We know the answer is Jesus, but we don’t know how to get there. We are not sure how to “show our work” or fit the gospel into the equation of our everyday lives. In my mind, I know the gospel like the back of my hand, and yet sometimes I catch this gospel that I love so dearly running into roadblocks between my head and my heart. I find myself struggling to believe what I know to be true. The math just doesn’t add up.

I think that is why my pastor’s message pierced my heart that day. I realized that a lot of my “mundane” moments were marked by overwhelm, not by fruit that displayed the goodness of God in my life. And I didn’t like it. I did not want to settle. I do not want my faith to be bad algebra. I want the sum of all my parts and all my moments to equal Jesus.

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If you find yourself in the middle of overwhelm, pick up a copy of Will I Make It Through? and experience the refreshing grace of Jesus.

Author Bio:

Katie lives in Surf City, North Carolina with her husband and three kids. She is passionate about helping women see God’s faithfulness woven through the whole story of Scripture—and how that same faithfulness meets them personally in their everyday lives. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll likely find her exploring the beaches of her coastal town or enjoying a cup of locally brewed coffee with friends.

Additional Resources:

Will I Make It Through?		Prayers For Anxiety		Scripture for Anxiety Journal		Peace Under Pressure | Stress Bible Study		What to Do When Fear Overwhelms You
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