How Do I Cope When Life Disrupts My Calendar?

Monday morning, I woke up with a plan and a schedule that was pretty set in stone for the next few weeks. And then Tuesday rolled around.

I got a phone call that changed all of my plans! It was unexpected to say the least, and ever since that call, my mind has been reeling. Without going into all of the details, this call could possibly mean me flying out next week and being gone for 5 days or so, which would then cause a snowball of missed appointments, plans, and oh yeah? What about the dog? Who will watch the dog?

This one call sent me into a torrent of phone calls to cancel appointments that needed rescheduling, only to find out that I would have to miss one of the rescheduled appointments. I then received text messages asking me to confirm upcoming commitments I wasn’t sure I could fully honor because I might be out of town.

I found myself looking at the calendar and thinking, "How in the world am I ever going to figure this out without disappointing someone greatly?"

Just Take the Next Step

As a verbal processor, I knew I needed to speak all of these worries out loud, and who better than my sweet husband to unload on? He is always the victim of my verbal rant sessions, and he usually resorts to this one faithful sentence.

“Just take the next step.” 

As an overthinker, I find this simplifies things way too much, and yet he is right. In those moments of jumbled, anxious thoughts, I find his simplified answer a bit annoying, but when I put his advice into practice by deciding on the next best step, it really does help.

I wish that was the end of the crazy, but more calls and texts came in, only adding to my dilemma. I said to my husband, “I wish I knew when Jesus was coming back, because then I would know what to do.”  That was when I’d reached a point where I knew the only thing to do was wait for more information and take the next step. There was literally nothing else to do.

God Already Has It

Sometimes I have to reach the point of desperation and overwhelm before I remember that God really has it all under control, and that it isn’t up to me to line up every little detail. I know this to my core, but I find myself right back at square one, feeling the need to know every single step to feel at peace.  

This is when I know I have to find a place of quiet and rest, set my phone aside, breathe deeply, and ask Jesus to meet me right there. I pray and ask Him for wisdom and discernment for that moment and choose to lay it all down.

I choose to surrender all of the chaos to the only One who knows what the future holds. I can trust Him to show me the next step. The next right thing to do. The next best choice.

It reminds me of the song Carrie Underwood sang, “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”[1]

Jesus, take the wheel, Take it from my hands, 'Cause I can't do this on my own, I'm letting go, So give me one more chance, Save me from this road I'm on, Jesus, take the wheel.

Once I am able to give Jesus the wheel, my anxious thoughts slow down, my breathing steadies, and I can rest.

I find it very difficult to hunger for more of Jesus when I am so consumed with the daily struggles of life. My hope and prayer is that we all be more like David, where, in spite of all the difficult circumstances he found himself in, he still was able to say:

God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. Psalm 63:1-2

Holding On to Hope

We all have busy lives, and every one of us will hit seasons when things get chaotic. It looks different for each of us. Maybe it’s a hard phone call, a health scare, or a week that just refuses to go the way you planned. But the temptation is always the same. We slip into survival mode and forget to seek the One who’s holding it all together. If that’s where you are right now, here are a few things that help me hold on to hope when everything feels like it’s coming apart:

• Get quiet before you get busy. Before you dive into the to-do list, set the phone down, step away from the noise, and take a few minutes to breathe and pray. A quiet heart hears God more clearly than a frantic one.
• Take the next right step, just one. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Ask God for wisdom about the very next decision before you, and trust Him with everything after that.
• Say it out loud. Tell God what you’re carrying, and tell someone you trust, too. Getting the worry out of your head and into the open really does loosen its grip.
• Feed your hunger for God on the ordinary days. It’s hard to reach for Jesus in a crisis if you haven’t been reaching for Him all along. A little time in His Word each day builds the muscle you’ll lean on when life gets hectic.
• Surrender the wheel, again and again. Letting go isn’t a one-time thing. It’s something you have to keep choosing every time the anxious thoughts creep back in.

Weeks like this will keep coming. But our hope was never meant to rest on a tidy calendar or a plan that actually holds. It rests on a God who never loses control, even in the moments we do. So when you can’t find the next step, look to Him. He’s already there, holding the whole thing together.

[1] Carrie Underwood, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” (2005), written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson.