Overwhelmed? There’s help.

The word “overwhelmed” is used a lot when people describe how they’re feeling in the face of difficulties, whether in their families, at work, or on the daily news.

The feeling isn’t new – and, I’ve found, neither is the remedy for it. Thousands of years ago, one struggler wrote, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalms 61:2).

This verse, and many others in the Bible’s book of Psalms, appeals to a source of strength and wisdom higher than our own. These psalms offer comfort and assurance based on the understanding that no one is alone, stuck trying to merely cope – that there is a greater intelligence and power than our own, and that this power – God – is always present to sustain and guide us in a good, productive, and safe path. They describe people besieged by challenges and threats, yet who keep reaching to a divine source that their hearts tell them is real and able to save – and who are tangibly helped by this.

As I was reading through Psalms recently, an image of what’s called a roly-poly doll came to thought. It’s a small toy that has a human figure, but a round bottom instead of legs. When you try to knock it over, it unfailingly returns to an upright position. Psalms describes people buffeted by troubles and dangers. They cry out despairingly, and yet turn to God and regain balance – a conviction that the troubles they face aren’t as big as the power of the Divine to help.

The persistence of these writers shows the persistence sometimes needed to get to this point of conviction. And it can encourage us to keep seeking the peace and courage that come from knowing that God is real, and more than powerful enough to guide and protect us through challenges we face.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science and of this news organization, wrote, “God is universal; confined to no spot, defined by no dogma, appropriated by no sect. Not more to one than to all, is God demonstrable as divine Life, Truth, and Love; and His people are they that reflect Him – that reflect Love” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 150). Later, on the next page, referring to the author of many of the psalms, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “David sang, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.’”

God is knowable as all-powerful Love, and He cares for “His people” – all of us in our true, spiritual nature as God’s self-expression. Humble, unselfish prayer that acknowledges God as the universal Mind and Love that guides everything and everyone lifts fear, and helps us feel a strength and intelligence beyond our own.

And everyone can pray, mentally reaching out to God as a child lifts up their arms to a loving parent. If I were present with someone suffering and knew I could do something to alleviate it, I hope I wouldn’t say, “I’ll get to that later.” I’d like to be more immediate with prayer when I hear of a need.

This discipline strikes me as an important goal in responding to overwhelming situations. Awareness of problems is important, but isn’t alone sufficient to bring the compassion, change, and healing that are needed. We can look to Christ Jesus for a model of prayer that makes a difference. Mrs. Eddy described Jesus’ prayers as “deep and conscientious protests of Truth, – of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 12).

Such prayer helps us realize our God-given capacity to love inclusively, as the spiritual reflection of divine Love. It compels us to reject feeling and voicing anger, cynicism, or despair – which aren’t part of our God-given nature – and to affirm the power of God to heal, to guide the innocent to the rock of safety, and to wake up deluded wrongdoers to correction and redemption.

The rock that’s higher than any overwhelming situation is “the secret place of the most High” (Psalms 91:1). The spiritual fact is that God is good and supreme – and evil, therefore, has no valid power to possess or overwhelm anyone. The desire to know this truth, and to help others know it, has behind it the healing power of infinite, divine Love.