When the World Comes Crashing Down
Living Beyond the Noise
It all happened on one truly unremarkable day. Over the course of this single day, multiple areas of my life were impacted by…stuff. I call it the fateful five.
First, we learned our daughter-in-law would lose her position at our church at the end of her upcoming maternity leave. Then, my claim to return over $10,000 stolen from my HSA was denied because they believed my email was “compromised”. Adding to that, I learned that I’d lost a major project at work that I’d been diligently chasing for almost 8-months. Next, we were served with an adverse possession claim by our neighbor due to us wanting to put a fence along our boundary line. Finally, our daughter spiraled deeply into her substance abuse. All in one day.
If these had been spread out over several days, I hope I would have had the capacity to manage each with grace. With them all hitting all at once, I did not. I was completely overwhelmed (hence, missing my June blog). My anxiety mounted and I was unable to sleep through the night. Instead, awake at 2am, my mind raced, fixated on the worst possible outcome of each item, obsessed with my helplessness.
I tried to pray, but there were no words. I read my Bible, but God’s promises seemed unreal, the verses hollow. “Live beyond the noise”. What did that even mean? There was certainly a lot of noise in my life, but I had no concept of how I was supposed to get to a place where I could “live beyond”. In addition to these issues, I felt guilty. Here I was, claiming to lead a ministry that encourages others to live beyond, yet I was caught in that selfsame noise. I isolated myself from friends, lashing out at family whenever my sleep deprivation and anger bubbled to the surface. I was completely empty.
Into that void, God spoke. Ever so gently, He reminded me that I am to…
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2)
Well, that wasn’t the least bit helpful to my present state of mind. What was I supposed to do with that? I wanted God to just magically fix everything! Yet there He was, giving me a verse that I may not have wanted but certainly needed.
You see that verse began popping into my mind at the most inconvenient of times, competing for space whenever my mind would start focusing on the noise. It caused a needed pause in my obsessing because each time it came to mind, I would start to think about it instead of my problems! My focus turned from fixating on myself to trying to understand what the verse meant and how it applied to my circumstances. Here’s what I learned:
First, this verse gives us a specific action to undertake. We are told to “SET” our minds. We are not asked to try. This is not a suggestion but an imperative. It is a command to which we must respond. There is an intentionality associated with setting things in place. There is not a sense of setting things down temporarily but of permanent placement.
Second, we are also told WHAT we are to “set” … our whole and complete mind. We are not asked to deal with isolated thoughts; the entirety of our mind is involved. We are warned in the book of James about the instability of a double-minded man. We can’t pick and choose the thoughts we want to set down. We are asked to include nothing less than everything that is on our mind.
Third, the place where we are to settle our minds is on things above. As in…not my here-and-now problems. As much as I would like to obsess over my boundary dispute with our neighbor, that is just not something that is “above”. In fact, no earthly problems are “above”. My problems, worries, and anxieties are not where I am to focus. Rather, we are called to turn our minds and thoughts to Jesus.
Finally, and most importantly, this can only happen as I let go of my need to control the outcome. Rather than fretting and fixating on the potentially worst outcomes, I am learning to replace those anxious thoughts with thoughts of Jesus. It’s very much a real struggle and I’m thankful that His grace abounds when I find myself tending back toward anxiety.
The fateful five have kept me humble and desperately focused on Jesus. While God has allowed resolution of some issues (my HSA appeal was accepted and money restored; the project I lost would have required I move out of a role I love), He has allowed the outcome of others to be less clear (I truly believe the next calling for my daughter-in-law will be amazing; stay tuned). And, we are still in the midst of dealing with the on-going boundary dispute and my daughter’s substance abuse.
Through it all, I am learning to keep my mind set on things above, not my circumstances. That is how I am learning to Live Beyond the Noise.
Living Beyond the Noise is not a place to hide from the world. It is living for Jesus without the world overwhelming you. It is a place where Jesus guides and directs each of your steps.
Go Beyond:
When overwhelming circumstances arise, what keeps you from obsessing and fixating on your issues? Are you able to Live Beyond the Noise?
“And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
Feel free to share your response in the comments below!
