by Sandy Kirby Quandt

When was the last time something caught your breath and overwhelmed you? Hopefully, it was in a good way, not in a devastating manner.

Dictionary.com defines overwhelmed like this:

Pilot and I recently returned from the Colorado Rockies where I attended the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

Our usual route takes us through Oklahoma and Kansas, and at the first sight of the Rockies rising in the distance above the Kansas plains I become overwhelmed in a good way. This year, however, tornadoes and devastating storms altered our route and we drove  through New Mexico.

This route took us past the Capulin Volcano National Monument at sunset, and was worth the alternate drive.

Many times I’ve been overwhelmed.

Standing beneath the towering California Sequoias overwhelmed me.

Waking up and staring at the Bavarian Alps overwhelmed me.

Walking the steps of the Acropolis in Athens overwhelmed me.

Wandering the maze of Knossos on the isle of Crete overwhelmed me.

Praying inside Cologne’s Dom overwhelmed me.

Snorkeling in Mexico as fish half my size swam past overwhelmed me.

The lift and fall of hawk’s wings overwhelms me.

Feeding a momma bison as her baby nursed beneath her overwhelmed me.

The brilliant colors of sunsets and sunrises.

Holding my newborn child overwhelmed me.

We can choose to look for all that God has done in the world around us and be overwhelmed by his goodness, or we can choose to ignore it, believing it to be an everyday common place occurrence.

I wonder if those who look out their window every morning and see the mountains rise before them take those mountains for granted.

Or when a herd of elk stroll past, even notice.

I wonder if those of us redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus our Savior ever take his sacrifice for granted.

You know, we’ve been in church all our lives. It’s common place. Something we do. Why get overwhelmed by that?

Friend, I’ll tell you why we need to be overwhelmed. Jesus didn’t have to do it. We didn’t deserve for Jesus to take our sins upon his perfect sinless self, pay the debt we owed but could never pay so we wouldn’t have to.

That is why we need to be overwhelmed by his love, grace, forgiveness and mercy and the work of his hands. Now and forever. We need to delight ourselves in the things of the LORD. Find pleasure and enjoyment in them.

As part of God’s creation we should feel pleasure in our enjoyment of what he has done.

What overwhelms you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below. If you think others would appreciate reading this please share it through the social media buttons.

 Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4

I wish you well.

Sandy

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