There is a fear that sometimes looms over my day or my project or even my life: what if I don’t get this done in time?
Is that something you ever struggle with?
As the healing love of God ministers to me, over time, I find Him highlighting strongholds in my life that have been there a long time: strongholds He wants to break down; to bring freedom. And one of them is the fear of not getting everything done.
I mean, when I am faced with a task (or a pile of tasks), the fear of not getting it done in time can haunt me, making it hard to think clearly and focus. Sometimes leading to a tearful meltdown. And I’m sure that being a perfectionist feeds into that.
It’s something I remember from school days: the panic when I realised I wasn’t be able to get through every last bit of the revision I needed to for an important exam. The rising panic, and the tears. The fear of the terrible things that would happen I failed to get through it all.
It’s something that has come up recently at work, as things have gone a bit pressured and crazy. And it’s really not helpful for anyone when I come close to panic just because things are getting busy.
So I thought it would be a good idea to write about it and share thoughts that will hopefully help both of us!!
- Jesus lived a perfect life in my place. Trusting in Him and following Him, I am forgiven and accepted whether I get it all done or not! 🙂 God loves me even if I don’t get it all done. 🙂
- God knows my limitations. If I really can’t get this done, He will provide.
- God doesn’t necessarily call me to get my idea of my To Do list done. He calls me to be faithful to what He has called me to do, and if this list isn’t possible, it’s okay (maybe it wasn’t even from Him anyway!).
- God can multiply time, provide un-thought-of solutions, provide unexpected help, cancel appointments… and so on. I’ve seen it many times before, and He can do it again. When I take time to pray first and give it to Him (even when it seems like that prayer time isn’t really available), He seems to make the time left afterwards go further! Maybe like bread and fish that just kept multiplying (John 6:11-12)!
- God doesn’t want me to live bound up in fear (2 Timothy 1:7). This fear of not getting it all done weighs me down and weakens my ability to try. It causes me to be anxious and upset, and then other people get affected by my anxiety. But the fear didn’t come from God in the first place!
- I think that God calls me to love Him and to love my neighbour, more than ticking every box off my To Do list.
- Sometimes my perfectionism means that I expect myself to do things that I don’t actually need to do, or that I set the standards too high. Maybe some of the things I am expecting of myself aren’t actually necessary after all. Is there anything I can actually take off the list?
- Stressing about potentially not getting it done isn’t helping anyone. It’s more helpful to cast my worry on God, and then just try and do what I can!!
- Is there something I can hand over to someone else?
- Tackling the most stressful things first can really help reduce stress.
I’ve seen God come through many times in the past. Sometimes, He has provided help. Sometimes, a meeting has been cancelled, giving me more time. Sometimes I realised I didn’t actually need to do all of that today!
And with the exams I couldn’t fully revise for, I managed to get through most of it anyway and I knew enough… and actually it worked out fine in the end (so the panic wasn’t really worth it).
God just asks me to hand the anxiety to Him, rest in Him, and faithfully do what I can.
So the truth is that I don’t need to live haunted by the fear of a huge To Do list! 🙂
Can you feel the relief of what that could mean? 😉
Caroline Abblitt 