Overcoming Emotional OverwhelmSample

Acknowledge the Overwhelm Without Shame

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” (Lamentations 3:22–23 NLT)

Ever had a moment where you felt something big—maybe sadness, anger, or anxiety—and your first instinct was, Ugh. Not this again. I don’t have time for this.

Yep. Me too.

Our default response to emotions—especially uncomfortable ones—is often to judge them, fix them, or flat-out ignore them.

But what if we tried something radically different?

What if we just acknowledged them?

That’s step 1 in the A.D.D. (acknowledge, discern, decide) emotional management method that I teach: Acknowledge what you’re feeling with honesty and compassion, not shame or judgment.

Noticing your feelings doesn’t mean letting them run your life. It just means you’re giving them a seat at the table so you can better understand what’s going on under the surface.

Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?”, we ask, “Why does it make sense that I feel this way?”

In step 1: Acknowledge, we let God’s compassion cover the conversation.

By the way, we can feel grief without being consumed by it. We can admit we’re frustrated without letting it take the wheel. And we can come to God in the middle of all our feelings without needing to “clean ourselves up” first.

The acknowledge step isn’t about figuring it all out; it’s allowing our pain to be seen by our loving God. When we’re emotionally overwhelmed, what He wants most is for us to come close.

Picture a child, arms outstretched, crying in the middle of a hard moment. And now picture their parent kneeling down, arms open, gently gathering that child into a hug.

That’s how God meets us when we acknowledge what’s really going on inside.

In this step of the A.D.D. Method, we don’t have to justify or fix our emotion. We just let the feeling be heard.

In God’s presence is the safest place to fall apart. He’s not standing back, arms crossed, waiting for you to “get over it.” He’s right there, offering fresh mercy every single morning.

Today, I invite you to consider that you don’t have to stuff down your emotions or spiritualize them away.

Start by naming them and acknowledging them as real. Then let God’s compassion meet you in that space.

Reflection Questions:

1. What emotion have you been trying to “power through” instead of acknowledging?

2. What would it feel like to sit with God in that emotion and simply let it be seen?

Today’s Emotional Management Tool: Comfort + Naming

Choose one physical comfort “item” to use as you acknowledge your feelings—maybe a soft blanket, calming essential oils, a cup of tea, or gentle background music. Imagine that these are the hands of God calming you and making you feel safe as you acknowledge.

Then, in a journal or aloud, complete this sentence:

“It makes sense that I feel __________ because __________.”

This simple practice soothes the overwhelm, makes it easier to acknowledge the feelings, and sets you up to process the emotion with clarity.