How I Endured Feeling Overwhelmed in One Easy Lesson

Stories of Hope in Hard Times

I share a story and journal entry about how I felt shortly after my son was diagnosed with autism, and what one thing got me through.

Updates on the Podcast

But first, big news: On January 23, 2021, we hit the beginning of the third year of my podcast, Stories of Hope in Hard Times. Thank you for supporting me in this. Cool statistics about my podcast:

• Most of my listeners are in the United States
• India just passed Canada for the #2 in listeners to my podcast.
• It has been listened to in 57 countries including China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and New Zealand.
• I have launched 82 episodes
• I’ve had a 300% increase in listeners during 2020. Thank you for making this possible!

New change for this year of podcasting: I will be posting videos of each episode on YouTube!

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Hard times? I know how you feel. In May 2003 I wrote a journal entry which tells the story of how broken and worn out I felt shortly after Nathan was diagnosed with autism.

I was singing in an octet on a Sunday at church and felt some of the words resonate through my exhausted soul:

Lord, I Would Follow Thee by Susan Evans McCloud

In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can’t see…

To the wounded and the weary, I would show a gentle heart….

Find in thee my strength, my beacon...

When I felt exhausted I knew I could turn to Jesus Christ to lift me and help me.

Tad R. Callister wrote in his book, The Infinite Atonement, about Jesus Christ’s amazing power to help us when we feel broken and need healing. I love this quote because it draws from powerful Bible verses to speak of Christ’s ability understand and succor us when we feel overwhelmed.

“One of the blessings of the Atonement is that we can receive of the Savior’s succoring powers. Isaiah spoke repeatedly of the Lord’s healing, calming influence. He testified that the Savior was ‘a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat’ (Isaiah 25:4). As to those who sorrow, Isaiah declared that the Savior possessed the power to ‘comfort all that mourn’ (Isaiah 61:2), and ‘wipe away tears from off all faces’ (Isaiah 25:8; see also Revelation 7:17); ‘revive the spirit of the humble’ (Isaiah 57:15); and ‘bind up the brokenhearted’ (Isaiah 61:1; see also Luke 4:18; Psalm 147:3). So expansive was his succoring power that he could exchange ‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness’ (Isaiah 61:3).

“Oh, what hope soars in those promises! … His spirit heals; it refines; it comforts; it breathes new life into hopeless hearts. It has the power to transform all that is ugly and vicious and worthless in life to something of supreme and glorious splendor. He has the power to convert the ashes of mortality to the beauties of eternity.”

You can find the complete transcript of today's episode here: https://tamarakanderson.com/podcasts/how-i-endured-feeling-overwhelmed-in-one-easy-lesson

You can watch the video of this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S6qvR0ITowI

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