Hey, friend. I want to start with a simple question today: Have you ever tried to hold too much? Like your soul feels stuffed to the brim, but you keep shoving things in anyway?
I was reminded of this the other day when I opened our son’s dresser drawer. It was FULL.
And when I say “full,” I want you to imagine a chipmunk with acorns stuffed in its cheeks.
Every time I did laundry, I’d try to cram all his shirts and pants and socks inside, and no matter how I arranged it, it just wouldn’t fit. Something always got caught or jammed in the back.
And honestly? Life gets like that, too.
A disappointment from a friend…
A situation at church that rubs you wrong…
A stretch of nights where you’re not sleeping well…
Stress at work that just keeps piling up…
We tuck each one away. We shove it in the drawer. We tell ourselves we’ll deal with it later.
But things don’t disappear simply because we stuff them away. They just wait.
And eventually there comes a moment when we can’t hold it anymore, and we explode.
It might show up as sickness.
Maybe it shows up as a sharp reaction toward someone we love.
Or maybe we want to retreat from everything because it just feels like too much.
For me, it often looks like getting easily frustrated with my kids instead of being patient and taking time to understand what’s bothering them. Have you been there?
But here’s what I want you to hear today: God is not asking you to hold it all together. He is actually inviting you to pour it all out.
Listen to Psalm 62:8. It says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (ESV).
God wants you to pour out your heart. Not hide it. Not manage it. Not pack it tighter.
Your heart is not “too much” for Him. Your emotions aren’t too messy. He can handle your frustrations, your confusion, your grief, your exhaustion. He welcomes it all.
And more than that—He wants to meet you right in the middle of it.
So if your inner dresser drawer feels like it’s overflowing today, consider this your cue to pause. Take a breath. Pull out just one thing. And bring that to Jesus.
You don’t have to sort the whole drawer at once. Just start with one.
Journal Prompt
If it helps, here’s a question you can take into your journaling or your prayer time: What’s one thing I’m stuffing down right now that Jesus is inviting me to pour out?
Let whatever comes up be enough. Just name it before the Lord and see what He has to say about it.
And if you’re starting to realize that you are carrying more than you thought, my Journal Gently program is a great, sacred place for you to start pulling things out of your “dresser drawer” and taking them to Jesus. Just go to lovedoesthat.org/journalgently to learn more and sign up.
And please know, my friend, that you are not alone. God is already with you, holding you, steadying you, and inviting you into a sacred space where you can pour out your heart to Him
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Coming close to your grief and entering into it can be scary. Overwhelming, even.
Journal Gently is an 8-week program designed to help you bring your hurt to God on the pages of your journal in a gentle and graceful way, whether your hurt includes grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, chronic illness, loneliness, and more.