Annoyed and Overwhelmed

Emotional words bear layers of meaning.  Take 'annoyed' for example.  When I am annoyed, I experience irritation--a rough, edgy state because I must deal with a trivial situation or unreasonable person.  That is the first layer.  The second layer, however, is realizing that my annoyance always begins with a feeling of selfish superiority, a state in which I believe myself too wise or too important to deal with that person or circumstance.  Once I know that, also know that I am not only annoyed, I am in sin.
Therefore:
      Annoyed = Selfish Pride

So, too, are the layers of declaring that I am overwhelmed.  What is overwhelmed, anyway?  Strictly speaking, being overwhelmed means being swept away, like the damage wreaked by a tornado or tsunami.  But when we say we are overwhelmed, we are rarely truly defeated, and never dead. Why, then, do we say we are overwhelmed?

Maybe the answer lies in the second layer of feeling here, too.  Jesus illustrated this second layer when he met a man feeling overwhelmed by his son's epileptic-type seizures.

"How long has he been like this?" Jesus asked.
"From childhood...If you can do anything, have pity on us and help us!"
"If you can?  Everything is possible to him who believes."
"I do believe.  Help me with my unbelief!"--Mark 9:21-24

We believe, but like that father, our belief is incomplete.
Jesus said the man felt overwhelmed because he lacked belief. He would say the same to us.
Therefore:
     Overwhelmed = Unbelief


Belief is God's gift to us...His gift and His promise, and the key to heaven.
You are my witness and my servant whom I have chosen so that you know and believe me and understand that I am He.--Isaiah 43:10

That is the grace of it.  We flail around in sin, like when we feel annoyed or overwhelmed, but God is always so close, so close.  If I concentrate, I can usually feel His sweet breath--and feel Him push aside my own pride, my own agenda and desire.  It is then I reach out to Him, where there is no reason to be annoyed and no room for being overwhelmed.