When Life Is Hard and Hormones Rage

Last Updated on March 11, 2024

[verse reference=”Philippians4:6-7″]Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.[/verse]

There I was driving, down the road when I found myself in the middle of a meltdown moment. No real crisis. No big issues. Just a mountain of molehills multiplied by mounting hormones.

My sweet little boy bore the brunt of my bad behavior after just a bit of bad news sent me over the edge. Frantic, frustrated,and frazzled, I began ranting and raving like I had lost my mind. I knew I was losing it, but I just kept spewing like a broken fire hydrant.

After a two-minute tirade, I came to my senses and my heart sank. What had I just done? Why did I lose my cool like that? Did the bad news really warrant such a volcanic response?

Maybe you’ve been there too … when life is hard and hormones rage.

Life. It has a way of overwhelming all of us.

When the little things seem to build, hormones begin to rage and you find yourself at the end of your proverbial rope, life is hard.

When the bills are bigger than your paychecks and you aren’t sure whether you need to buy groceries or pay the electric bill, life is hard.

When the baby keeps crying, your toddler has just pulled the high chair down on top of him, and the pasta is boiling over, life is hard.

When you feel like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and your circumstances are too big to bear, life is hard.

But we don’t always erupt when chaos creeps in or when our worlds fall apart. Sometimes, it’s in the little things.

Like a stack of straw, the result of one stick at a time. And then it happens…

Something or someone comes along and flicks a spark onto our already heaping pile and the whole thing goes up in flames. And when hormones are involved, it’s more like someone threw gasoline on the whole thing.

So, what do you do when life is hard and hormones rage? How do you control your response when you feel so out of control? Will taking a deep breath solve it all?

The best defense to overflowing or out of control emotions is to create an offensive strategy for your heart. It’s like putting tools in the tool chest of your mind and being prepared to use them before you lose it.

I LOVE my kids like crazy, so I devised an acronym that helps me filter my emotions through the way I feel about them.

L.O.V.E.

L: Linger with the LORD. Begin your day by spending time with Jesus, in the Word and in prayer. Seek your Father’s face before you come face to face with the busyness of your day. Make memorizing Scripture a priority. Look for ways to intentionally live out the Word and pray like crazy. Linger with the LORD.

O: Orchestrate the outcome. Think about the consequences of your response. Consider what you want to happen and then respond in a way that will orchestrate the outcome you are hoping for. How can you respond in a way that will be best for those around you? How can you filter your reaction through the lens of love? Don’t just think before you speak, act or react so that you won’t hurt those you love most.

V: Determine to use verbiage with valor. Your words matter. Be careful not to be vicious, malicious, or create victims with your words. Speak life-not death to those around you…especially to your precious children. Be a woman who is gracious no matter how hard life is. Determine to use verbiage with valor.

E: Edify, educate, endure. When life is hard and you feel like you’re about to erupt, you can change course and use it as a teachable moment. To build up your children, to teach them something important and demonstrate how to handle life under pressure. You are their most important example and they look to you to be built up, to learn and to know what it looks like to handle life well. Edify, educate and endure.

Life is hard and hormones rage. And sometimes being a mom is the most overwhelming job on the planet. We’ve all been there. It’s inevitable. But when you pause to filter your response through LOVE, your children will learn how to handle life well instead of letting life handle them. And they will know you love them regardless of how tough life can be.

What has you feeling overwhelmed today? How could filtering your response through L.O.V.E. make a difference in your life and your children’s lives?

 

 

Stephanie Shott is the founder of The M.O.M. Initiative, a missional mentoring ministry devoted to taking Titus 2 to the streets. She is also an author, popular speaker and ministry leader who is committed to helping women live full, fearless and faithful lives