Have you found yourself feeling overwhelmed by all the issues of life? Many of us work jobs, have a house to maintain and church work to do. Each one of these areas put demands on us and if we are not careful the these demands turn to stress. And what results from carrying around all this pressure or stress is we find ourselves really not enjoying life at all. Jesus said that He came that we would have life and "have it to the full" (John 10:10 NIV). This is where I found myself just a few years ago. I was living a STRESSED OUT life and the only abundance experienced was an abundance of problems in every area of my life. But I am here to tell you that God is my Victor - hold on tight to Him and He will deliver you!!! While looking through my prayer journal from that time, I found where the Lord told me - you have all this out of balance. What I came to realize was - I was not taking care of me.
I have heard it said that there are two types of stress - the good and the bad. There are times in our lives when we have increased stress as when moving to a new home or getting ready for an event. An example of "good stress" occurs when the activity is over, we let it go and think little about it later. Bad stress occurs when we can not let go of the activity and our mind continues to think or worry about it over and over again. Many times it is how we are allowing ourselves to handle the situation that is causing us stress.
According to Don Colbert, M.D. on pages 13-17 his book Stress Less, there are "four basic truths about stress". "Principle #1: Not all stress is bad". He says the right portion of stress in our life such as a happy event is a blessing and keeps us going. So, we need some stress in our lives. But many of us are living with an overabundance of such blessings. "Principle #2: Too much stress is bad". Too much stress can open us up to developing health problems such as heart disease, skin problems, digestive issues, decreased immune system, "chronic fatigue" and "autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis". Other more chronic illnesses can also be a result of too much stress such as "osteoporosis", "memory loss" "emotional problems" and much more. "Principle #3: What you perceive to be stressful to you...is". Each person looks at life and its stresses differently. What stresses me out might not affect you at all. "Principle #4: You can choose to control much of the stress level in your life". First get to know all you can about what causes you stress. Then decide what you are going to do about it. Use the steps from the last blog and develop a plan.
Here are a few techniques to use to help reduce stress:
1. Walk, PrayerWalk or exercise - this releases endorphins or "happy hormones".
2. Watch nature. (Matthew 6:26)
3. Breathing exercises - breathe in life and breathe out the stress - give it to God.
4. Read and meditate on the Word and God"s love. (Psalm 48:9)
5. Read a book, listen to music or visualize yourself at your favorite vacation spot.
6. Place all your cares of this world in God's hands and leave them there.
7. Control the stresses of life when you can by not making too many life changes at once.
8. Lighten up - laugh. Watch an old "I Love Lucy" show.
9. Ask for forgiveness for not taking care of yourself. And by the way - forgive yourself too.
10. It is ok to say "no".
I will leave you with my favorite saying by Charles Swindoll:
ATTITUDE
by
Charles Swindoll
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”
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