STRESS

How can I cope with stressful situations in life?

God's Responses:
Rescue me from my enemies, O God. Protect me from those who have come to destroy me... But as for me, i will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.
Psalm 59:1; 59:16

Our Takeaway:
Throughout this psalm, David describes in grim detail the behavior of his enemies. He conveys his own feelings of dread with the desperation and despair that he sees in the lives of those who want to harm him. What a delight, then, in these final verses, to read about God's role in David's life as a refuge, a place of safety, and a source of unfailing love. David had learned to turn negative circumstances into reminders of God's faithful presence.

What stresses in your life might be transformed today if you were to make them a starting point for praising God?

God's Promise:
Let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the flood waters of judgement. For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.
Psalm 32:6-7

Big T's Thought To Ponder:
I can honestly say that just a couple years ago, prior to knowing Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, my Provider, my Sustainer, my Redeemer, my Strength, my Peace, my Joy, my Safe Refuge, my EVERYTHING and the Supplier of all things... I felt like the most stressed out guy to walk the face of this planet!

The amount of stress and pain from running Ground Zero Electrostatics, investing 85-90 hours a week, managing the unstable relationships that demanded my time and the feeling that I had to delivery a hundred percent 100% of the time to a hundred percent of the people in my life was insurmountable and completely overwhelming. (this would not be the last time I would feel overwhelmed in my life).

I was under pressure to delivery tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars daily in order to keep this company operational and profitable - i was expected to hit one out of the park every time at bat, without fail -I did it for (9) years, it was complete madness.

This stress was brought on by having an overwhelming feeling that I had to perform for the acceptance of ALL the people in my life and a uncontrollable desire to be independently successful, wealthy and admired by all. What a mess I was!

But wait a minute, isn't all this what the world has taught us and shown us to be true success, success that will bring us peace, joy and everlasting happiness? Isn't this living the "American Dream"? Your know the old saying, "The one with the most toys wins" - right? This couldn't be further from the Truth of God!

The stress caused by: being consumed by independent success, the love of money, the desire to acquire and the false belief system of performance based relationships brought on and set the stage for the "release valves" required to overcome all the stress in my life. The release valves were scary - the alcohol, drugs, gambling, and anything else the would allow me turn off the stress for a while. "For a while"? Sounds pretty temporary, it was... It was an all consuming vicious process of expecting something to change but doing the same thing over and over again.

The cure for stress is simple - GOD.

Believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your might".
Deuteronomy 6:5

We don't have to work independently of God, He says to take His Yoke, for it is easy and His load is light.
Matthew 11:29-30

We don't have to worry or stress when we believe and trust in Christ and leave all the consequence to Him, He is our Creator, our Provider and He know exactly what we all need - We have no worries when we are in Christ!
Matthew 6:25-34

Coming to know Christ on March 13, 2008 and learning these simple truths of His living Word have changed my life and removed the word stress from my vocabulary. Let go and let God control you life completely and abundantly - His Way for us is truly overwhelming...
John 10:10