Stress is real, especially in todays world. Stress when felt in your body might manifest in headaches, muscle tension, chronic fatigue and more. It effects your mind and emotional health. Our bodies keep score of stress and can be seen through outbursts, negative behaviors and so on.
"Social anxiety" is hacking into our everyday lives. Overwhelming us with daily reports of doom and gloom and heaping on us distracting stress and worry. Leaving us with little or no control over any outcome of all the situations in our lives. Bottom line - it is becoming a public health crisis!!
Everywhere we turn we face a stressed out work force and see many struggling with burn out! It seems to be the age of anxiety! The air is filled with uncertainty, stress and anxiety is causing a distraction. This has been a slow onset crisis, its ambiguity in its development has caught us off guard! One can not reason that this has been the plan all along...to make us helpless with the feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance or feelings of negativity and cynicism.
Thus the prescription for stress!
Again remember stress reacts and faith responds!
We must leave this Hall of Mirrors and merry go round an be the LIGHT to this stress filled world!
Stress is searching to be our new master!
No one can serve two masters.
Stress brings with it unfruitful works of darkness, take no part in it and instead expose them!
Stress makes you wonder why. While faith makes you live in wonder.
The wonder of surprise and the unfamiliar.
STRESS - WHYS
Why did this happen? Which leads to doubt
FAITH - WONDERS
Marvel at His faithfulness and looks for the miracle! Which brings to your heart the bravery to trust God!
Stress is like an all you can eat buffet. It allows you to eat all you can of what it serves. Faith serves us a more sophisticated meal. Faiths menu is assurance of things hoped for as it says in Hebrews 11. An appetizer of 'if you believe, all things are possible' Matthew 17:20
STRESS - EMPTIES
Stress completely empties and drains us. Its main goal is to leave us uninhabited.
FAITH - FILLS
Faith fills us with an abiding forced of God's presence and his ever abiding love. Confess that Jesus is the Son of God...
STRESS - TAKES AWAY
Stress leaves us empty an empty container and aims to discharge our batteries of life.
FAITH - KEEPS CLOSE
Faith continually loads us up, fills our belief system!
Stresses in our lives make us just plain unhappy and with out purpose. Your mind races, thoughts are out of control and stress gives us an undifferentiated reality.
Faith fills us with appreciation. Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled aspiration is a tree of life. Faith shares the roots of the Tree of life! Stress shares roots with the double minded man who is unstable in all his ways. Stress loves a double minded man and it thrives on conflict. Faith helps us profit from our troubles. James 1 tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials and testing of our faith. Faith provides patience and in turn patience fruit will help us mature!
STRESS - DEMANDS
It insists we give it our full attention. It acts with authority and bosses us around.
FAITH - SUSTAINS
Faith sustains us with its unwavering confidence of God in our life and His faithfulness. It wears the clothes of rest and allows us to stay standing.
Faiths fruit is wisdom and if we lack wisdom we can just ask God who gives freely and liberally! Stress hungers for this fruit. It hungers to destroy our seeds of this fruit, thus dismantling the tree of life's fruit in our lives!
STRESS - SIDE TRACKS
Stress side tracks us. It shows up in the smallest of situations to the overwhelming, in your face problems.
Stress reacts while faith responds!
FAITH - ON TRACK
Faith keeps us on track and keeps your heart steady.
STRESS - OVERWHELMS
Stress loves options...more the merrier, it enjoys choice overload because it is aware of the overwhelming task of having to face many options causing frustration.
FAITH - DECISIVE
Faith keeps us on track. Faith is yes or no; you choose your fruit. Either make the tree and its fruit good or make it bad.
When squeezed what is inside will come out!
Stress is ambiguous, while faith is a sure and clear way...A straight path
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Stress reveals our coping skills. It creates our coping skills with bad habits disguised as a good coping skill. It shows us how we deal with difficulties, problems, struggles and trauma. Do we face it or do we run and hide?
Faith in turn reveals our souls. In 3 John 2 it says may you prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. A healthy soul knows how to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.
Stress zeros in on our souls while faith teaches us how to be sober minded. Stress unhinges our souls, vexes us with what seems to be a dead end kind of life. Faith provides a way of escape, that we may be able to endure!
