Posted: Nov 12, 07 11:25pm
Mar 4:18-19 "The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. (MSG)
One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. Money and work continue as the leading causes of stress. Such is society and the results of an ever increasing and an upwardly mobile generation.
Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging and can lead to panic attacks or a panic disorder. Some pass through stress with only a memory of how difficult life was for that period of time. Others lapse into a world turned upside down. There is no predictor of who walks away from stress, harried but a little wiser, or off the charts and in a whole new world.
Things that we can do from a secular point to lessen stress is exercise, proper diet, time management, adequate rest, and relaxing hobbies. The greatest thing we can do, and often the last we think to do, is to turn to a Savior that was so intimate with stress that sweating of blood occurred in Him before His arrest and crucifixion. He did the only thing that He could do. He prayed to God the Father for strength. And because He asked He received.
It is so beneficial to turn to the One who is familiar with you, with your trials and your welfare in mind. Our Savior does not display a calloused attitude toward us as others do when we try to communicate what horrible tension we are under. Don't let stress strangle the comfort and relief that only God can give. Open the Bible, find a passage, and begin to reason it over with God. He is always there waiting to hear from you. Are you ready to hear from Him?
