Stressed Out

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

Stress is a huge issue in our lives. In fact, it is associated with many different health problems. It can even take us to an early grave if it isn’t managed properly.

Yet, we are surrounded by things that stress us out. Don’t believe me? Just turn on any of the news channels. Nearly everything they talk about is some gigantic issue or another. The world ain’t pretty, my friends. Our jobs stress us out. Our families stress us out. Our friends stress us out. Our work stresses us out. Our school stresses us out. And on and on and on it goes. We are bombarded with stress, it seems, at every turn.

One of the major things people come to speak with me about (and a lot of pastors, I’m sure) is how to manage a stressful situation that they are facing. Sometimes they’re seeking advice on how to break an addiction that they are using to cope with stress. However, now the addiction consumes them and has only added to their stress levels. In my counsel, this is one of the verses I share to make sense of how to deal with stress from a biblical perspective.

Yes, I understand that some of you reading this right now just rolled your eyes at the simplicity of this verse. “I’ve heard it a thousand times,” perhaps is what you’re thinking. But, here’s the problem – we’ve heard it, but we haven’t applied it. We only bring Him one thing at a time as our issues arise.

Note that the verse says “Give ALL your worries and cares to God.” In a nutshell, this is saying that we need to turn over every little piece of our lives to God. All of it, not just when we run into trouble. We may think our family life is great at the moment, so we don’t pray about that. We only pray about our work life because it is generating stress at the moment. However, why should we stop praying about our family life just because things are going well? We must turn everything over to Him. As we do, our stress levels lessen as peace grows.

Today, as you pray, think about the different areas of your life: public, personal, family, friends, work, school, relationships, finances, career, church, etc. Pray for every area of your existence, and claim the promise that God has for you. Give Him your everything, just as He has given you His everything. Don’t hold back.