Stress!

Isn’t stress a strange thing? It’s a lot like air…you know it’s there, but you can’t see it. You feel it at times…sometimes like a fierce wind that can blow you off of your feet and sometimes just a small breeze in your life.

Mark and I have found ourselves pretty stressed out lately! Ironically not because of anything negative, but really because of all of the “good problems” in our world. Staff transitions, strong and consistent growth, leading change, preparing so many new members for different ministries…processes, programs, and people take a significant amount of time and emotional weight.

Stress manifests itself into so many different areas. It’s not healthy to live constantly under pressure, but just like air, until it gets really violent, you don’t even really pay attention to it. Sometimes the stress buildup in all of our lives comes to a breaking point that is sudden and unexpected.

I find myself having to stop and give it all back to God before that happens. It’s so easy to carry the weight…literally on our own shoulders…but it’s not ours to carry. Sometimes the test that we are called to pass is not to see how much weight we can carry, but rather to see if we will be wise enough not to carry it at all. God wants to teach us, not to be superhuman, but to be dependent…on HIM. And that applies to both the difficult problems and the “good” ones.

I know that Mark and I are not the only stressed people in the world, so my challenge to you is to go on this journey of letting go of the weight and walking in the freedom of Christ. We still need to do the work, but imagine a life without the overwhelming emotional energy that worry, fear, and stress take out of you? All of a sudden we can do so much more than when we were shackled by a weight that we were never asked to carry.

Goodbye, stress! Hello to enjoying the tasks that God has given for us to accomplish!