This past week, I had to get my car repaired because of an accident. Nothing serious, just time out of my already busy schedule, not to mention the additional $500.00 deductible. Not a good thing when you’re trying to get out of debt. In addition to the accident, a new publisher I signed with informed me she wasn’t going to have time to publish my Christmas book. That meant either self-publish or wait until next year. Since I’ve told so many people about the book, I thought I should get it out. If those two things weren’t enough, my e-mail is acting up.
According to the NHTSA, over 13,000 lives are
lost due to speeding. Slow down, people!
Needless to say, I didn’t have a very enjoyable week.
I felt the stress from a headache I developed to the sciatic nerve pain in my leg. It’s times like these that I should turn to God, but for some reason, I forgot Him. When I realized it, I felt guilty. It didn’t help when I was reminded of Psalm 5:22 which tells us to Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Does this mean if I have stress, I’m not a good Christian?
Of course not.
Moving and job loss are two of the most stressful
events you could go through.
What it really comes down to is that I’m human. And, while not often, stress is part of my life at times. And I’m not alone when it comes to stress. Just look at Jesus who sweated blood because He didn’t want to be put to death on the cross. How can I expect to be any different, though my problems are far less severe?
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The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. -William James, philosopher
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We will have stress until the day we walk into Jesus’ arms. Until then, we should turn to God who can lessen our burden if we ask.
I’m not sure why I allowed the stress to get to me. Except for a couple of things, my daughter drove me anywhere I needed to go. Regarding the Christmas book, there are a couple of people who have agreed to help so I can get it released in November. And supposedly Comcast is working on the e-mail issue.
Next time I have things come at me, I hope others will remind me that it’s natural to have stress and that God is still in charge. It might keep me from letting these situations take away my joy.
How about you? Do you have a tendency to allow events to stress you out? If not, how do you deal with them?
If you or someone you know is in need of prayer this week, please leave a comment. We’d be more than happy to pray for you. And if this post moved you in some way, please feel free to share it.
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