If we ignore the signs of
stress, we end up with:
·cognitive problems such as lapses in memory and
concentration, worry or poor judgment; ·emotional indications such as moodiness, agitation, isolation and depression;
·physical issues such as aches, pains, bowel issues, chest pain, frequent colds and sexual dysfunction;
·behavioral symptoms such as loss of appetite, sleeplessness, procrastination, addictions and nervous habits.
When I was 40 years old, my
former husband divorced me. I thank God that He used a potentially crippling
event in my life to teach me valuable spiritual lessons that improved every
area of my life. I worked four jobs at one time in order to pay my bills and to
start a savings for those unexpected issues in life that demand payment. After
keeping up this schedule for over a year, I almost killed myself! I got sicker
than I have ever been in my whole life before or since that time. I was
trusting in myself to provide for my needs, rather than to trust God to continue
to meet them.
Past and current
circumstances not only affect our health, but also our emotional, mental, behavioral and
spiritual equilibrium. The unexpected situations in our life expose our deepest
fears. When our workplace, home life or community involvement start developing
into a pressure-packed existence, and the demands on our life prove
unrealistic, this calls for prayer to submit them to the Lord. God
calls us to live a life totally surrendered to Him and led by His Spirit,
rather than one driven by the expectations of people or events in our life.
The opposite of surrender is
control. We try with all of our might to hang on, to fix it, to change it, to
manage it or to try to make it better. Trying to maintain control of life is
impossible, frustrating and ineffective. We attempt, by the sheer power of our
will, to hold everything together. We think we have to handle our problems on
our own. Controlling usually produces the opposite effect of what we want. Our
dependency on anything other than God: addictions, people, places, jobs,
things, animals, etc. - puts us into bondage to them. Only God’s love and
Spirit produce true liberty.
God’s Spirit will lead us
through our day at work, home, community, church and at play as long as we take
the time to seek His will. God wants us to let go of trying to control
everything, and to admit that we are powerless and we need His power in our
life. This is the first step toward healing. God pleads with us to LET GOD BE
GOD in our life. When we surrender to God, He always works out everything, even
the negative things, for our good (Romans 8:28). We cannot change people or all of our circumstances,
but God can.
Surrender is the doorway to
freedom. It is a state of brokenness, of total dependence upon God, of
receiving God’s forgiveness and of having a personal, daily relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to surrender, God calls us to believe that
His power truly can overcome any person or circumstance in our life. God wants
us to completely surrender our will to His and to be vulnerable before Him.
This is called “dying to self”.
This concept does not mean
that we diminish our God given identity, personality, needs or giftedness. It
simply means allowing God to replace our old, carnal, sinful nature with His
holy, compassionate, spiritual nature. We allow God to call the shots and to
direct us according to His will instead of living according to our own goals,
plans and ambitions. Job tells us that if we submit to God and live at peace in
Him, He brings prosperity to us in every area of life (Job
22:21).
Prayer:
Father God, you told
Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.” Then he decided that from then on that he would boast all the more
gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power would grow stronger in him.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, he started to delight in weaknesses, in
insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. He discovered the
secret of the Christian life: When we are weak, then we are strong (2
Corinthians 12: 9-10). Thank You for being our one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Thought for the Day:
If
Jesus is on the throne of our life, and we live in full surrender to Him every
moment of every day, we live and walk in true Serenity.
