Everyone experiences stress sometimes, and Christians are not immune to it. Therefore we all want something upbeat to cheer us up and keep us going when we’re down. Unfortunately, sometimes we get it all wrong. The choice is always yours. You can choose to stay in a lousy mood and indulge in alcohol and other addictions or take ownership of your life by encouraging yourself and getting the best help you need.
Stress strikes us when we’re tired, unwell, or away from our secure and familiar surroundings. We get stressed when we take on too many obligations, through times of sadness and tragedy, or when our circumstances spiral out of control. We feel frightened and uncomfortable when unable to me our basic needs.
True Christians believe that God is sovereign and in charge of our life. We believe He has provided us with all we need to live. But when stress controls our lives, we lose our ability to believe in God somewhere along the line.
The reason is the Christian life is spiritual warfare. We are embattled inside and outside; hence, we are vulnerable to stress.
The Wrong Way
Our reactions to stress are not similar; it all depends on past experiences. It might be as simple and subtle as a gradual drift away from God or as incapacitating as a full-fledged panic attack. Whatever the case, stress depletes us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Therefore, we must prepare a strategy to tackle it.
Before considering the healthy method of handling stress, let’s identify the wrong approach. According to Harvard Health Publishing on Watch out for unhealthy responses to stress, the following habits are wrong approaches to stress:
- Spending endless hours on TV
- Isolating from friends or partners or, conversely, jumping into a frantic social life to avoid facing problems
- Overeating or weight gain
- Undereating or weight loss
- Oversleeping
- Indulging in alcohol
- Having emotional or physically aggressive outbursts toward others
- Smoking or smoking excessively
- Taking medication or over-the-counter medications that offer comforts, such as sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, or anti-anxiety medications
- Using illegal or dangerous drugs
The above-listed methods are harmful to our health and can be very destructive if we do not stop.
The Healthy and Godly Way
Try These Natural Stress-Relieving Techniques
1. Identify The Issue
The first way to manage your stress is to find out the cause, then admitting you have a problem is the quickest approach to a remedy. But, unfortunately, it’s not always easy to acknowledge you have a problem and can’t seem to manage your own life.
Recognizing the issue requires an honest self-evaluation and humble acknowledgment is the authentic way to the solution. We may begin to seek assistance after we have dealt honestly with our situation.
2. Take A Break And Seek Assistance.
Stop being so hard on yourself. Here’s a shocker: you are not a “Superhuman.” You live in a fallen world where difficulties are unavoidable. The bottom line is that we must seek God’s and people’s assistance. You need God because He is more than willing to help you, and you need people because He will use them to help you.
Now that you’ve recognized the issue, you may take actions to care for yourself and get the necessary assistance. Take time to rejuvenate your physical body if you aren’t receiving adequate rest. Eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and begin to understand how to manage your job, life, and family time.
You may need the assistance of friends who have “been there” and understand what you are going through.
If you’re unwell or dealing with a loss or disaster, you may need to take a break from your usual obligations. Allow yourself enough time and space to recover.
Furthermore, there might be an underlying hormonal, pharmacological, or physiological cause for your stress. Therefore, you may need to contact a doctor to find the reasons and treatments for your anxiety. These are all practical methods for dealing with stress in our daily lives. But don’t overlook the spiritual aspect of the situation.
3. Look Up To God In Prayer
God is the ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). When you’re overwhelmed with worry, stress, and loss, you need to turn to God more than anyone or thing. He is your constant source of help in times of need. The Bible recommends bringing everything before God in prayer.
Epistle to the Philippians gives us the promising assurance that when we pray, our thoughts will be guarded by an incomprehensible peace:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, NIV).
God promises to give us peace that we cannot comprehend. He also assures us to make beauty out of ashes; God wants us to believe that hope can come from loss and joy can come from times of brokenness and suffering. (See Isaiah 61:1-4).
4. Study and Meditate On God’s Word
In reality, there is no problem or question that God has not proffered a solution to in His word. In other words, the solution you need is in the Bible. He makes wonderful promises throughout the Bible. Worry, doubt, anxiety, and tension may be relieved by reading and meditating on these words of assurance.
5. Spend Time Thanking And Praising God
A friend once said, “It’s basically hard for me to be anxious and worship God simultaneously. So I simply start praising when I’m stressed, and the tension disappears.”
Praising and worshiping God will distract us from ourselves and our problems and refocus our attention on God. When we begin to sing and adore God, our troubles look minor compared to God’s vastness. Music also has a calming effect on the soul. So cultivate the habit of praising God the next time you’re anxious and see if your tension doesn’t start to lift. In fact, praising and worshiping God should be a lifestyle of every child of God.
Life may be complex and confusing, and we are much too fragile as humans to avoid the inevitable struggles with stress. However, for Christians, stress may be beneficial. It might be the first sign that we have ceased relying on God for daily strength and supply.
Therefore, let stress be a reminder that our lives have strayed from God, a caution that we must return to the rock of our salvation. Peace.
Thanks for reading and God bless you.
