All of us are faced with a certain amount of worry and stress in life. ALL OF US. We know this, but what we can do about it? We don’t need to hear more about the “bad” news. We want the “good” news of what to do about worry and stress! How to handle it. How to keep it from getting us down.

We can attack worry and stress from a human perspective or from the spiritual perspective.
The human perspective, which can help, says: get some exercise, get enough sleep, listen to good music that calms (not creates confusion and chaos), stay away from negative and nasty people (they drag you down even more), and learn to laugh (don’t sweat the small stuff – laugh at it.)The spiritual perspective says that we must look to the Lord in order to overcome worry and stress.

2 Timothy 4:5 (NLT), says “You should keep a clear mind in every situation.”  Keep a clear mind.  When you’re stressed you don’t think clearly."

Philippians 4:6, (HCSB), says, "Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

Stress is not something caused on the outside.  It’s something that’s caused inside you.  When we get under stress we blame our circumstances.  They are not the cause of your stress.  No, no!  Stress is the response.  Stress is in your mind.  It’s how you react to circumstances.  You could put two people in the exact same circumstances and one will be stressed out and the other is not.  Why?  It’s the way you think about it.  If I told you a nuclear warhead was coming and going to hit your home in five minutes, you would be stressed.  Whether it was true or not, if you thought it, you would be stressed.  Stress is a combination of emotions.  Worry, guilt, fear, bitterness, anger, tension, anxiety – all these things put together based on a way of thinking.  That’s why the Bible says if you want to deal with stress, you’ve got to change the way you think.

You’re too blessed to be stressed!