When you feel stressed (1)

When we’re stressed, the surge of negative emotions we feel can be overwhelming. It’s easy to make wrong decisions, submit to wrong impulses, move in the wrong direction, and explode at the wrong people when we feel like that. If stress and anxiety are overwhelming us, it’s important that we take care of ourselves by asking a doctor or counsellor for help.

But alongside that, the psalmist teaches us one of the best ways to help us get those stressful feelings under control: ‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.’ We need to unburden our souls to God. It’s no coincidence that many of the psalms start with David crying out to God for help and end with him rejoicing because he vented his frustrations to the right person – God!

Life isn’t only about what happens to us; it’s also about how we respond. We’ll never be totally free from angst, but we can find comfort by following this advice from Paul: ‘All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus…Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so…we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times…but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort – we get a full measure of that, too’ (2 Corinthians 1:3-5 MSG).

To quote a well-known pastor: ‘The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry.’

Isa 53:1-12; Acts 8:26-40