Hi, my name is Jeannie and I'm a stressaholic. Hi, Jeannie.
You'd think that with all the things I've dealt with in my time on this planet, I'd get better at dealing with stress. Stress does nothing but bad things to you. I know this. My mother was a nurse. I went to nursing school, for a while anyway. I have seen the results of stress first hand. No matter, I do it anyway and I do it well. My dealing with stress comes and goes. Sometimes, I'm great with it. Sometimes, not so much. Lately, it's been not so much. When I say lately, I mean like the last two weeks.
As much as I like spontaneity, I'm quite the creature of habit. Sometimes when a monkey wrench gets tossed into my plans, I totally freak out. Not always, but sometimes. When I lost my job last year, I totally didn't stress. I knew that God would provide. I had been asking for Him to fix the relationship with me and my supervisor at the time. Well, He fixed it. I no longer worked there. However, He got me a job that I love with people I really enjoy working with. I had several offers. The one I took wasn't the one that paid the most, or had the most prestige, it was the one God wanted me to take. I spoke with my pastor at length about my options. Somehow I knew, the job I took was the one I was ultimately supposed to have. Looking back on things, I know it was the right decision and other things in my life wouldn't have come to where they are now if I hadn't. When I stress, I must remind myself to read Matthew 6. Therein lies the cure to anxiety.
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'
For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus was right. He was totally ahead of His time. Completely, revolutionary in His teachings. Telling us that we can be completely free by becoming a servant to God.
Free. Happy. Isn't that what we all want really? You can overlook many things if you're happy. Having $6.93 in the bank until you get paid again doesn't seem so bad. Not knowing when you'll get paid again doesn't seem so bad. You know that everything is going to be ok because it will be ok. You know that life is unrolling just as it should. Stressing isn't going to put money in the bank, clothes on your back, food on the table or hours on your life. God will provide what we need. He knows better than we do on what we need. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of this. God puts those people in our lives too. Thanks, Jody.
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