“And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”” Matthew 28: 23-24  

Stress has a way of finding us when we least expect it.

Smooth sailing on the open sea of life lands you in the middle of a storm, as the ‘weather’ changes in a matter of minutes. When you are floating along, it’s good to remember, as the storm approaches, (while you still have time) to get the life boat ready, tighten up your life vest, put your important items in your floating containers, and get fit for the task at hand because, you can count on it: the boat is about to rock, and you’re about to get soaked. After the turbulence settles and blue skies appear, you will be glad you were prepared.

Chronic illness is one storm that many encounter along the sea of life. It hits hard, and sometimes it comes with no warning. Those who embrace the storm prepared, may not ever see it subside totally, but they can ride the storm well in God’s life boat. Securely fastened in the life vest of His love, Jesus Christ, they will not drown, but they will certainly get wet. Waves will crash around them, but as they take refuge in His love, they will feel His comfort and will not be swept under the currents of anxiety and fear.

Isaiah 41:10 says: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

In the storms that relationships can sometimes bring, your ocean may be full of the salty tears that you’ve cried over those you love. With Christ wrapped around our body tight, we can envision the rainbow after the storm and it helps us to know that “this too shall pass”.

It is in these storms that we see the importance of change within ourselves vs. trying to change other people. With help, we can learn how to live in these storms without being destroyed by them. All the thunder and lightning that happens when a relationship is broken is scary and makes us feel vulnerable, but with our seat in the lifeboat, Jesus will show us how to swim if we get knocked off our feet and into the water. His Word promises that “He will never leave us or forsake us.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Another storm of change is the aging process.

If we fail to accept this, and begin to go with the boat into dark waters, we will be harmed as we fall overboard. Plastic surgery, a younger spouse, a new home or a new job won’t stop the aging process. Even if we iron out all the wrinkles with plenty of Botox, our days are still numbered and death will eventually knock on our door.

I don’t know about you, but I want to live with joy in my heart, and a smile on my face. I don’t want to be remembered for leaving a trail of heartache behind me from the pain I brought on my family because I couldn’t accept that I was getting older. The time you have left should be full of the eternal things of Christ that give deep fulfillment, not temporary pleasure. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 

As the storms of change rage on in your life, make it count for Christ. Bring some others with you into the lifeboat. Give them the Life Vest and together, embrace the Father.

{This post is a contribution from Stephanie Wilkins for Recharge Wednesday}

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Have you ever gone to work only to find out that people have been laid off, or your company is being “reorganized”? Maybe you’ve experienced an unexpected death in the family, or a diagnosis of cancer after a routine visit to the Dr.

This type of stress takes us by surprise and sometimes leaves us feeling out of control.  Our bodies and minds tell us to instantly respond to the stress.  Our emotions run high, and our reactions usually differ from a normal stress response.  This is because we were “surprised” and not prepared for the stress coming our way.  It’s just like a fly ball hit into the stands when you weren’t looking out for it; Your head is turned and then ……bam!!

In 1 Kings 19, we find the story of Elijah and Queen Jezebel.  Elijah is surprised when Queen Jezebel threatens to kill him after he defeated the prophets of Baal.  This terrible surprise news scared him.  Instead of going to the Lord, who initially helped him defeat the prophets, Elijah’s stress response was to run and hide in a different city.   When he got there, he was so afraid that he actually prayed death to himself to avoid being murdered by this wicked Queen.

His reaction is not contrary to what many of us have done when we’ve felt our world falling down on us.  In a surprise situation of great magnitude, it’s easy to give in to fear, anger, despair, and sadness and look only at the situation instead of immediately looking to God who is above all situations.

In verse  5, we see that God sent an angel to Elijah.  The angel provided food, drink and much needed sleep.  In other words, God comforted Elijah in his time of need.  He settled his mind and gave him nourishment so that He could receive instruction.  This is what God will do for all of us during our times of “surprise stress”.  He understands us because he created us.  He knows our fears before we even have to face them and will provide rest, nourishment, and comfort in our time of need.

As our story continues, Elijah finds himself on a long journey where he ends up on the “mountain of God”.   While there, God sent a great wind, earthquake, and a fire for Elijah to experience and then it says that God spoke to him in a still small voice.  We also experience circumstantial winds, earthquakes and fire that is brought down upon us by almighty God to get us ready to hear His still, small voice that wants to speak to our heart.

I’m sure that after the wind and earthquake, Elijah saw how insignificant a threat of death really was in the face of Jehovah God who could open up the earth and swallow him in a minute!  And then… when he felt the heat of fire on his face, He knew who really held the power of heaven and hell in His hands.  It surely wasn’t Jezebel.  He realized that he had no need to fear her.  His only healthy fear now was the fear of the Lord Jesus Christ and Elijah’s trust for protection was now completely in the one who created the wind, earth, and fire!

It’s interesting that after those elements of nature, he was istructed to go back the way he came.  Ouch!!!  Now he had to  put his faith into action and face his fear which exposed him to danger again.

1 Kings 19:15  says, “Then the Lord told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.¹⁶ Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi^[b] to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet.¹⁷ Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha! ¹⁸ Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!” 

When Elijah obeyed,  the victory soon thereafter went to the Lord.  Jezebel was eventually destroyed.  Elijah went on to live, see much success, mentored his successor,  and was rewarded ultimately by the greatest surprise of his life…..not having to face death.  Instead, he was taken to heaven by God riding “first class” in a chariot of fire!

WOW!!!! God is truly amazing and that, my friends, should be no surprise to us at all!!

Stephanie is leading a workshop on stress at our upcoming conference SHE SOARS 2017. Find more info about it on our conference page: SHE SOARS 2017

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What’s your fear factor?

Mine is the fear of the unknown in regards to my children’s future.  I have a friend who is very afraid of spiders, and another who is afraid of heights.  I also know someone who is afraid of being alone.

Fear is an emotion.  When it is in balance with our mind, body, and spirit, it is good and can be used in a healthy way to protect us from danger.

When it is out of balance, however, it can be paralyzing.

When the emotion of fear overwhelms us as individuals, it usually stems from not being able to control a certain aspect of our life, and/or fear of the unknown.

So, as Christians, how do we put fear in its’ place and balance this emotion so that we do not have to live in bondage to it?   God’s Word gives us some great answers!

Recognize daily that God is large in comparison to our fears:

Ephesians 3:14-21 – for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Trust God and walk in courage through fear:

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and He will direct your path.

Read the Story of Esther in the Bible:

Esther was a common woman who was obedient to God and walked in courage through her fears.  Because of this she saved her people.

Remember to claim the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in you:

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Read Psalms 91 out loud to yourself daily (here is portion of it):

This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
    he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
    and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
    He will shelter you with his wings.
    His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
    nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
 Though a thousand fall at your side,
    though ten thousand are dying around you,
    these evils will not touch you.

(verses 2-7)

Acknowledge daily that God is in control. Daily bring your needs to Him and lay your burdens down at His feet to find peace and rest:

Philippians 4:6-8 – Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.   And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Finally, practice, practice, practice!!!

Philippians 4:9 –  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

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As I sit here today, I am experiencing adversity in a large way and needing the arms of Jesus to get me through.

I’ve tried in my own power to fix the situation at hand many times over and it’s just not working out the way that I thought that it would or should!  So, from my heart, God is sharing truth that I will now share with you and hopefully it will comfort us all and teach us His infinite wisdom that will take us through our adversity to the other side one day, where peace will prevail and panic will cease.

God tells me in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; Never will I  forsake you.”

That’s a great promise!   Never is without end!!!  Do I trust His words?  I claim as a Christian that I  believe the Word of God is truth.  Why then, when things happen, am I and so many others like me afraid and why do we resort to our own means of solving issues as if He doesn’t exist at all?

It’s called “living in the flesh” and not “walking in the Spirit”. It’s a battle we face on a daily basis, just as Paul described in Romans 7.

As we try unsuccessfully to control situations and people without consulting God, we leave them untouched by God’s hand and, most of the time,  worse than they were before we became involved. Through our humanity and our good intentions, we can prolong lessons God is trying to teach us and other people.  By stepping into God’s plan for our life or another person’s life without the Spirit guiding us, we swerve things off course, and do a disservice to the kingdom of God.

Even if we are trying to alleviate the pain others may face, it’s wrong to step in uninvited by the Savior!

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Solomon is a great example.  1 Chronicles 28:9 says, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”

We see in the life of Solomon that His own wisdom apart from God was destructive, but when he utilized God’s wisdom and followed in His truth, he was richly blessed.  We are blessed that, unlike Solomon, we have the grace of Jesus, so we do not live under the penalty of our sin – but that is no excuse for continual sin in our lives.

After we recognize the wrong of our right, what should we do?

Ask for forgiveness.  The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:9 –  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Next, we need to remember the old saying: “without pain there is no gain.”  Trials come for a reason, and it is through the pain that we and other people we love learn hard lessons and grow in the faith.

God never promised an easy road.  He promised comfort, and strength to face our adversities.  He promised wisdom, guidance and an eternity with Him one day – in a much better place.

Through these trials, our hope is in His truth:

Psalm 34:19 says, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”

Romans 8:28 says, ” And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  All things means the good and the bad, the pleasant and not so pleasant!

Our lives, out of love for our Savior, should be an outpouring of the truth that is within us because of the Spirit that indwells us.  It’s a hard road in our flesh, but through the Spirit that indwells us, it’s not impossible.

I am encouraged today by the Lord and His truth that He has revealed to me.  And I trust you are too!  Let’s stand strong together in our faith and cry out to our Father who wants to comfort our hearts, guide our steps, and grow our hearts toward Him.

 Phillipians 4:6-7 (NLT) “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

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“YOU DID WHAT?  You really took the internet out of your home?  How can you function?  How do you get your work done?  Why?”

While researching for this article, I added up my screen time, including the TV, excluded the time that I generally have to spend on the computer for work,  and realized that I would gain about eight hours of time back for one week!  That’s a lot of time!!  With that time, I determined that I would develop a list of creative, tanglible ways to spend my time each week.

What I realized I could do with that time was amazing!  I could let go of my outside house help and begin cleaning my home myself,  saving me lots of money btw!  I found that I could garden a little more every week, which I love… and, I found that I would have time to cook a lot more.  Everything on my list used different parts of my brain as well as my body.  This inspired me as well because it’s  a proven fact that movement increases brain function!  Lord knows, I need more of that!!!

After making my list, I was pretty happy, but then I started thinking deeply about the things I wrote down.  They were all great things, but the list I made was pretty selfish.   As well, and most importantly, the list was not of eternal value for the Lord.    So, back to the drawing board!  A new list was drawn:

1.  Enjoy God’s creation outdoors and worship him while doing so through praise, adoration and prayer.

2.  Spend more time in Bible study with my 18 year old daughter, who will be leaving for college in a few months!

3.  Volunteer with my son, who has a side business fixing computers for a Christian Refugee Ministry, who needs computers installed in order to teach the refugees computer skills for job placement. That would also allow me time to show them the love of Christ!  Also, by working with my son, I am showing him how important it is to give back to society in an eternal way!

Okay, this was better.  I was on a roll!

As I contemplated other ways to use my time wisely and build the kingdom of Christ, I thought about many hobbies outside of home where you could join with other people within the community and spread the Love of Jesus.  This is what I came up with:

4.  Start an outdoor club and go on hiking and biking excursions in the community with new friends.

5.  Begin a community Bible study in my own neighborhood!

6.  Host monthly dinners in my home for people who are new to Atlanta.

Will I do all these things? I don’t know, but the creative juices were flowing, and I was amazed at how the simple act of turning off the computer or putting down the phone could bring many people to Christ if my mission and purpose was to share the love of Christ with all those who participate with me in these endeavors.  This technology trade off could be incredible!  I’m excited and in prayer about my list.

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 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)

Discrimination, which is a form of rejection, includes the emotions of loneliness, unacceptance, unforgiveness, fear, anger, and guilt. These emotions, left unchecked, can manifest into both mental and physical health issues for those who experience them, as documented in a recent APA study called Stress In America – The Impact of Discrimination.

The latest bandaid that Americans have come up with to fight discrimination is diversity management.  Political in nature, diversity management promotes racial and behavioral unity through communication and understanding of feelings, terminology, promotion of policy to enable minority advancement, and education/exercises in tolerance to accept certain behaviors as normal. Diversity management is seen in many corporations, public education institutions, and now we are even seeing it in churches and Christian education institutions.

While this sounds wonderful on the surface, because it does give minorities more opportunity and a voice, it promotes division by concentrating on differences instead of what unifies us as the human race.  Guilt is frequently used as a tool for change, which is very unhealthy.  As well, these programs do not teach the new generations about the power of forgiveness.

As Christians, we are called to live counter to our culture and handle stress of any kind through the truth of the Word of God.  Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  When we do this, our body and our mind are in a state of gratitude to the Father above for releasing us from this stress and this allows us to live in peace and harmony on the inside with everyone, which in turn brings us better mental and physical health.

As ambassadors for Christ living and working in the world among those that have embraced cultural coping mechanisms, God encourages us to love, and minister to those in need. Philippians 2:3-4: Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. This is much different from the acceptance taught in Diversity 101 because sometimes this means having hard conversations with people about their life.  We should love people enough to want their internal healing more than we want their approval or acceptance.

Geneva College states on their web page entitled,  A Christian View of Diversity that “Multicultural diversity, then, is not to be spurned by the Christian community. Rather, Christians and Christian communities have a special obligation to demonstrate the reality of Christ’s culture-transforming love. In obeying the twin mandates of the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission, we will discover more and more of the creational blessedness of multicultural diversity as human beings who are reconciled to God and to each other because of Jesus Christ our Lord.”  I tend to agree.

Christian to Christian, when it comes to stress caused by stereotypical comments, racial slurs, jokes in poor taste, or a complete unawareness of actions due to learned behavior, we are to confront and not cower.  We must go to our brother and/or sister in Christ and use scripture to admonish and teach. 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Likewise, when we hurt someone intentionally or unintentionally with our words and actions, we should feel convicted and humble ourselves at the foot of the cross, apologize, and ask for forgiveness. Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. James 5:16 :Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

If you are experiencing mental or physical health issues that stem from the pain of discrimination/rejection in your life or if you have participated in this sin and feel guilty, God wants to heal your emotional pain!  Remember always that He is the great Physician and the great “I Am”.

1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

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