I recently heard someone say they felt like life was an uphill slosh through molasses. Can you relate? Sometimes it seems like everything is sooooo hard. Everything is a struggle. Nothing goes easy or goes as planned. Everything feels overwhelming! You end up stressed or depressed.
Well, what I’ve discovered is 80-90% of the time when a person has anxiety or depression, they have a sleep problem too. In fact, when I recently asked some of my Stress Busters what topic they wanted to hear more about, sleep topped the list.
Stress and sleep form a cycle: You are stressed so you have a hard time sleeping. The lack of sleep causes you to feel less productive, more irritated and more stressed or depressed. This causes even more sleep problems.
What you may not know is behind the scenes the cycle actually happening in your body is this: elevated cortisol levels from stress cause insomnia, and insomnia and fatigue create stress, which...
I’m going to be brutally honest. I’ve always been discontent with my relationship with God. Even when I was spending a good amount of time in Bible study, prayer, going to church and volunteering, I felt that I was missing something. It wasn’t all I wanted it to be.
There was something deep within me that knew there should be more. I wanted more. I felt like God wanted more. When I say more, I don’t mean He wanted me to do more, pray more, or believe more. I mean He wanted a more intimate relationship like I did. He wanted a more vibrant, interconnected life with me.
I had moments of deep connection during a women’s retreat or even a special time of worship in my own home, but they were like visits from God instead of a life union with Him.
I was stressed by life - financial issues, health issues, work issues, relationship issues. And my relationship with God was...
How many times have you used what you learned in chemistry or algebra in real life since you left school? None? Yeah, me too. Now, how many times have you experienced disappointment or failure in life? A lot? Yeah, me too. It seems to be a part of life that we can’t avoid so it sure would have been handy to have some teaching on that subject.
Instead, most of us have probably learned about disappointment through what they call the school of hard knocks. Yeah, I’m singing It’s a Hard Knock Life from Annie in my head too right now. “'Stead of treated, We get tricked, 'Stead of kisses, We get kicked, It's the hard-knock life, Don't it feel like the wind is always howl'n? Don't it seem like there's never any light! Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in? It's easier than puttin' up a fight.”
One difference between overly stressed people and others is the way they handle the disappointment....
This is for the weary ones. The tired, burdened ones. The ones who are having trouble feeling very thankful right now.
I was having my quiet time with God one day and using a journaling practice that I highly recommend. Quiet down and then ask yourself, “What do you see?” What do you see in your life right now?
For me at the time, I recognized that I saw weight gain, health issues, lack of results in some areas of life, a little bit of boredom and monotony. I kept going with this line of questioning and going deeper. I was “seeing” some hopelessness in these areas. I found myself thinking things like, “It’s too hard, I can’t do it, it doesn’t matter anyways.”
When you get to the root issue instead of the surface issues, you can now deal with it spiritually. The root issue for me in the moment was a lack of hope and the surface issue was the weight gain, health issues and...
Watch the video above or read the blog below.
You have a painting in your mind that is titled, “The Perfect Christmas,” whether you mean to or not. You have preconceived ideas and desires for what would make it perfect or dreamy. If you watch any Hallmark Christmas movie (which I love!) you might think that the perfect Christmas includes a snowball fight, ice skating and building a gingerbread house but the perfect Christmas looks different for each of us.
So, I’ve got two questions for you…
I’m betting that I already know your answers. Of course your perfect Christmas looks peaceful, calm and joy filled and no, it never looks like that.
Let me guess, your normal Christmas looks like you staying up until 2 am trying to assemble...
I don’t believe you can bust through stress without knowing what God’s will is on the matter. You won’t have faith to believe for a light and free life if you don’t see that as being a natural part of God’s Kingdom life - His will. Learning about how things work in God’s Kingdom has been critical to me finding joy and peace.
I’ve had to be intentional about ‘searching and learning’ because the way things work in God’s Kingdom is so counterintuitive to the way things work in the kingdom of the world. My kingdom of the world experiences, mindsets and preconceived ideas don’t apply to the Kingdom of God and if I insist on bringing them with me, I’ll not only be limited but I’ll be robbed of the fullness of life that I could have otherwise had.
Physical healing is one of those areas. In the Kingdom of God, healing and wholeness is natural and to be expected. No...
Even strong Christians feel what you feel. Just because you feel anxious doesn’t mean you are actually weak. It doesn't mean you don't have faith. It means that the enemy has planted a thought that has turned into an emotion that makes you feel weak.
Fear is not the absence of faith but an attack on our faith. If we tolerate fear, it can lead to us putting our faith into the wrong thing. If we quickly deal with the attack of fear, recognize the lie and return to the truth (primarily what Jesus accomplished on the cross and who we are in Him), we are using our faith to overcome the fear.
I find this concept so important because without it we feel shame and condemnation for feeling fear. We feel weak under the attack and more likely to run and hide. Instead we need to recognize the fear as a fiery dart of the enemy and quickly extinguish it in brave, confident, warrior fashion.
Bill Johnson of Bethel Church has a son Brian that...
If I want to live in the covenant blessings of joy, peace and rest, I must come OUT of agreement with lies which imprison me to stress, worry and fear. I must become a lie buster to be a stress buster! I must bust through the lies that don't line up with biblical truths such as "I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."(John 10:10 AMPC) I share these truths with you that God has shown me because I'm passionate about YOU living a life of victory and not a life of stress!
I come OUT of agreement with lies which imprison me
I renounce the lie that I need to accept this issue (sickness, lack, confusion, fear, worry, condemnation, failure) because…
Truth: None of the above are greater than the the power of the cross that set...
You have a magnet inside you. Is it a magnet of fear or faith? A fear magnet draws to you exactly what you fear. The Bible is clear, "What I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me." (Job 3:25) This was the open door / legal right satan had to operate in Job's life.
A faith magnet draws to you what you are believing for. "It shall be done to you according to your faith." (Matthew 9:29)
Fear actually is faith. It's just faith in the wrong thing. God honors and responds to faith in Him and His word. Satan uses your fear as an open door for him to attack. Science has shown us how fear wipes out your immune system. Fear turns off all your healing genes and turns on all your inflammatory genes.
It is very easy to look at the world around us and see only the sickness, death and lack. If that is what you see and focus on, of course you will be afraid! Fear will steal your joy and all of God's blessings. ...
Have you ever had something just come out of nowhere that was so surprising that it sucked the breath right out of you? An unexpected storm of life that came upon you suddenly and threatened great damage, violence or even death? Your spouse said they want a divorce and you thought everything was good. Your doctor tells you that you have cancer and you just thought you had a cold. You lost your job right after buying a new house.
Talk about stress! These situations (and I’d venture to say we’ve all had at least a couple) are pressure-filled moments that truly test your faith in God and his word. You might be tempted to think, “this one is going to kill me” or “there is no way out of this one."
Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus understands this temptation…”He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin...
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Expert interviews, mini coaching plans, and meaty Bible teaching… all tied together to help me bust through my stress, worry and fear so I can reign in life for the glory of God.
