Jimbo's Jots

Somewhat continuing our thoughts from last week . . . last week, you remember me talking about my daughter’s accident. It led to a thought process of really how we work through stressful situations. We concluded that God in his sovereignty rules over the world and we need to trust in that . . . as His grace is sufficient for us.

To further the discussion of stress and managing stress, the real question is how do we manage stressful situations? Typically, when we think of experiences that induce a stress reaction, we think of the bad things, like a car accident, illness of a love one, or even media-fed stress.

There is such a thing as good stress. Look at the chart here (credit to Prepare-Enrich):

The vertical line measures the level of function you have at any given time. The horizontal line measures the amount of stress your feel based on the situation. At its extremes, no stress and high level of stress introduce an unhealthy level of stress. However, at certain levels of functionality, we see that there can be a healthy balance of stress.

Let me illustrate this way – this week, granddaughter Adalyn had another major surgery. This can create a high level of anxious stress. Daughter, Makenna, involved in an accident last week, bought a new car this week. This can create a high level of stress in the form of excitement. Amelia, youngest daughter, received an award for radio news through her school. Again another time of exciting “stress”.

It boils down to how we look at the stress activity we are experiencing. First and foremost, we need to “trust in God and not lean on our own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Second, our minds and emotions will deceive us. “The heart is deceitful above all things.” (Jeremiah 17:9, ESV) Third, in any situation, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7, NLT)

Be blessed and be a blessing!