Handling Stress in this very Stressful World
By Rachel Head
This past year (2019) was one of the most stressful times that I remember in my seventeen years so far. My sister and I transitioned from homeschooling to public school in a matter of five days. We had to take twenty tests so that we could get out credits from freshman and sophomore years counted. I took an advanced placement (AP) class, and a dual credit class, while also working at the local Chick-Fil-A. The first two or three months were very stressful. Thankfully, I knew how to handle it instead of letting it blow up or preventing me from getting anything done.
There are many ways that we handle stress but are they all biblically correct? Getting angry at someone who is trying to be helpful is definitely not biblical (Proverbs 14:29). What we should do is take our worries to the Lord through prayer. Whenever David was going through all of his troubles he remembered God and because of him remembering, God helped him. If David was troubled he put all of his cares in God’s hands (Psalm 34:4). Some other methods of helping ourselves is reading the Bible, taking time to enjoy nature, listening to good, wholesome music, and just doing things you enjoy.
Here are some other examples of Bible people who were in stressful situations and we will see how they reacted to stress.
-Daniel: He was thrown into a lion’s den because he was praying. When the king came the next morning, Daniel explained to the king that he trusted in the Lord to not let the lions hurt him (Daniel 6:22).
-Esther: Her life and the Jews’ lives were threatened by Haman but when she found him out, she fasted for three days (Esther 4:16).
-Joseph: His brothers hated him, sold him, and lied about him. Even after all of this, he still sought God’s guidance and obeyed God. He even interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams with God’s help (Genesis 41:15-37).
These are just a few but there are many more in the Bible who went through hard and stressful times that we can learn from. Always remember that God is with you and it is very important to communicate with God so that we can have that kind of relationship that a Christian should have.