By First Lady Veronica Daymon, With The Assistance of Valerie Edwards
Now let’s be honest with ourselves, we have all dealt with stress at some point in our lives, and coping with stress can be a challenge even as a Christian Woman. Most importantly, is how we choose to deal with it. According to statistics (Moyer 2016), 70 percent of Americans experience physical or psychological stress.
One of many suggestions I have come to realize when confronted with stress as a Christian woman is to first and foremost acknowledge the fact that ‘I too’ can experience stress. In other words, I am not exempt from experiencing stress as a Christian woman and to be honest, neither are you.
Listed below are some suggestions on how to cope with stress as well as taking control of stress.
Suggestions To Help Cope With Stress:
- Read stress related scriptures-The Bible can be a great source of comfort and a good resource when struggling with life’s circumstances and situations. Some scriptures I have found to be of help when dealing with stress, are Philippians 4:6-7 (CEV), Philippians 4:13 (CEV), John 14:27 (KJV), John 16:33 (KJV) and Matthew 11: 28-30 (KJV).
- Meditate and wait for God’s direction-Getting in a quiet place, clearing your mind, settle your spirit and listening to soaking praise and worship music (optional) has always been my number one go to in my attempt to overcome stress.
- Seek help if necessary- Just knowing that I have the option as to whether or not I want to share my stressful situation by talking to a friend, family member or my pastor, gives me a sense of calmness and a piece of mind.
- Refrain from revisiting what it was that caused the stress- From my experience, I would suggest in order to refrain from revisiting any stressful circumstance and or situation, would be simply not to do it again, especially if it hasn’t worked in the past.
- Continue to Praise and Worship-We as Christian women must continue to praise and worship God at all times. Even threw our toughest trials and tribulations. Besides, He is the only one who can truly bring us out.
- PUSH- Simply Pray Until Something Happens and pray without ceasing.
Taking Control Of The Stress:
- Acknowledge the stress- As stated above, even being a Christian woman does not exempt you or I from experiencing stressful situations and circumstances. For stress is no respecter of person, even Christian women.
- Analyze what’s causing the stress-From experience, it is important that we not only acknowledge the stress, but we must also analyze and determine what it is that’s causing the stress. Believe it or not, stress can be draining physically, mentally and emotionally.
- Ask yourself, ‘Is it something I can control?’- I have learned that in some cases the stress that I have endured, may have been in fact self-inflicted. If that is the case, I have complete control over my part in the stress-related matter. That in itself relieves some of the stress.
Being a Christian Women and having an abundance of experience with many facets of stress-related situations, I can truly say that I can sympathize with other Christian Women who have battled with stress-related situations and circumstances as well.
However, as Christian women fighting the good fight for our Father in Heaven and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we must continue to stay in faith always trusting and believing that any fight with stress-related situations shall to come to pass, for God is able to do all things.
* Six Biblical Methods for Handling Stress- Elizabeth Moyer (March 30, 2016). https://tifwe.org/six-biblical-methods-for-handling-stress/
* Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version, American Bible Society
www.bibles.com * https://www.biblegateway.com/passage