Spiritual Principles for Dealing with Stress & Doubt

Hi,

A reader asked me this question recently:

1.  What do you do when doubt enters your mind and the stresses of life bring you down?

I talked with a friend this week who told me about a classmate of his in college whose typical reaction to life was STRESS!

One quarter, she took a 20-hour class load; it stressed her out and she nearly lost her mind.

So, he suggested she take 12 hours the next quarter to giver herself a break. Guess what? She was STRESSED out of her mind!

She was the kind of person who was going to be stressed out no matter what (I can relate, but by the grace of God I’m improving—though not as fast as my wife would like

How you’re wired determines your reactions, responses, and results.

That said, here’s my answer to the reader’s question:

I think everyone struggles with doubt. I know I do. The stresses of life weigh us all down from time to time.

So don’t feel bad about having doubts or the wind sucked out of your sails by stress.

Here’s the deal: Life’s doubts and stresses reveal two things:

1. Your character.
2. Your faith.

Here are some spiritual principles that will strengthen both:

1. Realize that God is bigger than you realize—He’s bigger than your doubts and stress and He’s more powerful than you’re even aware that He is.

2.  Realize that God is on your side—He is for you—He’s in your corner! (to use a boxing example).

God wants you to be happy and spiritually fulfilled because He’s a caring, loving heavenly Father who wants to see your life filled with joy, blessings and peace.

But sometimes our decisions and choices get in the way of this (and sometimes other people’s choices and decisions do, too).

Why?

Free will.

God submits Himself to us because He respects our freedom.

Still, God is in your corner 24/7.

3.  Realize that God wants to create something good from your situation.

Although He wouldn’t always choose for us to be in the situation we find ourselves in, He ALWAYS works to create something good out of it.

Romans 8:28 --

“We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him.”

So, when you have doubts and when life crashes in all around you, by faith claim the promise that God is working for your highest good and deepest joy irrespective of your situation or circumstances.

4. Realize that life is a growing experience.

As long as we’re alive we’ll be faced with doubts, stresses and disappointments. So we might as well ask, “What can I learn from this?”

Here are some things we can learn:

I can learn about my character—the kind of person I really am.

I can learn about my view of God—who I really think He is.

I can learn about the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.

I can learn about my potential and possibilities.

I can learn how to improve my life.

I can learn how to make the world a better place.

I can learn how to sympathize and empathize with people.

I can learn how to be a “light” that shows others a better way.

I can learn that this world is fleeting but that God is eternal.

I can learn that in Him, I am eternal, too.

Lastly, when faced with doubts and stress, it helps to remember those who’ve endured life’s darkest moments but held unto their faith, like the person who wrote the following on a concentration camp wall during World War II:

“I believe in the sun when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when I feel it not. I believe in God even when he is silent. “

There are times when life requires raw faith.

Oh it’d be nice to always feel “inspired” and be “happy” all of the time. But as important as feelings are (and they are VERY important), at the end of the day, my trust in God is a value, belief and a priority—it is a decision that I make with my mind first, and then wait for my heart to catch up if I must—but never, ever the other way around.

Faith first, feelings second.

The only way I know how to make it through the seasons of doubt and stress is to shift my focus from myself to God, and consider who He is to me, and what He’s able to do—and trust Him whether He chooses to work things out how I want Him to or not.

Dedicated to Your Spiritual Freedom,

Lynell

August 16, 2008 | Permalink | del.icio.us | StumbleUpon | | |