A Christian friend helped me understand stress management a lot better.
I have always subscribed to a biblical, peace-filled response to stress. I have experimented with stress management techniques and found them helpful to some degree.
Breathing. Counting. Going for a walk or a motorcycle ride. Getting away for the weekend. Napping. Those helped with peace.
And then my friend tells me, “Peace is not the same as stress management.”
That ignited my brain and heart and soul in a huge aha moment! Wow! Yes!
Stress management is a response or a reaction. Peace—at least God’s peace for us—is not a response or a reaction. It is a state. Or you might say, a place you live.
Peace has already arrived on the scene of stress. It was there first. In your heart. Promised by God. Engineered by Jesus Christ. Delivered by the Holy Spirit. It “puts you in your place.” A very good place. Nothing can disturb it.
Not storms. Not stress. Not surgery. Not sickness. Not spiritual warfare. Not Satan himself.
Jesus once promised, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
PRAYER: Thank you for your peace, God, a gift that puts me in the right place. Your peace is in my heart and life, and nothing can disturb it or take it away. I want to enjoy it every day, and share it with others. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Meditate on this: peace is not a reaction or response, but a state of being, a place you are in. How can you enjoy this more often? Who can you share this with today?