"I'm just too blessed to be stressed!"
I don't know about you, but I hear this all the time. Maybe people are trying to tell me I'm too high- strung, I don't know. But I've been thinking about this phrase a lot this week because I've been particularly stressed.
I am a very blessed individual. I really am. I have a loving family, sweet friends, a great job with a great boss. My teachers are understanding of my illness. I'm in school learning to do what I love. I'm doing just fine.
But I'm also a very stressed individual. I have academic stress because learning to be an interpreter is a lot (seriously, I'm convinced some of you interpreters out there are part superhero). I have emotional stress because things don't always go my way. I get disappointed. I have psychological stress because I have wounds that run deep.
I'm sure you all can relate. Paul could. Paul prays three times for his "thorn in the flesh" (whatever it really was) to be removed. THREE times. Not once, as if it didn't really matter. Not twice, as if it was just a nuisance. Three times, because it truly bothered him.
Somehow those blessings I listed above don't make me any less stressed. Of course, the people in my life are great. I have plenty of shoulders to cry on when needed. I have people who will literally hunt me down because they know that I shouldn't be alone even though it's what I wanted.
Blessings in life don't automatically negate the stressors in life, unfortunately.
But my Jesus can. He comes to me in my times of stress and puts His arms around me. He lets me know that it's all okay in His hands. He tells me that He has enough strength for my to-do list. He has the peace to calm my heart. He has the power it takes to forgive.
When Paul prayed, he was not relieved of the thorn in his flesh. He was given peace to accept it and God's strength to hold on.
I love love LOVE God's response to Paul's prayers, and Paul's response to it:
I don't know about you, but I hear this all the time. Maybe people are trying to tell me I'm too high- strung, I don't know. But I've been thinking about this phrase a lot this week because I've been particularly stressed.
I am a very blessed individual. I really am. I have a loving family, sweet friends, a great job with a great boss. My teachers are understanding of my illness. I'm in school learning to do what I love. I'm doing just fine.
But I'm also a very stressed individual. I have academic stress because learning to be an interpreter is a lot (seriously, I'm convinced some of you interpreters out there are part superhero). I have emotional stress because things don't always go my way. I get disappointed. I have psychological stress because I have wounds that run deep.
I'm sure you all can relate. Paul could. Paul prays three times for his "thorn in the flesh" (whatever it really was) to be removed. THREE times. Not once, as if it didn't really matter. Not twice, as if it was just a nuisance. Three times, because it truly bothered him.
Somehow those blessings I listed above don't make me any less stressed. Of course, the people in my life are great. I have plenty of shoulders to cry on when needed. I have people who will literally hunt me down because they know that I shouldn't be alone even though it's what I wanted.
Blessings in life don't automatically negate the stressors in life, unfortunately.
But my Jesus can. He comes to me in my times of stress and puts His arms around me. He lets me know that it's all okay in His hands. He tells me that He has enough strength for my to-do list. He has the peace to calm my heart. He has the power it takes to forgive.
When Paul prayed, he was not relieved of the thorn in his flesh. He was given peace to accept it and God's strength to hold on.
I love love LOVE God's response to Paul's prayers, and Paul's response to it:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
This life is going to bring heartache and pain. God is going to provide strength to do what is necessary. The blessing that has the power to make me less stressed? That would be my Jesus, and my Jesus alone.
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