Stressed-Less

The last few days have been pretty good. Busy, but good.  Been running here and there (not yet actually running... that's a post for another day.  But running, as in getting in the car and driving from here to there).

I'm finishing up Stressed Less Living by Tracey Miles with the Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies group, led by Melissa Taylor.  We started this book in April.  I needed it.  With Wallace gone, I was lonely and a little insecure.  I was stressed, too, because it was the end of the semester at work and in my classes and I was having to take Caleb to school and find someone to pick him up. 

God knows what we need when we need it. 

The stress-busting scriptures Tracey had at the end of each chapter seemed written just for me.  I can go through my Bible today, two months later, and see notes I had made about how they had spoken to me.

From this book, I learned things that I kind of already knew, but saw them in a new light.  I'm responsible for my own reaction.  I create a lot of my stress through not saying no and how I react.  There are still days when I'm stressed out.  There are still days when I become the screaming Mama (I think I need to read Unglued, again...)

Those days are fewer and far between.

Granted, I know it is summer time which means that I have the liberty of vegging on my couch and reading a little more.  And crushing those small candies is a bit of a stress relief, too...

But I'd like to think that my decreased stress is because I'm talking to God just a little more.  Not like I should be.  I'm the first to admit that my prayer life needs to improve (which is why I'm so excited for the In the Gap study, Cultivating a Heart for Prayer!)

I could ramble on and one, but here you go.  My top 5 things I loved and learned from Stressed-Less Living:
1. I'm responsible for my reaction.  Circumstances happen. Things happen that I don't like.  I can choose to be angry or stressed... or I can choose to cling to the hope of Jesus. 
2. God wants to change me, not my circumstances.  Sometimes it's through those circumstances that I have to be changed.  He's got a bigger plan. 
3. It's essential that if I want to remain stressed-less, I have to know where to turn.  His Word.  Prayer.  Christian friends.
4. Sometimes I get proud of my busyness, of my tight schedule with little white space, buzzing around like Martha, when what I really need to do is just sit... and soak up Jesus like Mary.
5. Online friends can be friends.  I've been blessed to lead an online group on Facebook, and my ladies are wonderful blessings in my life.  Looking forward to continuing in the Word with 8 of them on the next study.  Some of them have lots of things going on with their lives... weddings, kids, jobs, etc., so if you don't care, could you say a little prayer, not just for my group ladies, but for ALL of our facebook groups, and also for all the women who have been touched by this study.

God rocks!!!