3 Steps You Can Take to Cope with Stress Part 2

3 steps you can take to cope with stress? If you didn’t read Part 1 of 3 Steps You Can Take to Cope with Stress, you can go back to it at: https://www.YvonneOrtega.com/3-steps-you-can-take-to-cope-with-stress-part-1/

The main points of Part 1 are:

*Find a quiet spot.

*Get on your knees and talk to the Lord.

*Meditate on Scripture.

Now let’s move on to 3 Steps You Can Take to Cope with Stress Part 2. You feel worn out and burdened. You’re exhausted from everything you’ve tried on your own. Nothing has worked.

The first step you can take to cope with stress is to claim God’s promise of rest in Matthew 11:28. It says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” God doesn’t want you and me to run around here, there, and everywhere. He doesn’t want us stressed.

At a women’s retreat, the speaker told us to fill in the blanks on a worksheet with “Jesus is better than _______.” I wrote “Jesus is better than my safety and security.”

You guessed it. He tested me, and my journey to cope with stress started again. Two days later, I came home from the post office, unlocked the door to the house, and lost my keys. Three of us searched from one end of the house to the other, moved furniture, looked under beds, the couch and loveseat, but no keys.

The stress increased as my neighbor looked in the pantry, refrigerator, and top drawers in the kitchen cupboards to no avail. I had emptied my purse three times. Those keys had to be in the house. After all, I unlocked the door to get in.

On the first night, I didn’t cope with stress and didn’t claim God’s promise of rest in Matthew 11:28. I heard every leaf that rustled outside and every car that went by. The second night, I slept better, but not enough hours.

The third night, I claimed God’s promise of rest and slept eight hours.

I also moved the purse I had searched three times. The keys fell out of it. I laughed until I cried.

Are you experiencing the Lord’s rest?

The second step you can take to cope with stress is to take the easy yoke on you. Matthew 11:29–30 says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Easy yoke? Sunday evening, I looked at my schedule for this week and felt the yoke was anything but easy. Since the Lord doesn’t lie, I looked at my calendar again.

Then I asked him to show me what needed to stay and what could go. Afterward, I agreed with him that his yoke is easy, went to bed, and slept seven hours.

How easy is your yoke?

The third step you can take to cope with stress is to confess sin in your life.

Sin is anything that stands between you and God. It breaks your fellowship or communion with him.

First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

In the story about my lost keys, I confessed my lack of faith or trust in the Lord. After all, I had said that “Jesus is better than safety and security.” However, when put to the test, my lack of faith caused me to fail it. Initially, I didn’t cope with the stress.

When I looked at my schedule for this week, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I’m trying to do too much and please people, rather than God.

That disease to please can cause us stress. It can cause you and me to do wrong — wrong to our health and stamina, wrong to others, and wrong to God.

He comes first, not what others expect of us. What comes first in your life?

Matthew 11:28–30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 Prayer: God, I am weary. I ask for your rest. Please exchange my burdensome yoke for your yoke. You promised your yoke is easy, and that’s the one I want. Amen.

Application: Which of the three steps will you take this week?

Related Posts on Stress:

https://www.yvonneortega.com/what-can-you-do-about-stress-from-conflict-in-your-life/

https://www.yvonneortega.com/what-do-you-do-when-stress-strikes/

Reminder: Registration deadline for 6-week journey with author, Yvonne Ortega, through Moving from Broken to Beautiful® through Grief is Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 12:00 noon EASTERN. Refer to:

https://www.yvonneortega.com/free-limited-time-offer-6-week-journey-with-yvonne/

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega February 18, 2019