Stress: Weathering the Storm

My dad is a preacher. I borrowed the following story from one of his bulletins (which was also borrowed from another bulletin by Allen Smith).

The following quote comes from Kim Sherer:

“One night while my young son, Ryan, was sleeping, a storm began brewing outside. After a loud clap of thunder, I heard him wake up so I headed toward his room to comfort him. He asked me to stay with him until he fell asleep. As I lay there I realized he hadn’t asked me to make the storm go away, but to stay with him. How many times, I wondered, have I asked God to take away the storms of life, when instead I need to ask him to stay with me and help me weather them more peacefully?”

Too many times when I’m feeling burdened or stressed, I ask for the stressor to be eliminated. Other times, I “cast my anxieties on Him” only to reach back and hold on to the burdens like a security blanket. I, like Kim, could learn a lesson or two from Ryan. God wants to hold us through the storms in our lives, to give us peace in the place of our worries.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 4:6, 7)