How to Manage Stress with Chrystal Evans Hurst
In this solo episode of the Sister Circle Podcast, Chrystal Evans Hurst offers a faith‑centered, practical guide to recognizing and managing stress and overwhelm. She begins by describing common physical, emotional, and mental indicators of overwhelm—racing thoughts, sleep disruption, irritability, low energy, and bodily symptoms—while noting that life transitions, excessive responsibilities, relationship strain, health issues, financial worries, information overload, and self‑imposed expectations often trigger these signs. Drawing on the book The Garden Within and biblical passages, she emphasizes the importance of pairing faith with feeling to cultivate emotional well‑being. Chrystal then outlines a step‑by‑step toolbox: (1) be still and pray, using scriptural examples of Elijah’s solitude; (2) practice intentional breathing (4‑count in, 8‑count out); (3) talk—out loud to God, friends, or oneself; (4) journal or “brain‑dump” thoughts and tasks, citing NIH research on the mental‑health benefits of regular writing; (5) prioritize by listing tasks, decluttering, and focusing on one task at a time; (6) move the body through exercise, walking, or simple stretches; (7) stay hydrated and choose tea over excessive coffee; (8) disconnect from devices, take baths, get massages, or simply rest; (9) delegate or say no when over‑committed, extending grace to oneself. Throughout, she weaves scriptural encouragement (e.g., Psalm 90:17, Colossians 3:23, Ecclesiastes 3:22, Matthew 6:34, 2 Corinthians 4:7‑9) and shares personal anecdotes, such as a child’s question about pacing and a real‑life example of helping a grieving church member. The episode concludes with a prayer asking God for rest, courage, and the ability to apply these practical steps, inviting listeners to join her Inner Circle community for deeper support.
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Hey there, my name is Chrystal Evans Hurst. I'm so glad you're joining me for another episode of the Sister Circle Podcast. Sometimes you get me solo, sometimes you get a guest. I spent a whole year video podcasting twice a week. This year we have backed that thing up, so I'm on once a week. So sometimes, some weeks you'll get me, sometimes you'll get a guest. We're just going to go in and out as the Lord leads. Somebody say, as the Lord leads. I'm bringing my most churchy self here on today. You are getting this podcast because I first recorded it with the Inner circle. Some of those girls are clubs, some of those girls are communities, some of them are connected, and some of them are at the coffee level. But we are here having fun and foolery, and then I button it up, straighten up, and fly right so that I actually have something to share with you— with them first and then with you. And today we're talking about what it looks like to be stressed and overwhelmed and what you can do about it. And so my desire is to be super practical, super tactical, so that when we're done, you know where you are and you know what to do about it. If you wanna find out more about the Inner Circle, you can do that simply by going to thesistercircle.com/innercircle. The thing is, you can only join the club right now. Community, connection, and coffee, those are closed 'cause we're in the middle of a run right now. We're gonna be focused on those girls, but club is always open. Why? 'Cause the party is always happening over here. The point is, I am here because I'm sharing this content first with the Inner Circle and the overflow is what you're getting, and I'm glad you're here. It's the beginning of the year, right? It's the first, you know, month or two of the year, and you probably had some goals, you probably made some decisions, you may have even made a few resolutions or set new intentions. That's a buzzword. The bottom line is no matter what you call it, we all start the new year thinking about the new things that we want to do and the new ways we want to be and the ways in which we want to operate. But here's what happens. It might be the first week of January, it might be the last week of January, it might be mid-February, and definitely by March, we're feeling it. We might be overwhelmed and stressed because what we wanted to do or what life has sent our way simply is too much. But what if we don't know it? What if we just keep trying to move through the muck and the mire, damaging ourselves, damaging our minds, damaging our hearts, damaging our bodies because we're pressing through? Because doggone it, we set an intention, we set a goal, we decided ahead of time who we're going to be and what we're going to do this year. And by golly, no matter what, that's what we're going to do. One of the worst things that you can do to yourself is not pay attention to the signs. What's happening? What's happening in your body? How are you functioning? How are you feeling? How are you engaging with people? I am right now in the middle of reading Dr. Anita Phillips' book, The Garden Within. If you don't know about this book, you should totally get it. We're doing this together in the inner circle right now. And one of the things she says in chapter 2, In fact, the chapter is titled Check Your Flow. But one of the things that she says in chapter 2 is that you've got to understand the importance of your faith, but you've also got to understand the importance of your feeling, and that everything that you're going to do in life is based on what you believe. And this combination of your faith and your feeling is what brings about hope in your life for moving forward. And here's what I want to quote: the first step to living a powerful life is to commit to cultivating a state of emotional well-being that will catalyze sustain, and nourish what we choose to plant. You've got to be aware of how you're doing, is what I'm saying. And if you're not aware that you're overcommitted, that you're overwhelmed, that you're stressed, that you are at your limit, if you just keep pressing through, you will do damage. It's okay to realize that with all the decisions that you made, that you might need to slow down. It's okay to realize after all the commitments you made that you might need to say no to something you wanted to do. It's okay with all the things you didn't do last year to stop this year and not feel like a failure. So let me first talk about what the ways are, some of the ways are that you can know if you're overwhelmed or stressed or just team too much. Okay. Here are some general indicators of overwhelm. Number 1, you have racing thoughts or you have difficulty concentrating. You just can't find the word. Now that may also be perimenopause, but also it could be stress. You might find yourself feeling confused or forgetful. You just can't hold on to it. That also may be perimenopause, which is why I always walk with a notebook. You may have physical symptoms like a racing heart, or you may be breathless, or maybe you have stomachaches, or maybe you have butterflies in your stomach. Your stomach is turning over on itself. Maybe you have difficulty falling asleep or difficulty staying asleep, or you wake up tired. Another indication is you are constantly ruminating on what can go wrong, constantly worried about all the things. Maybe your energy is low, uh, you're withdrawing from people, you're retreating away, and you're doing things differently than the way you would normally do things that you enjoy. If you normally like people and you're withdrawing, that could be a sign that you're overwhelmed or stressed. You're irritable, you're sad, you're anxious. These are all signs. Now, what might cause you to be overwhelmed or stressed? Let's, let's break this down, because sometimes I just think we just will say that I'm just stressed, just, just too much going on. But okay, but what are we talking about exactly? Because in order to heal it, right, you have to identify it. We got to know exactly what's going on and exactly what's wrong to put a healing touch on it. So number 1, you have Too many responsibilities. There's too much on you at work. There's too much on you at home. There's too much on you at church. There's too much on you in your social circle. There are too many responsibilities. Literally, there is not enough time in the day for you to get to all the things you're supposed to get to. Sometimes that may be self-imposed. Maybe you are giving yourself rules, like, didn't nobody ask you to do that, but you doing the most. Sometimes it is externally imposed where because of responsibility or because you have children and because maybe it's a season of life, there's just too many boxes to check. Another reason may be life transitions or changes. I'm convinced that we don't give ourselves enough grace when we have life transitions. We just try to keep everything going the way it's always been going and we don't slow down. We don't create space. We move and just keep going. We get divorced and we just keep going. We lose someone we love and we just keep going. You know, a kid goes to college and then I remember that happened to me. I remember sitting around when my first girl went to college and I just felt sad and I couldn't figure out why I was sad. And then I was like, oh, my friend left. Like we used to watch TV shows and cook together. Like I had company, I was lonely. And I didn't realize, I didn't give myself grace to know that when life transitions happen that I'm gonna feel that. So often things catch us off guard because we don't expect that in transitions we're going to feel it. Maybe it's starting a new job or some type of significant personal change. Many times it's difficulties in your relationships. So you're having a hard time with a friend, a breakup with a boyfriend, uh, you and your mom aren't talking to each other all the time. God is good, but marriage— can somebody say marriage? Can somebody else say the wedded bliss may be bothersome? Uh-huh. Then you've got health issues. You went to the doctor and you had to have a procedure done, or you're starting a new medication. Maybe I got news from the doctor, and I'm trying to emotionally digest that. That can add to your emotional load. Definitely money. Can somebody say money, money, money, money? I mean money. Whether it's debt or whether it's being able to pay your bills or whether it's you didn't get a raise at your job because they weren't giving raises because everything is tight because 2023 was terrible. Maybe it is your job security. Maybe it is your expenses are going up. Your job did not start paying you more money, but gas sure went up. Your job didn't start paying you more money, but the bread on the grocery aisle, they're losing their minds. So there can be stress that comes from worry about money. Information overload. Can we talk about that? Whether it's the news, and it's probably not even the news these days, it's just social. We actually weren't wired to take in as much information as we're taking in, to bear the world's burdens at every moment's notice, like to know what's happening. It's good that we know, but the amount that we know We are not God. We were never designed to know what was happening in South Africa at the same time we knew what was happening in Gaza, at the same time we knew what was happening in, uh, in Egypt, at the same time we knew what was happening in Switzerland, at the same time we heard about what happened in New York as what happened in California. And we haven't even gotten to digesting what's happening in our town. Like absorbing all of that, we do not count the impact of the stress of the news we have. From all the places everywhere. What if you just got too much information happening and it's weighing you down? Then there's our own expectations. Because if we don't meet our expectations, whether those be academic or whether they be professional or whether they be personal, we are our own worst critics. And when we don't meet our own expectations, what happens? We're stressed. We're totally stressed out. So I just want you to know that the overwhelm doesn't just arrive. It comes from somewhere. And your ability to notice what's happening in you and also to assess where it's coming from, that is the tool, that is the indicator, and then the information you need in order to respond. So how are you supposed to respond? Here's where I want to get super practical with you, because I want you, once you feel the butterflies or once you feel the stress or once you have the panic attack, and once you look at what happened to me, Where did that come from? What is happening? And if you can't assess that on your own, that's okay. Assess it with a friend. Once you assess it, it's happening. And why is it happening? What do you do about it? The first thing is you wanna be still. You wanna be still. You wanna be still. And actually that's one of the best things to do when you're even trying to assess what's happening. Just be still. The Bible says, "To be still and know that I am God." There's some things you're only going to know when you get still. In 1 Kings chapter 19, we find that Elijah was depressed. How do we know that? Because he left. His enemies are trying to kill him, you know, he's tired, and he literally goes to be by himself. Because sometimes when you are overwhelmed, when you're stressed out, the best thing to do is just be by yourself. It's in those still places that God can speak to you, that you can know his voice, and that he can minister to you. Elijah was depressed, went by himself, and God like showed up and said, sleep a while. I'm gonna let— I'm gonna make sure you get food. I'm gonna make sure you have shade. Sometimes we don't experience deliverance, we don't experience support, we don't experience help first from God, y'all, because we won't be still. So the first thing is, before you can give it to God and go to church and holla and get on the floor and, you know, do all the things, just be still. Because maybe in the stillness you, one, will be able to truly discover what's going on with you. And then two, you put yourself in a position where God can minister to you. When you're still— stillness can literally mean being quiet. There's a discipline to silence and solitude. If you practice that regularly as a spiritual discipline, it'll save you on the day when you're overwhelmed. But in that stillness, pray. The Bible is very clear. Don't be anxious about anything. Philippians 4:6-7, do not be anxious for anything, but in prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God. When you feel it rising up, pray. Cast your cares, 1 Peter says, on him because he cares for you. Like, take the thing that's bugging you and toss it however you need to toss it. In anger, with all the emotion, with questions, that's fine. With sadness, that's okay. With stress and anxiety with all the questions, it's fine. He can handle it. There's nothing that you're going to say to God in that moment where you're being still that he hasn't heard from somebody else. You are not the first one on the block to be feeling the way you're feeling about what you're feeling about. When you're being still and when you're in solitude, you're going to give yourself the space to hear better. Praying means you're going to enter into a conversation that will help you do better. Then one of the things that you could do as a human being to be better is to breathe. We normally breathe too shallow. We normally don't breathe enough. We normally are not getting enough oxygen. It's one of the major reasons why physical activity is helpful, cuz it forces you to breathe deeply. Literally calm your parasympathetic system down by taking some deep breaths. Breathe in on the count of 4, breathe out to the count of 8. For real, y'all. Even if you just do that one time, you'll feel it in your body. That's the reason why everybody got the Calm app. You got it on your Apple Watch, you got it on your phone, because we don't breathe and you need a reminder to take those deep breaths and calm yourself down. It's one of the best tools when you feel like you wanna chop somebody's head off or you wanna cuss somebody out, or you wanna write that nasty email, or you wanna cut somebody off in the car. That road rage is real. Take a deep breath, be still, get quiet, open your mouth, talk to God, and breathe. All of that. Be still is tip 1, but talking is super helpful. Not only can you talk to God, but you can talk to a friend, pick up the phone and call someone. Here's a tip not many of us use. You can talk to yourself. You can talk to yourself out loud, or if you need to feel like someone's listening, get out your phone, hit the audio record button and talk, and then be your own best friend and listen to yourself later. Okay? Uh-huh. Expressing is one way to get that stuff out of your body, off your chest, and into someone's hands that can do something about it. The next thing I want to tell you about is writing, journaling. If you're here because you've watched that video that I posted a while ago, I believe in writing things down. I— you don't have to be a writer, you don't have to be a journaler, you don't have to write 3,000 words a day. But I believe when you get something out of your head, it's like getting the monster out of the closet. You're not as afraid of it once you put it on paper. So I believe in writing it down, journaling to be more specific, journal the nasty yucky stuff. But also, if you're going to do that, make sure you journal the good and the grateful stuff. The National Institute of Health had a study where through regular journaling, people were measured. And after regularly journaling for a period of time, people had a higher quality of life, They were more proactive. They had better self-care behaviors. Um, it, it was, it literally, they were able to measure the decrease in mental distress, the increase in relative wellbeing. It was associated writing in a journal with less depressive symptoms and anxiety after 1 month and greater resilience after doing it for 60 days. So this has been studied. Like, this is not just Chrystal Hurst saying, hey, listen, girl, you should write that down. And crying over some planners. No, no, this is about Chrystal Hurst telling you that people who love science and who love running scientific experiments are saying, if you will make the effort to get your crap outta your mind, outta your soul and onto paper, you will be better. So be still, talk it out, write it down. If you've ever heard me talk about writing it down, I believe in brain dumping. I believe in getting all things out of your head. One of the main things that I even do in my planner, y'all, all the time is, and the reason why there's so many doggone blank pages. Somebody said, girl, why is this a 90-day? Why couldn't you put this in a year? 'Cause I add all these blank pages so you can get this stuff outta your head. I believe that one of the worst things that you can do in the world, if you have a planner, like if you have a to-do thing, is to not have another notebook. If you don't have space in there to write it down and to brain dump, you need another notebook. Hence this book right here. If I run out of room in here, you better believe I'm bringing this out. It's just a regular old composition book. You want to know how many times a week I get stressed? Eh-heh-heh. But the point is, I left room in here for you to write it down because sometimes the only way to relieve the stress is to get it out of your head, get it out of your heart, and put it on paper. So when you do that, pick a place. It doesn't matter to me where that is. A spiral notebook or a composition book will do. But the reality is, if you can get it out of your head and just simply brain dump. What are all the things that are causing you harm, causing you internal stress, causing you anxiety? Write it down because sometimes when you write it down, it's not as scary. Make a list and then decide of all those things that are in your head, what's most important? Because if we focused on the most important thing, we wouldn't be stressed about all the other things, cuz we realize we can only do so much. So what do you do? You brain dump. You get it out of your head. It's not journaling about your feelings, it's the stuff I have to do. You make a list, you write it down, you prioritize. Get it out of the closet. It's like decluttering. Anytime somebody's going to tell you to declutter a room, they say pull everything out and you have a giveaway pile, a throwaway pile, and a keep pile. You got to decide, but get it all out and make the decisions. Do one thing at a time. When you are overwhelmed and when you're stressed, a lot of times it's because we're trying to tackle everything at once. You're a human being. That means in order to do things, you have to be able to do one thing at a time well. And I know we women oftentimes have to multitask and do all the things, but I'm saying as much as you can finish something. Take it across the finish line. Decide from writing down things, what would be something that would give you a sense of relief and focus on getting that one thing done. Even when you're running a marathon, how do you finish it? One step at a time. Figure out what the one thing is that you can do to move the needle in your life today and allow writing all the things down, let you know that it won't disappear, but I'm a human being and I can only do well by being present in the moment and doing one thing well. So you be still. That's who you are. You talk it out. You write it down. If there is overflow of emotion, journal. If there's an overflow of list of things to do, of tasks, brain dump the list. Okay? Then you focused on doing one thing at a time. Here's something else that will help you. And I've done this. My son one time said, Mom, why are you walking in circles? Because it was snowing outside. It was ice outside. I was about to lose my mind and I was just pacing. Pacing the house, pacing, pacing. And he was like, what are you doing? I was like, walking. He's like, why? I was like, because I just need to move. There is something that physical exertion unlocks in your body and in your brain that sitting on your arse or sitting on the computer or laying in the bed won't do. Sometimes the way to shake up your chemistry, shake up your thinking power, shake up your brain, unlock your genius, calm down your nerves is physical movement. Get on the floor and do a plank. Do jumping jacks, march in place if you can't go outside, but definitely go outside, go on a walk, get some fresh air, make the move in your life that will allow your body to work on your behalf. Your brain is yours. It actually wants to be helpful. It doesn't want you to be stressed, but sometimes it just gets locked up. Have you ever had something broken and the only way that you could fix it was to— you had to clap on it? I have a Vitamix mixer like that. It's a little old and sometimes the food gets stuck and you want to know what I do? When the sloshy stuff gets stuck and won't move, I turn it off and I put the cap on and I just, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh. Because in order to shake things up and get things moving, I just have to move things around. And the same is true for you. Water, y'all. Sometimes your brains aren't working and you're stressed because you're dehydrated. I know it's simple, but get your tea, not your coffee. And by tea, I mean green, decaffeinated, or whatever. Not your coffee. Coffee, there's nothing wrong with it, but find something else that will allow you to take a sip and wet your whistle. Often I've looked at my children and I've said, where's your water bottle? And as soon as they started drinking water, 2 to 3 hours later, their brain was working. Go figure. Sometimes things are clogging up on you because you're just not giving your body what it needs to function. All right, y'all, let's keep it moving. I want to be practical. Here we go. Here's the hard one because you're watching me. Disconnect. Disconnect. Get off social, get off your devices, take a bath, read a book, stretch. What can you do to shut the world off so that you are able to allow your brain to catch up and solve the problems of your soul? Now listen, one of the only ways that I can truly disconnect besides leaving my devices that I enjoy It's getting a massage. I'm a massage lover. I'm a massage connoisseur. I know exactly how I want it. If you touch me with a pinky finger, that's not going to do it. I don't want, I don't want to be hurting. I don't want to be broken when I get off of your table, but I need you to put your hands on me. Okay. I need you to have man hands as Jerry Seinfeld would say. I need you to know what you're doing. But if I'm laying on the table, here's the thing. My mind might race, but I can't do anything about it. I'm laying on the table and eventually my mind slows down. That's what happens when you choose to disconnect. Maybe sometimes that looks like laying down. Maybe you can't fall asleep, but you just disconnect and eventually your brain that was worked up will say, oh, she's laying down. There's nothing I can do about this right now. Now you may have remembered this from your grandmother because maybe your grandmother laid down. She was like, huh, I need to go lay down. It's just too much. She understood the assignment. Sometimes because you're young Gen Zers or millennials, you just keep going because you can handle it. No, your overwhelm, your stress is a sign that you need to do something different. And one of those things that you can do different is disconnecting completely. Lay down, take a nap, get rid of the devices, shut it off. Say no, whatever it is. That they're asking you to do, that they think you can do, and truth is, if you powered through it, you could, say no. Or better yet, delegate the work or the details to someone else. The reason why you're probably here is because you're doing too much and you're a yes girl and people know you'll get it done. And that's great. That's a great characteristic to have. But if this is not on God's list of things for you to do, to own today, and if self-care, calming your spirit down, having the ability to function in your life is, Say no or delegate to someone who can take it. Here's the most important thing, y'all. When you're doing all of these things, I've said it once, I'll say it again. Give yourself some grace. Grace to slow down and let it be undone. Grace not to finish the dishes before you go to bed. Grace to realize that you're not gonna get the promotion because you actually can't work that hard right now with 3 little kids at home. Grace to, uh, understand that Yeah, it's not gonna be as excellent as it could have been if you would've gone all out, but you can't. You're dealing with your own health, or maybe you have a relative who's sick. And so you would've loved to do it to the nth degree, but you couldn't actually maintain health in other areas. You're gonna have to learn how to speak kindly to yourself the way you would talk to a friend. Give yourself grace, find a small win. There's always something you can do. But make it small. Can continue in seasons of stress and overwhelm to remind yourself, I'm capable, but just choose the win, however small that is. If you're like, I didn't drink any water today, and oh my gosh, I'm supposed to be on this weight loss thing and I'm trying to do better, and I still forgot to fill up my water bottle and I went all day without drinking water. Okay, it's time to go to bed. You don't want to drink no 84 ounces then. But you could get a glass, go to your fridge, take a sip of water, say, okay, I had some water today. We gotta figure out y'all how to be happy with small wins and to give ourselves grace to release some wins that we really do wanna have. Now, I don't wanna leave our conversation without giving you some very specific things that you can do. From a scriptural standpoint that will help you to move the needle when you just need to figure out how to calm yourself down. I hope from this talk you were able to better notice when you're overwhelmed or stressed. You know what to do when you're overwhelmed or stressed, but I want to leave you because I believe that when you're stressed, when you're overwhelmed, there's nothing better to relieve that than God's word. And so I want to read some scriptures over you. Psalm 90:17 says, May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us. Will he establish the work of our hands. This verse encourages you to seek God's guidance and ask for his favor as you navigate stressful situations. And whatever you are able to do, to ask him to establish it so that you're only doing what he's gonna establish, and for him to make the work of your hands do what it's supposed to do, to take it to places and to do things with it that you could never have done on your own anyway. Colossians 3:23 says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. This verse reminds you that everything you do is ultimately for him, and that puts in check all the things that you're probably doing for other people. Is he pleased with what you're doing? And when does he say that that's enough? Do that with all your heart and stop trying to do all your heart and all your everything for everybody else who is not going to be the one who gives you a crown when you get to heaven, who is not the one you're leaving a legacy for. Keep that in mind. Ecclesiastes 3:22, I saw there was nothing better, Solomon said, for a person to enjoy their work because That is their lot, for who can bring them to see what will happen after them? You should enjoy what you do. You should get joy out of your work, whether that be at your place of work or the work that you do in your home or the work that you do in your community. You should get joy from it, and it's okay for joy to be a part of what you do. So if you've lost joy, you should ask yourself why. Identify that and then put yourself in a space where you can figure out what you need to do differently to make sure that you're checking the flow and that your soul is good ground. Job 1:21, and I love this for perspective, it says, "The Lord gave and the Lord took it away. May the name of the Lord be praised." What does this mean? That in seasons where he's given, you got to be positive and grateful. The seasons where he's not given, you still need to be positive and grateful because guess what? You're still here. Keep that perspective correct. Matthew 6:34 says, "Don't worry about tomorrow." 'Cause tomorrow is going to take care of itself. Every day has enough trouble of its own. Jesus is encouraging each one of us in that scripture to be present in this moment and not allow the anxiety about the future to consume you in your today. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 says, we are jars of clay, but we have this treasure because even though we're human beings, we have the opportunity to show in our lives the surpassing power that belongs to God. We're afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but we're not driven to despair. We may be persecuted and not forsaken. We may be struck down but not destroyed. This is a great verse to remind you that when times are stressful and when they're hard, he knows you're a jar of clay. And it's because you're a vessel— and many of us are broken vessels— it's because we're broken, it's the crack that actually allows his light and his power to shine through. He knows what you're made of. So when he asks you to cast your cares on him, he's— it's because he knows you're a jar of clay. You can only contain so much, and the times will come where it's hard. Rest in him. Remember this: when you are stressed, Psalm 34 says the righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all of their troubles. He's close to the brokenhearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. Maybe you know this, maybe it's because you have had a friend or maybe it's a child. It's when they're crushed, it's when they're struggling that your heart goes out to them and you actually want to do something about what's troubling them. How can I help you? So, lady in church yesterday, she recently lost her husband. She's very dear to me. I walked up to her and I know it can be overwhelming when people are saying, what can I do? What can I do? And I said, I know you have amazing children. I know you have amazing friends. What do you need today? What do you need today that I can help you with? And she cocked her head to the side because I didn't say, what can I bring you to eat? I didn't say, what do you need? I didn't make her think like about just general. I said, today, what is your greatest need today? And she said, I need a carpenter. Do you know a carpenter? I went to her knowing where she is and said, how can I? I can't bring him back. I can't save you from this hard time. What I can do is ask you what would make this hard time a little easier. And when God says, listen, cry out, there are some things he will save you from. He will totally take you out of it. He will deliver it, deliver you from it. He'll get that boss fired. He will give you the money that you didn't know you had. He will bring back that wayward child. He will help you have a great conversation with your spouse. Sometimes he will give you the right doctor's prescription so that you are able to feel better. But sometimes he's like, honey, you're gonna have to go through this, but what can I do for you while I have you? You can only get that if you cry out. Ecclesiastes tells us there's— Ecclesiastes rather tells us that there's a time for everything. And there are times in your life that will be overwhelmed and stressful, but when you find that that's what's happening I want you to assess yourself. I want you to start with being still and praying and then go through the list of all the things that I shared with you because you have the power to relieve your own stress. When the world won't change for you, you can relieve yourself by walking through some of the steps that I've given you. Take a deep breath. You shake your head cuz some things ain't gonna change. And you figure out how to migrate through the season you're in well. So if you've started the year and you're off, the goals are off, your focus is off, you're overwhelmed, you're stressed, you can't get back to your intentions. Oh honey, take a deep breath and allow yourself to get to the bottom of what you need and leave room for what you need. And maybe take some of the things off your list that you're not supposed to be doing right now, because what I can guarantee you is God doesn't want you going through your life with clenched fists. He wants you to go through your life resting on him, in him, and in every day of your life. So my prayer for you today is that you would find rest, that you would refuse to walk consistently in overwhelm, that you would reject the idea that stressful living is the way that things have to be. I'm not saying that life is not going to be hard, because sometimes we confuse getting through hard, good things with, I just don't want to be stressed, you know, my emotional health, my emotional, my mental well-being, you know, I just can't handle that, you know. And we actually eject too soon. There are some things you need to stick with. You need to stick with some hard jobs. You need to stick in some hard marriages. You need to stick with some hard leadership styles. You need to stick with your hard journeys. Stop avoiding going to the doctor. Go to the doctor. Stick with it. Figure it out. Get a solution. Don't eject. But when it's a hard that is worth sticking with, or it's a hard that is God-ordained, in that hard you can find rest. My prayer today is that you would figure out where you are, what you need, and find rest. Today, I want to pray for you if that's okay. Lord, I know that there are, there's somebody watching this that is watching this because they've never heard of me and they were Googling something about stress and found their way here. Or there are women who watch me every week and are just waiting to hear what it is this week. And I pray that for those who are overwhelmed, stressed, they just have done too much. They've gone too far. They can feel it in their chest, feel it in their body. They're, they're having headaches and not sleeping. They are having butterflies and panic attacks. They are overwhelmed. They are over— overworked. They're overweight. Their bodies are telling them, you can't handle this. The cortisol around their bellies is out of control. Whatever it is that is causing the man or the woman who's watching this video to not be in a good place, would you cause us to remember that we can run to you and that despite hard things, that we can be overcomers, that despite the difficulties that arise, that we don't have to allow that to be our identity. Would we remember that It is you who have called us often to hard things, but in those hard things you said, "Come to me," because you assumed that some of us were going to be weary and some of us were going to be heavy laden. And you said, "But if you come to me, I will give you rest." Over and over again in the scriptures, you tell us, "Do not fear. Do not fear. Fear not. Have courage. Don't worry. Cast your cares. Come to me. Cry out to me," because you knew that in this world we would have trouble. But then you said, but don't Worry, because I have overcome the world. Would we start with you? And then would you show us the tools that we have in our hand to reject the stress, reject the overwhelm, and move forward in the things that you have given us to steward well? For those who don't know you, I pray that this might be a cause to know you. That John 3:16 said that God so loved the whole world that he gave his only son to go through a brutal death, but to be the only person that came back to life that lives in heaven. Hebrews tells us interceding for us, reminding Father God about these people who need help, that we might start with the word because Jesus is the word, and that we might learn that in you we find rest. So I pray for the one who's watching this right now, that you would give rest, and that you would allow us to participate with that and reject the overwhelm where we can. Thank you for being practical. Thank you for telling stories. Thank you for showing us the way that we should go. And I pray that after today, we know the way. In Jesus' name, amen.
