Thankful

So, I could write the book on stress. I can tell you 100 ways to freak out and break down because school feels overwhelming, my headache won't go away, I'm just not happy, the list goes on and on. And on and on and on. You get the idea.

But, at least for today, I have decided I am going to try my very best to not freak out as much this semester. We'll see how long this lasts. I made it through the first semester of grad school; it was so hard, but I ended up number one in my class and I have absolutely loved it so far.

And honestly, I know what stress does for me and my "situations". It makes me freak out... heart palpitations, extra acne. In other words, nothing favorable/pleasant/fun/etc...

So imagine how happy I was to see this little dandy message in my email inbox this morning. Read on, and be blessed like I was.

Philippians 4:6:
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6

Don't worry about anything. Worrying doesn't change anything. It's stewing without doing. There's no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That's good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says in Matthew 6:34: "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Pray about everything. Next use the time you've been worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you'd have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments or electricity bills? Yes. He's interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love -- but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They're never satisfied; it's never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

Think about the right things.If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think; the way you think determines how you feel. And the way you feel determines how you act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you're thinking about. This involves a deliberate conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the positive and on God's word.

Why? Because the root cause of stress is the way I choose to think.

When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give thanks, when we focus on the right things, the Apostle Paul tells us the result is, "The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

What a guarantee---He is guaranteeing peace of mind.