Stress can affect our bodies in many different ways. I think each person responds differently to stress. I thought with this post I would share some of the stress effects in our family. For Krisann, she is way too young to understand what it means to be stressed but she has definitely added that word to her vocabulary and used it appropriately! I think for her the stress manifests as grumpiness, disobedience, and a need to be with me!! Oh how exhausting that can be at times!
When Chloe is stressed, she can have a multitude of responses. She can just shut down…go to bed and not arise for a long time. She can be very snippy. She experiences outbursts of tears sometimes. Chloe can even become physically ill as a result of stress. And she doesn’t eat when she’s stressed and when we have to closely watch her weight anyway…that’s a side effect we don’t like.
Conner tries to stuff stress! It works well for awhile. And then he becomes very agitated and easily frustrated. Stress changes his attitude and his tone. However, he seems to be the one who seems to handle stress better than everyone else. But as mom, I’m convinced that he will have to have long term counseling as an adult for not dealing with stress now! But then I remind myself that maybe God is just at work in his life.
Zine is like Chloe…stress takes its toll in many ways. Stress causes grumpiness. Stress can cause him to shut down and sleep all the time. Stress can affect his stomach. Stress can cause him to be teary eyed. Stress can cause his depression to be worse. Stress can cause conflict in our marriage!
For me, I carry stress from my shoulders up. Stress causes muscle pains and headaches! Stress can evoke anxiety and panic in me. Stress causes my gray hair to flourish!! Stress makes me suffer with insomnia. Stress causes me to be grumpy and not a nice wife and mama at times.
So…how do we combat stress??
For some of us, exercise is a great stress reducer. For others, diving into an art project helps us deal with our stress in healthier ways. For all of us, to have some alone time away from home and family and allow some others to love and pour into us helps us diminsh our stress levels. For the youngest, consistency and routine helps her stress. For my children to have alone time with each of us as parents helps them as well. Essential oils, massages, and chiropractor visits are sometimes a recipe for stress reduction. We are not afraid to say that anti depressants and anxiety meds are quite commonplace around here as well. But above all these, the best way to battle stress is to turn our attention and focus to God. Hebrews 4:16 says let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need. When our circumstances are unmanageable, we desperately try to turn our thoughts to Him and ask for His intervention.
For a long time I struggled with feeling desperate. Surely good Christians do not become desperate!! I have come to understand this is a lie Satan loves for me to believe. As, I have studied more scripture, that is exactly what God desires. It is when I come to Him desperately needing intervention, that He can do a mighty work. Four friends were desperate enough to cut a hole in a roof. A woman with a blood issue was desperate enough to come out of hiding just to try to touch Jesus cloak. Blind Bartimaeus sitting on the roadside to Jericho was desperate enough to yell and continue to yell for Christ despite the many who told him to be quiet. Hannah was desperate enough in her pleas before the Lord that the priest accused her of being drunk! What happened when these people became desperate…God showed up and did a mighty work! God wants to do mighty things in our desperate hearts!
If only I can have victory over the lie that so entangles my mind and heart. A desperate heart does not make me weak! A desperate heart doesn’t rob me of my Christianity! A desperate heart does not make me a bad person. A desperate heart opens a door for God to do something mighty. A desperate heart allows my faith to grow. A desperate heart molds me into who God wants me to be.
A desperate heart is sure to have some affect on those stress effects.
