How Can Stress Be Good for You?

Stress management is what every person attempts to do each day. Infants who feel stress have a way of the alerting parents or caretakers to their discomfort. Stress continues to be an issue at every phase of life since society is continuously changing and will generate feelings of fear and uncertainty.

Yet change can be challenging, even helpful, if hope for the future is built on faith in God’s promises. So stress can be good when it promotes a healthier lifestyle plus serves as motivation for trusting God’s purpose for your future. Life is not easy, but if you actually expect God to intervene, your faith will be your security.

There are individuals who believe all stress is bad because of the ways it affects their thinking and feelings. One way to reduce stress is to redefine your life based on God’s purpose for you. 

Can you say, “God knows every detail of my choices and still approves of my life?” If not, make the necessary changes so he will approve.          

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He has saved and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

~2 Timothy 1:9 New International Version

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How Do We Find Happiness and Joy in Difficult Times?

 Being happy requires more than enjoying life filled with fun, although fun may be connected to doing something relaxing and easy or completing a difficult and challenging task. When my dad taught me how to drive a farm tractor, it was difficult and stressful but still fun.

I never cease to be amazed by those who look back on a particular timeframe that was emotionally and physically demanding and say it was actually a good time. Couples who truly love each other will often say it was the difficult struggles that brought them closer together.

Happiness depends on your perspective of the past, present, and future. Trusting God to have a definite purpose in whatever you’re facing creates feelings of security and fulfillment. Listen to Romans 15:13: “May God, the source of all hope, fill you with joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  May it be so with you.  

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Today is holy to our Lord, so don’t be sad. The joy that the Lord gives you will make you strong.

~Nehemiah 8:10 Good News Bible

 

You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills, the trees of the field – all the world around you – will rejoice.

~Isaiah 55:12 The Living Bible

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Trusting God's Purpose

 

Early in childhood little boys and girls begin to say what they want to be when they grow up. Adolescent children verging on adulthood tend to examine more realistic career choices that will provide meaning and purpose to their lives. Some individuals choose a career that reflects God’s blessings as well as his special calling.

It’s possible to give in to the temptation of taking the path of least resistance, which requires minimal effort, instead of striving to be the very best God intended. Discovering what gives meaning and purpose to life is usually revealed through difficult challenges and a strong commitment to serve Christ Jesus.

It's important to believe God has a purpose for your life. Being committed to discovering God’s purpose ensures you will find it. Isaiah 26:3 gives this promise, "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm because they trust you." You were created for a special purpose, so take delight in that knowledge.                     

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After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.

~Ecclesiastes 12:13 Good News Bible

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Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week.