Browsing Tag

stress

What Your Phone Can Teach You About Words

Posted on October 13, 2014

I have a friend who uses a passcode to lock her phone. She does this because her younger sisters always try to use her phone without her permission. They want to play the games on her phone and think its so much fun to read her text messages. Many times in the process they’d mess something up on her phone. They’d delete a photo she liked or mess up her settings. As you can imagine, my friend got really tired of her sisters messing things up on her phone. She decided to set up a passcode on her phone. Now, her sisters can’t access her phone since they don’t know the code.

Setting a passcode on your phone is a lot like what we should do with the words that we speak everyday. The words we speak can make or break us in life. The words we speak steer our lives. If we speak positive words, our lives get steered in good directions. Negative words can steer us off course quickly. Words have a lot of power in our lives. We should be choosing to put a passcode on our mouths just like we would on our phone. We should choose to be careful to guard our mouths and the words we speak. Proverbs puts it this way:

People who are careful about what they say will save their lives, but those who speak without thinking will be destroyed. – Proverbs 13:3

So how good are you about guarding your mouth? When you get angry do let your mouth run wild? Do you say things you regret? Or maybe you don’t feel good about yourself, so you constantly put yourself or others down. Challenge yourself to begin setting a passcode over your mouth. Don’t just say whatever you feel in the moment, but really guard the words that come out of your mouth.

The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings. – Proverbs 18:21

Just like you wouldn’t let just anyone use your phone to send text messages or take pictures, you should guard your mouth too. A great way to start guarding your mouth is to spend more time in God’s word. Its what you get into your heart that will ultimately come out of your mouth. If you spend time getting God’s word into your heart, then God’s word will be what is coming out of your mouth.

… What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts – Matthew 12:34

Choose to put a passcode over your mouth. Speak words of life that steer your life in a good direction!

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The Trap of Anger

Posted on September 22, 2014

We’ve all done it! We’ve gotten angry. There are a lot of reasons to get angry. You may have not gotten a good grade on your math test and you’re angry at yourself for not studying more. You could be angry because you see someone at your school getting bullied, and you wish that people treated others with more respect. Or perhaps you’ve gotten angry because someone auditioned for the school play and got the part you knew you deserved. Anger can come to us from many different sources.

Anger in itself isn’t necessarily bad. Its your response to anger that can make or break you in life. For example, if you got angry that you didn’t get a good grade on your math test. And let’s say you used that anger to motivate you to study harder for the next test. That response to anger would be good. You channeled your anger into something productive, like studying harder for a test.

Sometimes though, your response to anger can be bad. If you allow your anger to consume you you can do things you regret. The story of Cain in Genesis four is a good example of this. Cain got angry with his brother Abel and that anger drove him to ultimately kill Abel.

The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why does your face look sad? You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it.”

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” So they went to the field. Then Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. – Genesis 4:6-8 (ERV)

Cain made a bad decision out of anger. He chose to kill his brother Abel. Now, we know that killing someone is wrong, and most of us aren’t tempted to kill someone, but what do you do when someone gets something you feel is unfair? Do you talk about them behind their back? Give them the silent treatment? Or maybe try to get even with them?

Doing these types of things will not help you in the long run. It might make you feel better in the moment, but trying to get even or not treating someone nice isn’t the right way to respond to anger. When you get angry, you have a choice to make. Will you sin when you get angry and do something you may later regret, or will you channel that anger into something positive in your life. Ephesians 4:26 says it like this:

“When you are angry, don’t let that anger make you sin,” and don’t stay angry all day. – Ephesians 4:26

When you get angry, choose to not get even or hurt someone else. Choose instead to channel your anger into something positive.

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Help! My Parents Are Getting A Divorce

Posted on August 13, 2014

Divorce is never an easy thing to deal with. When your parents go through a divorce you’re faced with tons of different emotions. You have to face living in a different home or splitting time between two different homes, possibly feelings of abandonment and many other things. What do you do when it feels like your world as you knew it is now crumbling around you? Who should you turn to and what should you do?

Get the help you need. Most likely your parents divorce is affecting you. Probably more than you might let on to your friends or other family members. Its okay to feel angry, upset, let down and hurt at different times. Its okay if you need some help sorting through all your emotions and feelings. Get some help if you need it.
Don’t be afraid to get help if you need it. You’ve got people in your life that can direct you to get the help you need. A good place to start is by asking your pastor or youth pastor. They’ll be able to direct you to someone that you can talk to, or help you themselves. They also will be able to give you some resources to help you deal with this hard time in your life.
Go to God. It is easy in hard times like a divorce to pull away from God. Maybe you don’t understand why this is happening to you. Its easy when you don’t understand why to want to pull away from God. However, in hard times is when you need God the most.
Spend time reading your Bible and asking God to help heal your emotional hurts. He is able to be a father to you when maybe your father isn’t. He’s able to be a friend when you feel all alone. God is faithful and will be there when it feels no one else is. Don’t turn away from God in tough times, but pull close to Him.
God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. – Psalm 147:3 (CEB)
Give yourself time. It will take some time to work through your emotions. Don’t be unrealistic in your expectations of how long it will take you to heal emotionally. It will take time before things feel right in your life. Don’t get down on yourself if you have a bad day. Know that some days will be better than others. Give yourself some time to heal.

Divorce is never easy. It is hard on all those involved. The most important thing you can do is to use this tough time to bring you closer to God. God can heal the hurts inside of you that no one else can.

Check out this book: Abba: Finding Comfort in the Father After Your Parents’ Divorce it has lots of Jenny’s real-life feelings and stories of going through her parent’s divorce and also solid Bible teaching about how to deal with a divorce.

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How To Handle Life Changes

Posted on May 21, 2014

Sometimes, life brings lots of changes. Whether it’s a move to a new city, maybe a graduation from school, a new job, a divorce, you name it, those changes can be really stressful. So what are some good ways you can deal with the stress of a life change? Here’s a couple things to help make life change easier.

Draw close to God
Major life changes can really mess with your relationship with God if you’ll let them. When life changes happen, you’re faced with a choice. Will you let those changes draw you closer to God, or will you push Him away?
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:8 NLT)
Don’t be afraid
It’s really easy to fall into the trap of fear when life changes come. You know things aren’t going to be the same as before and many times the fear of the unknown or fear of the changes can become very real. Be sure to watch out for fear in your life and if you see it creeping in be sure to tell it no. Don’t allow fear to become something that holds you back.
Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand. (Isaiah 41:10 CEB)
Get Help
Don’t avoid asking for help if you need it. Your youth pastor or pastor has great life advice they can give you to help you through life change. Be willing to ask for their advice or help if you need it. God has placed these people in your life. They can be an encouragement when you need it the most.

Changes in life happen to us all. Sometimes, they’re harder to handle than others. The good thing to remember is that no matter how hard times get, you’re not alone. Find a pastor or youth pastor you can talk to or draw close to God and get his help and advice. God will encourage you like no one else can. Get close to God and see how awesome he really is!

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Don’t Sweat It!

Posted on April 2, 2014

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your mind is worried and you’re trying to figure everything out? It feels like all your peace has left and all you feel is stress.

Jesus gave us a promise and command . “Peace I leave with you. My own peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid- stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.” John 14:27

We must realize that peace is very strong- it’s not an absence of conflict, it’s a presence of God’s presence and power in our spirit. It belongs to us through Jesus. It’s the same peace that allowed Jesus to reach out and heal the soldier’s ear in the Garden of Gethsemane when his life was threatened. It’s the same peace that spoke to a storm to be still. It wasn’t the absence of trouble in Jesus’ life- but the presence of the power of peace that enabled Jesus to live free from stress.

Jesus left you that very same peace. Then he gave us a condition for that peace to reign every day of our lives. He said guard it- he said don’t allow yourself to get disturbed or fearful- don’t permit those feelings to make you forget the peace power you have. The doorway to your peace being robbed is your mind. When thoughts of doubt and fear hit you, hit them with God’s Word of truth by speaking them out loud.

For example, someone speaks badly about you. Your mind can dwell on it or you can close that door and say “if God be for me who can be against me?” and then forgive and rest in His peace.
If worry tries to upset you, find scriptures that combat that worry. “My God shall supply all my need” “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world”

When you guard your peace, it’s like shutting the door on your house and locking it. No robber can enter. You are secure. But when you allow your mind to worry and fear, then you have unlocked and open the door and enemies of your peace can come to steal it from you.

Prayer: Thank You Jesus for giving me your peace. I guard my peace today by thinking about Your power in me. I won’t allow situations and people to disturb me or make me afraid. I think right and I speak what I want to have happen, not what I feel or fear.

Straight Talk on Worry: Overcoming Emotional Battles with the Power of God’s Word!
This book has great insights on overcoming worry! If worry is something you struggle with, this book will help you kick the habit of worry.
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Feeling Overwhelmed?

Posted on June 10, 2013

As a teenager, your life is busy. You have many things that are begging for your attention. You’ve got things like a mountain of homework, your friends, family and job responsibility all asking for your time and attention.

As a doctor in a Washington Post article put it,

“Our teenagers are becoming more over-scheduled and over-stressed” – Anisha Abraham (Georgetown University Hospital) “

With so many responsibilites and things begging for your time, how should you decide your priorities and deal with all the stress that faces you daily?

Here’s a few things I found helpful when going through a stressful time in my life.

Make time for God – Always make sure that no matter how busy you are, that you’re allowing time in your life for God. Your time reading the Bible or listening to a good teaching mp3 is key to your success for the day. Its kind of like trying to drive a car without the tank full of gas. You can go for a bit on fumes, but you won’t go far if you don’t fill up with gas. Making time for God will fill up your spiritual gas tank so to speak. It helps you have the peace and gives you a foundation to stand on when things get tough in your life.
Learn to be ok with what you’re able to do – This isn’t an excuse to be lazy, but sometimes you have to learn to be okay with what you can do. You might not have the award winning science project and also be able to get first place in choir competition. That’s okay. Just do your best, but realize there are only 24 hours in a day and sometimes not everything will be perfect or get done exactly the way you would like it to be.
Pick what’s important – There are so many things calling for your attention. You have friends that want you to hang out. You’ve got homework to do for school and you need to practice your instrument for band tryouts. With so many things calling for your time you’ll probably have to say no to something. You’ll have to decide what things are the most important and then you may have to say no to some things that aren’t as important. If you don’t learn to say no to some things, you’ll find out you’re really stressed in life.

Its important to remember that when things get busy and stressful in life you can always go to God and ask for his help. Many times He can show you a plan or a creative way to get the things done that you need to do so that you don’t have as much stress in your life.

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“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” -Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

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Always be sure that in times of stress you don’t let your friendship with God slip. Its easy to leave God out when you get busy and feel the stress of everyday life. Your relationship with God is key to getting through stressful situations, so decide to not put it to the side.

Pray: God I come to you in the name of Jesus and I thank you for your help that is always there for me. You said that I could come to you to get grace and mercy in my time of need. I ask for your grace, I ask for your help now in my time of need and I believe that you are giving me the wisdom and strength I need to live today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Listen: I’m Good by Trip Lee

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