“Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22
Have you ever felt so stressed and overwhelmed with things that within seconds of feeling and behaving totally normal, you find yourself erupting like a volcano, saying and doing things that are out of character for you? Have you ever felt like that when someone walks by wearing a T-shirt that says something like “Too Blessed to be Stressed”? Did you ever want to scream, strangle them or, at least, respond in a way you knew deep down would have been totally inappropriate? Come on, whether or not we have seen those T-shirts, most of us have, at times, felt so overwhelmed with things that are happening within and around us that we have said things we knew were wrong, and reacted in ways that certainly did not glorifying Yehovah. So, what causes that stress and what can we do about it? Firstly, it can be linked to a health issue, such as depression and anxiety. On some occasions, it may well be that the cause of that is a chemical imbalance in our bodies, and it can, therefore, be something which may be helped or rectified by a doctor prescribing medication to adjust the chemicals back in line with what they should be. However, it has been said that one of the biggest causes of stress is when something external to us happens that we cannot control or influence. Often that is linked to pressure that another person is putting on us, to the point of manipulation, control, bullying and coercion. We cannot “prescribe” miraculous, pain-free deliverances in short readings like this, but we do know that Yehovah understands and wants us to be free from the oppression which comes into our lives through things such as internally or externally induced pressure. We are told to CAST our burdens on Yehovah, to not allow our hearts to be troubled, to be anxious for nothing, but instead to ask Yehovah to release us from such captivity of mind. Know today that Yehovah is aware of your situation; He wants to deliver you from the chains that bind you. Turn to Him today and ask Him to comfort your heart and mind – and begin to show you the way out of the maze that stress has got you locked into. He will deliver you and bring you into a place of comfort and strength – where you know He is in charge and that He has delivered you.