Stressors

One of the topics I had to learn in my communication class was stress at the work place. Job stress is defined as harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when the requirements of the job do not match the capability, resources or needs of the employee. Job stress can lead to poor health, characterized by symptoms such as aching muscles, loss of appetite, restless sleep, complete sense of exhaustion, short temperateness and being irritable about non issues.

Our lecturer asked us to identify things or issues that would cause an employee to be distracted, lose focus or perform below expectations.Some of the ideas floated in class include workload, lack of job satisfaction, feeling undervalued, deadlines and no time to meet them, frustration with the working environment, seeing others not pulling their weight and lack of support from management. Many have designed internal programs to reduce employee stress, that suggest a balance between work and family or personal life,a support network of friends and coworkers and a relaxed and positive outlook of life.

What about when the stress management ideas mentioned above are the cause of stress? Then what? You cannot run away from family ....really. You cannot live in an island of your own without friend or better still foe....and sometimes your view of life is clouded by the thoughts and feelings of turmoil, resentment even bitterness. At this point it almost feels like being in the wilderness alone with the devil! That is when shut down begins, one feels lost, no energy physical or otherwise. Looming doubts question even that faith that we have held unswervingly  Misguided we take the pace away from the direction that God wants us to take.

This is the place where I am now. Stranded in my heart, but...but... I will forge ahead. Faith, ever so present even in despair weaves the strands of my soul. Weary of the struggle, I will let the love of God wash across my heart. To memory jumps the scripture "...in your weakness then I am strong. 

2nd Cor 12:9-119 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I will therefore not wallow in clouds of despair, I will not wait for stressors to overtake and overwhelm me. At my end, that is where God begins. I will seize this day, I will be strong, I will be the best and pursue the best. I will be thankful for work, for family, for friends even though they are at times stressors. I will pick up and move on. Eternally grateful for life, I will yield my days to HIM. To lead and guide, to handle that which I can't in this tapestry of life. For he has promised"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Fill my mind Lord with your peace.