Internal Stress

You know when you begin to feel yourself getting sick? I’ve felt that way the past couple of days but when I finally went to bed last night it hit me. I felt awful with a sore throat, head cold, and cough. I felt as though my body was tired but I was restless. Whenever this happens, I always know that internally I must be stressed. Sometimes it takes me getting sick to realize that I am stressed. I can’t really describe how it feels except that I go about life as if nothing is wrong and I’m happy and healthy, and then I feel overwhelmed, stressed, and restless. Sometimes I am in denial of this because I don’t see a literal reason as to why I am stressed. It is only when I feel sick and start thinking about what may have caused me to feel stressed internally and the list goes on. I begin to think about all that I have to "do" and accomplish and think about the next couple of weeks and all that I have ahead of me.


After thinking about it, I realized that the main reason why I become internally stressed is my lack of Pursuing Him. If I were pursuing Him, I wouldn't feel overwhelmed and stressed. This brings me to a great point, I'm not perfect and I strive to pursue Him wholeheartedly, but I also fall short. I need to be reminded daily to Pursue Him in everything, which includes giving Him my burdens the moment I begin to experience them. Jesus reminded me that he has a solution to this problem of carrying my own burdens in His word:


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28


God says that we must COME to Him in order to find rest for our souls. We can't expect Him to know that we are carrying our burdens and He will just lift them. We must take action and get on our knees and acknowledge that we need Him to lift our burdens and take them from us so that we can experience His REST. Once I wrote down each burden and began praying over them, I felt His peace overcome me. It was then that I was able to receive what God offers us in this scripture-but only because I went to Him and gave Him my burdens and felt him bring me rest.


Another scripture comes to mind about giving the Lord our burdens.


1 Peter 5:7 says "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."


The study notes in my Bible describe this very well: "Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let others in God's family help you. Sometimes we think that our struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don't submit to your circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances." It amazes me to think about the weight that God carries if we all give him our burdens. As this scripture says though, He cares for us and wants to give us rest.


I'm still sick, and have been resting all day and taking it easy as best I can. I realize that I cannot rest all day and night the next few days, so the Lord reminded me with another scripture that He can help me when I feel tired and weary. Pursuing Him requires commitment to reading His word, listening to His voice, and being obedient to Him.


"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31


Again, responding to this scripture takes action. We must come to the Lord and ask Him to renew our strength and increase our power when we feel weak. We must put our hope in Him so that we can run and not grow weary. We must trust that He will give us strength when we are weary and tired and in order to receive that we must rely on Him by asking for it, receiving it, and walking in it. And so, I encourage you to pursue Him when you begin to feel any internal stress. Meditate and sit on these scriptures. Acknowledge that you need God's help to lift your burdens and believe that He is taking them when you give them to Him. Walk in the confidence that He offers and trust Him to handle your burdens.