What are the top 3 mistakes Christians make when trying to reduce their stress?
I’ve struggled a lot with stress in my life. I’ve tried all kinds of stress reduction tools, many of which failed miserably.
And I’ve certainly made all 3 of these mistakes myself.
So if you’re scared to read this list, because you’re worried you’ll drown in shame, for being the woman who does these exact things, know that you’re not alone.
And tell shame to beat it in the name of Jesus. This is a place of glory where it’s safe to learn and grow with Christ.
How many times have you prayed for God to deliver you from your stress, but forgotten to show up and do the work with Him?
I’ve done this so much.
2 years ago when I came back to faith in Christ, I’d pray fervently for God to heal me.
I knew He could, because He’d just delivered me from demon possession. I’d witnessed the power and authority of God. I knew He was bigger than my mental health.
But I was weak in my faith, unable to take ownership of my role in this life He’d given me.
You have a mind, body and soul that all live within this natural world, and the constraints of it.
Yes, at times He supernaturally intervenes on your behalf and things just evaporate out of nowhere.
But mostly, He reaches out His hand, asks you to take hold of it, and guides you through and out of the valley, alongside of you.
Because growth doesn’t happen without the struggles.
You need the strain and tension of doing the hard things with God to help grow you into the woman He’s designed you to be.
You need that time with Him to prove to your heart that HE IS GOD.
That He is everything the scriptures say He is.
That He is good and faithful and true.
Jehovah Nissi (God your banner (victory)).
Jehovah Rapha (God who heals you).
Jehovah Jireh (God who provides for you).
Jehovah Shalom (God your peace).
The next time you’re struggling with stress and praying for healing, remember to show up, so you can walk that journey with Him.
Have you caught yourself ignoring your stress, pretending you’re bigger than it, in the hopes that it’ll go away on it’s own?
I love to do this one.
I get really distracted by all the things I know I can do. Because I’m great at being self-reliant.
“I can get through this,” I say with that determined tension in my voice…
All while my brows furrow deeper, my shoulders tighten higher, and my heart races faster.
Ignoring your stress will never make it go away on it’s own.
Not only do you want to do the work to release your stress, you want to ask yourself why it’s there in the first place.
Stress is your brain and body’s way of alerting you to something. It could be a physical danger, an emotional upset or that looming burnout because you’ve reached your limit in life.
Pausing to take a moment and notice why you’re stressed can bring so much awareness into your life.
And give you the right understanding of what changes to make (whether they be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual) to avoid further struggles in your life.
I’m guessing you’re not going to want to hear this one, because you love venting to your girlfriends.
But, venting never actually takes your stress away. It makes it worse.
I struggled so much with letting this one go.
I would talk incessantly with my best friend about every. single. detail. of every. single. part. of my life.
We would discuss what she said, and what he said, and what everyone was wearing and what that meant…
All the way into our early 30s when I finally dove into mental health and realized this was actually making my stress worse.
The reason you might be feeling better after is that you’re not alone in your pain anymore. When someone listens to you it feels so validating, which can take shame and embarrassment away, often lessening the pain you feel.
But venting will spiral your brain further into the stress your feeling, often making it worse in the long run.
Stress is your body’s reaction to that potential thing we just talked about in #2 (that physical danger, emotional upset, or looming burnout).
It’s the alarm that says “this is too much for me”.
To turn that off, you need to work with the parts of you responsible for your stress (your survival brain and nervous system).
They don’t understand scenarios. They understand danger and safety.
You can’t convince them that you’re fine by talking about every little detail.
You have to show them that you’re safe now and that those problems are no longer a threat to your survival.
You do this through mental health techniques designed for stress.
They talk specifically to your survival brain and nervous system to show them that you’re safe now, and can go back to the state of peace and rest.
You use mental health resources to turn off your stress.
You show up with God and use mental health techniques to turn it off, so you’re not relying on Him alone
You show up and do the work, addressing it even when you don’t want to, so you’re not ignoring it and making it
You show up with the right resources to turn it off, so you’re not spiraling in it
If you want to know what those resources are, check out my YouTube channel here.
You’ll find all the techniques that I use daily in my own life to release my stress, and in my work with woman from all over the world.
If you want the full length version of these videos and audios, come join me in the Christian Stress Release Membership.
You’ll get access to every technique that I use in their longest versions (videos and audios), plus personal support from me to help you tailor this for your own struggles in life.
I’m praying for you ♥
– L aura
