Trust More & Stress Less

How to Avoid Mental and Emotional Overload

Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart

and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 (AMP)

Several years ago, I took some time to study the connection between our thoughts and our emotional and physical health. What I discovered simply amazed me...

Research shows that many mental, physical, and behavioral illnesses come from our thought life.1 There is no doubt that the mind and body are definitely connected!

For instance, we can actually stress ourselves out just by the way we think. So often, we believe our circumstances are to blame for our unhappiness; however, it’s the way we think about our circumstances that usually causes worry and stress.

Stress is truly a modern-day epidemic. It’s been proven to cause issues like muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, insomnia, gastro-intestinal problems, constipation, and diarrhea.2 And that’s only a few of the symptoms!

The good news is God has given us the answer for stress. What’s His prescription? Trust. Proverbs 3:5 (AMP) says, Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understandings.

Trusting God is the greatest stress reliever in the world, and our minds play an important role in the process. We have a choice. We can “rely on our own insight and understanding”—endlessly thinking about our problems, trying to figure everything out ourselves.

Or we can choose to adopt a trusting attitude that says, “God, I don’t know what to do about this situation, but I can’t fix it on my own. If You want me to do something, I ask You to show me. Meanwhile, I’m going to trust You and enjoy my life while You work on my problems.”

When life throws you a curve and you’re tempted to get stressed-out, I encourage you to choose positive, faith-filled thoughts from God’s Word. You can think, The Lord is going to take care of this. It doesn’t matter what it looks like—I believe God is working!

The truth is, God knew about your problem before you ever got it, and He already has a plan for your solution. In the meantime, you can choose to enjoy your life while you wait. He has equipped you with the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), and with His help, you can trust more and stress less.

1www.cdc.gov.2www.mayoclinic.org

Walk It Out: This lesson goes hand in hand with what we discussed about worry on Day 4. God never meant for us to be anxious, worn out, or stressed out about life. He desires for us to trust Him with everything.

Read Proverbs 3:5-6. Is there a situation in your life right now that is stressing you out? If so, take a moment to pray, give it to God, and let Him know that You are trusting Him to take care of it all.

Study Tip: Today, let’s look at what God’s Word says about His strength for your life. Read Habakkuk 3:19; Isaiah 40:30-31, 41:10; Psalm 18:29, 27:13-14.