"God You are so happy."

I love conversations. If we are willing to listen, we will hear things that blow our mind. I was listen to someone pray yesterday and they simply acknowledged that God was happy, "God you are so happy."
Man, that just stuck. God is happy. Then I asked myself why is God happy? Why would God be SO happy. Then as soon as I asked that to myself, the answer was revealed. "God is not stressed about anything."

Let that sink in: God is not stressed about anything. How does that contrast to our lives? IF we are His image bearers, are we to be a representation of Him? And if so, are we then to deal with stress the way God does? "But God is not stressed about anything?" Exactly!! You see that is the point. God doesn't deal with stress, b/c there is nothing that can stress Him.

So when we get stressed do we represent God? Are we being good stewards of His image? The theological answer is no. No, we are niether good stewards nor good representations of Him. If people see us as believers stressed out they will automatically assume that God gets stressed out in the same way.

"So am I not to get stressed out?" Exactly! Period, end of discussion. The answer is really that simple, but for our complicated reasoning we continue.

"How do I not get stressed out?"

1. Understand that God is in control.

I often say, mostly for me, "If God is in control nothing is out of control." We know that the word tells us that God is in control of all things. Does this imply that I must be in control in order not to have stress? No, it simply means, God is still in control when my life is out of control. It means that my life situation does not lessen who God is. That God is still the Sovereign God with or without me.
It also means that IF I will give God control of my life, it will never be out of His control. IF God is in control and nothing is out of control, it means then the best person I can let handle my problems and stresses, is that One who is never caught off guard and therefore never out of control. Even thought "things" may happen in my life, I can trust that God is in complete control. The first step to not being stressed out is to give control of your life to the only One who is never stressed, even if it is daily.

2. Understand what matters.

This is probably where most of us, including me, acquire most of our stress. When we have a misconception of what matters. I believe that we really do not have a firm grasp on this. We all notice the "Big" things, but fail to identify the little things. This is why I say this is where we acquire the most stress. Big thing only happen once in a while, it is the little things that are always at our door step. "What to wear, what to say, where to go, how to get there, is the bill paid, is the grass to high, are the kid fed, and where is the remote! Wow, now I am stressed out! You see, that is the point. Just listing them causes us to freak out, which is due to stress.
What if none of those things really mattered? (Not saying your kids don't matter) But, what if the small stuff was the biggest stuff that caused of your stress? What if none of it really mattered?
"In comparison to what?" In comparison to being happy. This is funny because now we are stressing over how to be happy! We have somehow bought into the lie that stress is a part of life. I want to tell you right now, we have being cheated. We are being robbed of happiness and true fulfillment. We are allowing our lives to be stolen from us. Why? "Because that is the way life is."
Really, what if that is not good enough anymore? What if we woke up and accepted nothing less then God enough. What if stress was one of those things that we surrendered at salvation? What if?
What if God is really in control and nothing is out of control? What if I really have given Him control of my life? What if nothing matters outside of living the happiest life God has created me to live? What if?

You see God is SO happy. What if the only time He is not that way is when we are not that way? Think about it.



"So we are not to be stressed?" Right again! Period, end of discussion.

"Is it that simple?" Yes. How?

1. Understand that God is in control.

I say this all the time, "If God is in control nothing is out of control." This is fundamental. Until we grasp this we will alway sweat the small stuff. God has no reason to be stressed, b/c He has all things under His control. This does not imply that we must have everything under control not to have stress. No, it simply means that because God does, we can trust Him to be in control when we are not.