Stressed and Worried

I've been stressed out so much for the past week. I was tired every day at school. One night I even went to bed at 8:30 -- I was still tired in school the next day. I decided that it doesn't have to do with the amount of sleep I got as much as it had to do with the amount of stress I was dealing with. I think most of this stress comes straight from being in band. A lot of times stress can come just from being busy all the time, and boy does marching band keep you on your toes (literally). But in addition to this there's school, where I'm always having to read all sorts of books and remember formulas and equations from Pre-Cal. Last week all of this just circled up and attacked me.

It seems like we're all pretty stressed out all the time. So often when you ask someone how they're doing they'll say, "I've been really busy lately." Not only are we busy, but it seems like today's culture has given us the idea that if we aren't busy doing something that we're completely unproductive and we're wasting our time. I'm pretty sure that this is so far from the truth. So much of my ability to function relies on having time to just relax and not worry about getting something done. I wish I had more of that time, I wish everyone could have more of that time.

I have a story to tell. Tonight the Praise Band played at a church event called "Family Fest." It was a lot of fun, but I feel like so much of the event was people stressing out. We haven't had a lot of time to rehearse and it seems like everyone was worried about playing in front of people. It's really easy to lose sight of what we were there for. "Praise Band" is supposed to be all about worshipping God, but it's easy to lose the part about worship and just worry about the notes and rhythms. Tonight, God totally took control and brought everything together. The Praise Band played wonderfully and we worshipped. It seems like, though, even after playing when we were packing things up that there was still some stress all around. We were rolling up chords and I just wanted to take a moment and say a prayer together praising God for how successful the night was, but a lot of people were so worried about getting things packed up that prayer wasn't the first thing on their mind.

So, what I want you to take from this lesson is just that God doesn't want us to be stressing out about stuff all the time. We need to try to put some time in our day just to relax and calm down. Some time to let everything go and just pray. So I encourage everyone to do that this week. Try to put in, maybe just 30 minutes a day, where you can read your Bible for about 15 minutes and then spend the next 15 minutes or so reflecting on it, praying about it, and maybe even journaling about it. I'm going to make an effort to do that this week. I encourage all of you to try and do the same.

There's an awesome verse that I basically lived on last week. It kept me going all week long and gave me a feeling of safety and security in God's arms. I'm going to end this lesson with the verse. Here it is, from Philippians 4. Take these words and live by them this week. I know you'll be able to stress out less, worry less, and be more at peace.

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Amen. I love you guys. God Bless.

Much love in Christ,
Drew

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Forgive and Forget?

Sorry for the lack of a bible lesson yet this week. It's been a super hectic-crazy week for me so far. In the mean time I'll share this short little lesson called "Forgive and Forget?" that Eric Schumann posted on the Message Board. It seems to be a lot along the theme of the lessons that Greg wrote in the past couple of weeks.

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“…If you forgive men of their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Says Matthew 6:14-15. This is very easily understood: If you want God to forgive you, you must forgive others.

A common myth is that you can intentionally sin because you know that God will forgive you. Understand that only if you ask forgiveness and repent will you be forgiven. (“…Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.− Luke 13:5) By the way, now is a good time to tell you what repent means. Webster’s English Dictionary says, “Repent- to wish one had not done something, and to feel regret and wish to change from evil ways”. So, how can God forgive you if you have no intention to change your ways? He won’t! Remember that Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Thus, you can be saved (grace) if you believe (faith) in the scripture, which, again, says that you must repent or you will perish.

“The grace of the LORD Jesus be with you all forever. Amen.”