If you are stressed, you should read this — but don’t let it stress you out.

In the high-speed, wired, always-reachable 21st century America we live in, chronic stress is very hard to avoid. The American Psychological Association finds year in and year out that the most common stressors are pretty much universal: money, work, “the economy,” family and relationships. So, odds are, unless you are wealthy, retired and have a perfect family and perfect friends, stress is a part of your life. Even though stress may be a part of your life, it doesn’t have to control your life and rob you of the quality of life that God intended for you to have. If you’re stressed out, let Jesus help you. Let Him help ease the anxiety and heart wrenching emotions that come along with emotions and events that you cannot control.

Chronic stress that is allowed to build has long-term negative impacts on health, research has shown. Stress is linked to shorter lifespans, higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, depression and less effective immune systems. And since stress has such negative impact on your life, doesn’t it make sense to get some help for it?

Acute or short-term stress — for example, the thrill of skiing down a mountain, pressure to make a deadline, experiencing a fender-bender or loss of a contract — “isn’t that big of a deal,” said James C. Woodson, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Tampa who studies the impact stress has on memory. “It’s that chronic long tern stress that really wears away at us.”

Stressful environments — whether it’s a long, difficult commute, a hostile workplace, a deteriorating marriage or financial woes — even lead to changes in the brain over time.

But there is good news, too.

The brain changes “used to be looked at as damage, but we see now that they’re reversible,” said Mr. Woodson. By creating less stressful environments, or by simply re-framing and praying about the current environment, the impact of stress can be turned back, he said.

He compared the process to a liver of a long-time drinker. In some cases — with alcoholic fatty liver disease or alcoholic hepatitis — the damage can be reversed if the person stops drinking. Or an out-of-shape person’s heart may improve and strengthen once the person begins working out.

“There is increasing evidence that there are buffers [to stress],” said Sheldon Cohen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Things like exercise and a strong social support system can reduce the effects of chronic stress, he said.

Mr. Cohen also emphasized that many stressors are outside of a person’s control. A bad job, for example, is not necessarily easy to escape from. Even though many stressors are outside of your control, they are NOT outside of Jesus’s control. As Your personal Lord and Savior, Jesus can control what you can’t. He can change what you can’t. You don’t have to stay locked up in a prison cell of bad and stressful situations. You can ask Jesus to help you with whatever is stressing you out.

“There’s always something out there that will try and stress you out, but you don’t have to be helpless to fight back”. Use Your Kingdom right as a child of God to ask Jesus Christ to help you manage your stress. In addition, there may always be something that is not within your control but learning to deal with and control what you can and asking Jesus for help with what you can’t control is very vital in escaping the snares of stresses evil clutches.

Stress may be very hard to avoid, but the solutions don’t cost much. Exercise, sleep, meditation or yoga activities, healthy eating, good relationships with friends and family, praying and asking Jesus for help will help you better deal with whatever stress that you may be having to go through… This may be the same advice your mother gave you, but now science seems to agree.

Want Jesus’s help in dealing with Your Stress? If so, join us in this simple prayer;

Dear Jesus,
I’ve invited you to become my personal Lord and Savior. I am now asking you to help me control and manage the stress that exists in my life. I am asking you to help the stress that exists in my life to be changed to be something beautiful in my life that honors you and Glorifies God. As a limited Human Being, I am unable to control many aspects of my life and the many factors that surround the stress that has shown up in my life. I don’t want to be stressed out anymore Jesus, so Help me Jesus, I pray. Be my Lord and My Savior and Save me I pray. – Amen!