Stress, a prayer, and a promise

Life can be stressful. Today was one of those days.



We had a meeting planned at school with some parents and their lawyer: not a promising prospect. As I prepared for work I paused and checked for “internal” messages. I basically threw up a prayer that sounded like, “God, got anything to help me today?”



I paused and a fragment of a verse came to mind: “No weapon forged against you…” That’s all I got, but it was all I needed. I went to BibleGateway.com, plugged in the snippet and found what I was looking for: Isaiah 54:17.

(During my 20s, 30s, and 40s I read the entire Bible on average of once a year. That’s why snippets of verses “live” in me. It’s not magical: it’s purposefully ingrained.)



Here’s the whole verse: “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me declares the LORD.”

Well, I immediately felt better. I felt more confident and assured as I went into a day that would hold… God knew what.



The anticipated stress did not actually materialize. The parents were no-shows and the meeting was postponed.

But anticipated stress is still stressful. One stress relieving strategy is to pause, check for messages, listen and see if God doesn’t have some message especially suited for you.




“Give us this day, our daily bread…” Sometimes it is bread for the soul that we need: He’s got that too.

A final thought. My favorite prayer in the Bible is the one “prayed” by Peter, who after walking on water began to sink. He said simply, “Help, Lord!” And Jesus put out his hand and helped him back into the boat.



So the next time you need help, take a page from Peter: “Help, Lord!” Someone may just give you a hand. (That was what I needed today: a little help. And I got it via some words of promise and comfort. Ahhhh…)