Is your life full of stress? Modern life is full of situations, deadlines, frustrations, and demands. In our world today, stress is so normal that it has become a way of life. Now stress is not always a bad thing, stress is nothing more than your body attempting to protect itself from a perceived threat or something that upsets you. The problem is that in modern society too many people live with chronic stress and that is a bad thing. Chronic stress over time has a destructive effect both physically and spiritually. Over time chronic stress adversely impacts your body, your mind and your emotions but it doesn’t stop there; it also has a negative impact on all of your relationships even your relationship with God.

Let’s look at some of the most prevalent causes of stress in our modern society:

· Worries, worrying will definitely produce stress. There are things that throughout history humans have worried about, but in our modern society we have to worry about so much more, things like losing your cell phone or electronic tablets that carry so much personal information; we have to worry about identity theft.

· A fast-paced world, so many more things that need to be done, so much more entertainment. Everything changes so rapidly, you see it in the products you purchase. Styles change so rapidly. Last month’s computers and televisions are already obsolete, same thing with clothing, cars, furniture … everything moves so rapidly.

· Urbanization, with more and more people moving into large cities the crowds just seem to get bigger and bigger. This means more traffic and more lines everywhere: at the bank, supermarket, drugstore, etc.

· More choices, more choices produces indecision. Just the other day I went to buy myself some cold medicine, wow that was stressful! There were so many different products I could not figure out which one to choose.

· Loss of privacy, everywhere you go someone wants your email address, every time you order or purchase a product or service someone is watching your every move, at every street corner in every business there are cameras watching you.

· Pluralism, with so many people of different cultures, beliefs, religions, political views and lifestyles living together this tends to cause people to be on the one hand sensitive and on the other argumentative.

· Fear of the future, on television, on the radio, in newspapers and in magazines there is some expert, scientist, politician or religious leader telling us that the world is coming to an end.

The truth is that there are many things to worry about in a modern society and all of these contribute to raising our stress levels to such a degree that many people are presently living with chronic stress. But the good news is that those of us who have a relationship with God don’t have to live that way. We need to remember the most famous psalm in the Bible, a psalm that for thousands of years has helped countless numbers of people to deal with the stress in their lives.

Psalms 23 NIV

1The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lordforever.

In a stressful world make God your shepherd. Make Him the leader, guide and pilot of your life. Ask him to lead you to rest and to refresh your soul. Invite him to guide you, to protect and defend you and place your future in His hands. It is said that the very first seven minutes of a person’s day shapes and determines the rest of the day.

Let me give you the best stress-relieving exercise known to mankind, guaranteed to lower you levels of stress no matter what’s going on around you. Begin your day in the presence of your Heavenly Father and begin by declaring, the Lord is my shepherd I lack nothing.

It’s simple, begin every day declaring, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Heavenly Father, I’m grateful that You are my Shepherd and nothing’s missing in my life, that you love me so much that you’re taking me to green pastures to rest. I want to live so that you’re impacting my life and not this fast-paced world which only causes me stress.