Pressure

"What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?" - Luke 9:25

Do you feel that life is filled with pressure, pressure, pressure? Do you ever feel like running away, checking out, giving up? Pressure to be. Pressure to do. Pressure to perform. Pressure to produce. And with the pressures come anxiety and stress. I felt that way a few months ago, like I just want to throw everything away, raise both my hands in surrender and give up. I get sick every time it's time for me to go to work. I literally felt like I was dragging my feet to work everyday. I was hospitalized during the holidays and because of that I had the chance to stop and think about stuff. I know for a fact that I am happiest when I am living the life God planned for me, using the personality and talents He gave me. And I am most miserable when I barter a portion of my God-given self for short-term earthly gain. I then realized that due to recent changes in my work environment, I was no longer doing my job "Christian-like". I pressure my people to come to work even when they are not feeling well. I limit their breaks and squeeze every juice I can get out of them. It was just not fun for them and for me anymore. We were not allowed to "chit-chat" with colleagues which made the work place seem like Alcatraz. This is not where I want to be, that was my self-realization. Then I got scared. How can I leave my job that pays me more than the salary of my 3 kids combined? Especially now that my kids' band A.K.A. needs all the financial support they can get from me. We are scheduled to shoot our 2nd music video, which my small production company is producing. We have scheduled concerts which my company is producing! What am I going to do Lord? The Feng Shui experts on TV said that people born on the year of the rooster will experience extreme bad luck this year. Oh wow! What a great way to start the New Year! Then I heard God's voice telling me not to fear and I felt calm, comforted, reassured. What will I fear? I am a child of God. Luck does not control my fate, God does. My Father is in control, what more do I need? Realistically, life is never going to slow down. The pressure is never going to lessen, the stress and anxiety will always be there in one form or another. But God knows the pressure, the stress, the anxiety of earthly life. He has provided a way of escape so that we can endure it... How? By Worshiping Him, when we worship Him in prayer, in our daily routine, in our relationship with other people, we move into a consciousness of His Presence, and the tension begins to unravel, the tautness of the pressure eases, anxieties become meaningless, for we are reminded that He is there.

"Self-regard is not always a bad thing, especially if you're protecting the self God gave you." - Jim Seybert