Happy Wednesday!

Well, tomorrow is the day! I will go to my second class on the Book of Common Prayer. I will lead the class in the evening prayer service from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Please pray for me as I, the lone Lutheran at Brite, will lead the first service of the semester with a class primarily filled with Episcopalians.

2 Corinthians 12: 9: “Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

If I had to choose the most common ailment among most people it would be stress. It seems that everyone is under stress about something. Today one of my colleagues was so distraught over the performance of the children in her class that she was in tears. Stress is a part of our lives. But while it is a part of our lives, it does not have to run our lives. When the stresses of home, family, work, health and difficult decisions begin to overtake our thoughts and we think we are going to have a come apart, STOP!

Come apart with God and regroup before you really come apart. God has promised us through Jesus that His grace is all we need to get through times of stress. Stress comes in situations in which we do not have control. When we control a situation we can usually control the outcome. But when the situation is out of our control then we must surrender it over to God who has given us the tools to be strong in our weakness. It is also at times of the darkness of adversity that the light of God shines its brightest and gives off its greatest warmth. Our surrender allows God’s greatest chance to work His grace and strength into our lives and relieve our stress because the stress is not longer ours. The stress belongs to God as we gave it over to Him. Now that you have given the situation over to God, don’t take it back!
The next time you are overcome by stress and think there is no way to climb out of the darkness, open up your heart and allow the grace that God so desires to bless each of us with and surrender the stress and relax.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.