Weekly Prayer:
Stress and Overwhelm

First, please allow me to apologize for not sending a prayer page regularly these past several weeks. I have been very busy moving from Kansas City, Missouri to Jacksonville, Florida in my new position as Senior Minister of the Unity Church of Jacksonville. My dear husband, Michael, and I moved here at two different times. I came down earlier, moved into a short-term apartment, and have just moved again into a house with him. Due to spending many, many hours learning my congregation and new job, I have neglected to provide you with a weekly prayer page.

So is it any wonder, considering the recent changes in my life, that I would write about stress and the feeling we often call "overwhelm?" I have felt it far too often, in my very human nature.

This has caused me to think over and over again about the truth of our lives and whether we are in error thought (sin) when we make excuses, become sick, or feel out of control due to our stress level. Are we missing the mark when we give in to life's stresses or to that overwhelming feeling? After much prayer over a period of weeks, I have confirmed my knowing that allowing our lives to be out of conrol and giving in to the stresses of our lives is not right thinking. It is not in alignment with God's plan of peace for our lives.

Over and over we read that Jesus said, "Go in peace," and "My peace I leave with you." I haven't taken those awesome, peace-filled promises seriously recently. Have you?

The Master told us he came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. Are we enjoying the abundant, full life He planned when we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off, being people-pleasers to our own detriment, and saying "yes" too often because we don't have the emotional strength to say "no?"

Will you pray with me that we get our lives under control, settle into healthier life styles, and live according to the wishes of our Divine Creator?

Dearest God,

Thank You for my life. Thank You for the power to change my mind, correct my course, and start over again any time I need to.

Will You guide me to into calmer seas? Will You help me stop the self-sabotage of giving in to stress, saying "yes" way too often, and over-scheduling to the point of exhaustion?

God, I need You and claim your power in my life. Please send Your Holy Spirit of guidance, teaching, and comfort to direct my path.

I commit to You this day to cease my current human-doing and reclaim myself as a human-being. I want time to BE with You, BE alone, and BE with friends and colleagues in a healthful, restful way - and on my current path those things are impossible.

Help me to see myself clearly in each moment. I choose self-awareness so that I might become more self-actualized in the truth of all the good that You are - and all the good I express!

I feel You moving within me, uplifting me, changing me in this very moment. I breathe very deeply of the love we have for each other - and all beings. I stop long enough to feel the oneness and enjoy and appreciate this life.

I am in gratitude for my life, my health and relationships, my prosperity, my potential for continued growth, and for the calmer, more peaceful days that are ahead of me. Thank you, God, for helping me make wiser decisions so that I might enjoy your gift of life as I "neither toil nor spin."

And so it is - amen.