Today you may find yourself facing stressful times. No matter the cause, you find your level of stress much higher than usual. If the facts were known, these times are taking a tremendous toll on the carefree living you usually have in your life. How do you cope in such circumstances?
John Wayne was a famous movie star. He was a down to earth type of guy, who shared his advice on life from time to time. Once when asked about facing life with courage amid stressful times, he said this, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” Life is going to bring hard times in your life. Your response is to be courageous. Yes, take courage and face life full on. An anonymous author states it this way, “Courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to push on in the face of it.” You do not allow the heartaches of life to get you down; you lift yourself up and push on anyway.
Jesus talked to his disciples a few days before He was crucified. He told them that He was going to go away from them. Of course, they were extremely saddened to hear the news. Jesus wanted to cheer them up, and to give them counsel as to how to overcome their saddened hearts. He said to them in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” You know fully well that life on earth has its fill of tribulations that you must endure. Jesus tells you to “take courage.” You are not to take courage in yourself but in the power that is available to you from Jesus Himself.
The stressful times will come, and they will also leave. The manner in which you endure those stressful times is for you to get, from the Lord Jesus, the courage to move forward. He is only a prayer away. Use stressful times to bring you before the throne of grace. The result is God’s “peace.”
