We all go through ups and downs in our lives. Easy times and hard times as it were…. and as I have shared so many times in my mission management workshop; it is all about staying the course of purpose, driving hard to the finish line that God has called us to strive for, and to accept those good times and bad times, all in the same stride.
Some of you who have made it through that workshop will have heard more of the details of the loss of my left eye sight, followed closely by the IRS audit, and a window where the 7 healthsprout offices were upside down. It was a whirlwind of stress, and I had… at that time, never walked through such stress before. It was horrible, and it was painful and tense… and then ultimately, it was liberating.
Why? Because I learned what it really meant to throw it at the feet of Jesus. For those of you reading who aren’t Christians… all good, we can get along just fine. But the idea of “giving it away” needs to be as real for you as it is for me. Carrying it on your own doesn’t work, but sharing the burden is key.
When you learn that there is no reason to fight with an intent or expectation of winning “your way”, but rather in life, challenge is to be endured for the purpose of serving the purpose that you began the fight for. That is the beauty. Break that down a bit, and get comfortable with it… I needed to right now, to re-visit this lesson. My expectations become my stress. I am placed in the life struggle, not for the win, but for the value of the struggle… Iron sharpens Iron so to speak.
So if I endure the fight for the value of the fight, then my reasons for stress go down. Significantly.
Purpose Driven Life is a best selling book. For a good reason… all people want purpose, and all of us are willing to stop and invest time to figure out what that purpose is. A purpose driven life.
I have been dealing with an incredible amount of stress in the last five to six weeks. Stress related to the development that I am working on, both in Woodstock and Milton. The funny thing is, that I have proclaimed that stress will not impact me, and I have been right, for 10 years I have been right. But here and now, amid a new set of stresses, and a new set of circumstances, I have let myself become stressed because of that word… expectation.
So I write this sprout today, asking any and all of you who have let stress impact you at all in your life, to join me, and get back on a track of stress free living, no matter how stressful the events that you face might be. Getting to this place isn’t easy, it took me walking through to the point where I realized I had no control, only effort, to get me through this when I first “learned” the lesson. Re-learning the lesson has been easy because nothing else has reached that level of stress in my life… until now. And I realize now, that it takes a daily commitment to the “what will happen if…” questions that allow us to open up and become peaceful.
I know we all walk through different types of stress all the time, from losing loved ones, to losing jobs, etc. Regardless of the stress, there is a place of peace available. Focus on the positive, and that the outcome is simply an outcome. I read about a women who took her life this past weekend because she was about to be sentenced for embezzling money from a company she had worked for. All I could think was “I wonder what amazing things she could have done for people and for God in prison?”
Who wants to live in prison? Nobody. But who can do amazing huge things for people in prison? Anybody. It doesn’t have to be that bad.
Be blessed and be well! – Dr. E