5 Ways to Keep The Peace of God With A Stressful Workload

Working during a pandemic has caused another level of stress for many. From constant work emails, virtual meetings, traffic, and trying to maintain a healthy work and life balance can make keeping the peace seem impossible.

Even for myself, as a teacher, this past year has caused me to have some unhealthy life balances. At first, we were getting adjusted to working with kids virtually, but then to add face to face students took things to ANOTHER LEVEL .... and oh yeah along with the tons of administrative tasks that we had to make time for OUTSIDE of teaching our students .....DURING A PANDEMIC !!!

At first I remember going with the flow and trying the best I can to rise above it all but something still was not sitting well with my spirit. At one point I started to have constant symptoms of numbness and tingleness in my body, constant feelings of being dead tired as soon as I got home, and crying many mornings on my way to work. None of these things were and still are not signs of peace but more so signs of STRESS.

As Americans, we sometimes can get addicted to working so hard and grinding but I am so thankful that God has created our bodies in a way that signals us to slow down with a longing for peace. So how do we slow down without getting behind in work ? How do we keep peace with a stressful work load ?

Here are 5 ways to help with keeping the peace of God with a stressful workload :

1.Prayer is a Tool That Can Be Used Anywhere & Everywhere:

I am a strong believer in the power of prayer but it's hard to ever experience the power if you don't make the time to pray. This can be challenging but it's so worth making the time to help you keep the peace you need.

Psalms 46:1 states:

"God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble."

That word refuge means "something providing shelter" .... when I think of shelter I think of home and feeling at peace and in great comfort for there is no place like it. In that same way, Jesus wants us to be that for you no matter where you go. Even the scripture mentions how he is always ready to help so make sure you are praying and taking the time to listen to the Holy Spirit once your done.

So are you making the time to pray ?

I know it can be draining to pray sometimes but press anyway and remember Jesus is always with you. You don't have to always be sitting with your eyes closed to pray. I know for myself I pray a lot on the way to work and back while driving, while eating my lunch in my classroom, and even sometimes in my head while walking around checking on my students. So remember to open yourself to pray anytime and anywhere.

2.Meditate & Find Scriptures to Use When It's Time to Fight :

Prayer is power but sometimes the word of God is what's needed to remind us of God's peace and to help us fight against the enemy's tactics.

Ephesians 6: 10 - 20 is a great passage of scripture to go to and recite to help fight against the enemy's tactics and bring more peace of mind. ( Here is a hyperlink to the full passage of scripture )

In one part of this passage, it states :

"and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

This truly shows the power of his word. A sword is used to fight and kill others in battles, but here God is saying His word has that same power so it's important that we use it.

For the enemy will try and wants to still kill and destroy you so it's important that we fight back with God's word and meditate on the many promises He has for us in his scriptures.

A great way to do this is by bookmarking scriptures in your Bible app to have ready and available whenever the next attack comes, or putting sticky notes on your desk/work area full with scriptures or inspiring quotes.

3.Reach Out to Others For Strategy or Divine Intervention :

This sounds simple, but yet can be so hard for us. Sometimes the thing we are having a hard time finding peace with can be alleviated from advice or solutions that can be found from listening to others.

Proverbs 24:6 states:

"So don't go to war without wise guidance; victory depends on having many advisers."

I love how this scripture states the phrase "go to war" .... back in the biblical days, you never found anyone going to any battle/war just by themselves. The armies were deep like in the thousands deep sometimes, so imagine an army of a thousand fighting just one person. That one person would get killed fast !!!

With this same visual in mind, it makes it more clear of why this scripture is encouraging to have advisers and wise counsel. It gives us a greater chance of winning the battles we may face with our workload or any area in our lives.

This may mean having a phone call or brunch date with a best friend, going to therapy, or being apart of a community at your church. Whatever that looks like for you, please reach out to someone. God did not create us to be alone. God created people to help others.

4.Be Discerning of What's Going Into Your Heart & Mind:

We absorb so much information every day these days. From daily conversations, emails, social media, the news, and more it can become so overwhelming at times !!! One moment we can even be laughing and within in the next minute crying just off what we may read or hear.

Now I'm not about to go into a whole tangent about staying off social media but I do believe we need to be watchful and set up boundaries for what we let into our hearts, minds, and bodies.

Proverbs 4:23 states :

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

The scripture stated above talks about the importance of guarding your heart. That word guard means "to watch over in order to protect or control." In that same way, we are the ones in complete control of our hearts and what flows in and out of them daily. So what are you doing to protect your heart ? What boundaries do you have in place ?

Maybe you should invest into a spiritual fast to give your self more clarity of what is robbing your peace, or maybe limit your daily screen time from T.V, the computer, social media and/or your phone ( I know this is available in iPhone settings, unsure about Android users. ) We listen and read so many thoughts from other people's minds, trust and know there is nothing wrong with separating yourself to better hear and understand what's going on within you internally.

Maybe you're saying yes to too many things and need to give time to listen and hear what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do before giving an answer. For we serve a God that does not rush so it's not wise to rush into things without giving God time to respond.

It could even be a friend, a family member, or coworker that is using up too much of your energy and your time. It's great to help others but we have to remember that we are not God. People will forever have problems but it's not your job to try and solve every single one of those problems. Trust God enough to help you with whatever is troubling you.

I may not know what it is but I do know that God gave us the gift of discernment to help reveal to us information about things/people so tap into it.

5. Surrender Whatever Is Stressing You to God :

Finally, make room for God to do something. Make room for Him to give you peace. Make room for Him to give you an answer. Make room for Him to help you. He wants to help you but He can't help you if you're constantly going to everything and everyone but Him about what's stressing you. Make room to surrender to Him.

Sometimes the biggest thing in our way is ourselves. We can tend to have this need to take control and only trusting ourselves but we have to learn how to surrender to God.

Psalms 55:22 states :

"Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall."

Now read this affirmation out loud below :

Father God I choose to surrender to you whatever is troubling me.

Father God I choose to trust you with every problem from my job.

Father God I choose to lay my burdens down to you.

Father God I choose to know and believe that you will give me rest.

You are enough.

You gave me this job.

You are the peacemaker so I choose to surrender to the peace you have for me.

Amen.

Isn't God so good ya'll. Our God is the ultimate peacemaker. He is the one that knows the beginning and the end. He will never fail us so trust and go to Him. He is everything you need and enough to carry everything that's stressing you.

I pray this blog blessed you. Please share with someone you know that may be struggling in this area as well.

With Love,

Crissy Roe