The Stress Response

 I recently had a stress epiphany. If we define stress as “When demand exceeds capacity,” then I think we can easily see why the last 12 months have brought us to unprecedented levels of chronic stress!

When we are stressed, our brains ask three questions in this order: “Am I safe?” “Am I loved?” and “What do I do now?” We need to answer the first two questions to alleviate involuntary responses to stress, which (if chronic) can lead to big problems—everything from physical manifestations to extreme forms of anxiety or depression. Once those first two questions are answered, we can consciously decide on the third—“What do I do now?”

In a stress mastery course I took, they provided this practical stress response system: 1) Breathe. 2) Feel. 3) Focus. When you breathe intentionally (say, at a rate of 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out) you control your heart rate, informing your brain that you are safe. When you guide your feelings to gratitude, you inform your brain that you are loved. When you focus, you can decide what energy you need to expend in this moment. What is the next step? This logical function can kick in and instead of reacting to the stress, you respond to it.

I was struck at the similarity to this system and the commands we have in Scripture as to how to deal with worry. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6 NASB) We are to pray and still ourselves before the Lord (breathe!) and direct that question—plead—to Him. “Lord, am I safe in you?” Then, with thanksgiving (feel gratitude!), we answer the question, “Lord, am I loved?” Finally, we are to make our requests known to God—asking Him, “Lord, what do I do now?”

God literally designed our brains to handle worries and stress in the way He prescribed! When we still ourselves before the Lord (Habakkuk 2:20, Psalm 46:10, Micah 7:7, etc.), give Him thanks in every situation (Ephesians 5:20, I Thessalonians 5:18, etc.), then we can get down to the business of taking those thoughts captive and responding (not reacting) in obedience and faith, demolishing “Every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:5 NIV)

Does this change how you view your stress? Did you know that you can reset the way you perceive worries—your stress lens—putting things into eternal perspective? Stop and see the care God has for you in this moment, now, as you breathe and still yourself before the Lord, give thanks and recognize the goodness of the Lord in this very moment, and focus on the next step, what does the Lord ask of you right now?

(To go to Part 1 of the expanded series of this article, click here.)

I originally wrote this article for publication in the 2021 March-May Issue #55 of the Crossroads Women's Ministry Newsletter. A short series of follow-up articles on the subject of a Christian's response to stress will be launching this week, and will also be published on the CWM blog at cbcwm.blogspot.com.