Stress Remedy

From: Everyday Light Daily Devotionals

Psalm 46:2 "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress."

Donald Norfolk, a British osteopath who has made a special study of stress, claims that it comes from two main causes: too little change, or too much change. To function at peak efficiency, we all need a certain amount of change. However, when changes come too fast for us to cope with, the personality is put under tremendous stress. 

Dr. Thomas H. Holmes measures stress in terms of "units of change." For example, the death of a loved one measures 100 units, divorce 73 units, pregnancy 40 units, moving or altering a home 25 units, and Christmas 12 units. 

His conclusion is that no one can handle more than 300 units of stress in a twelve- month period without suffering physically or emotionally during the next two years. Holmes, of course, was speaking from a strictly human point of view - with God "all things are possible." God can take a person overcome by stress and build into their lives insights which will enable them to live above and beyond its paralyzing grip.