V a l o r L e a d e r B l o g

In the Face of Stress

Our faith has oppor­tu­ni­ties to be refined as we encounter var­i­ous stresses, over­come obsta­cles and endure the hard­ships of life.  School, fam­ily, work, con­fronta­tion, injury, sick­ness, even death are a part of life that adds pres­sure.  No one’s life is free of stress.  A mature faith that rests solely on the Lord is cul­ti­vated over time.  A matur­ing faith demands that we learn to depend on the Lord in all circumstances.

Our response often reveals the con­di­tion of our heart.  Read James 1:2–4

“Con­sider it all joy, my broth­ers, when you encounter var­i­ous tri­als, know­ing that the test­ing of your faith pro­duces endurance.  And let endurance have its per­fect result, so that you may be per­fect ad com­plete, lack­ing in nothing.”

Con­sid­er­ing tri­als “all joy” is one of the hard­est things for me to put into prac­tice.  I have strug­gled to find peace at dif­fer­ent times in my life.  I remem­ber as a newly mar­ried man how I strug­gled try­ing to merge our lives together.  Wrestling with self­ish­ness and sac­ri­fice, the con­di­tion of my heart showed that I need to mature in many areas.  There were times when we wanted com­pletely dif­fer­ent things and I had no idea how God was going to rec­on­cile our hearts.

I expe­ri­enced tri­als at work as I faced dead­lines and pres­sure from my employer to give qual­ity results in lim­ited time.  I’ve lied and cheated my peers try­ing to look more put together than I actu­ally was.  I lamented my sin after­ward rec­og­niz­ing that I was more con­cerned with look­ing good then uphold­ing my integrity.

When faced with these chal­lenges, many of us will try to rise up in our own power, draw­ing from our own expe­ri­ences and press for­ward doing what we believe is best.  That is my ten­dency, but it lacks spir­i­tual wis­dom.  It leaves God out of the equa­tion and trains us to be self-reliant, self­ish.  Every­one fails at some point.  Sorry to be so dis­cour­ag­ing, but it is true.  No one has ever been that good, no one except Jesus.  And unless He died in vain, then every­one will fall short and does have need of His power, strength and sovereignty.

Spir­i­tual endurance requires a mature per­spec­tive that sees the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion as an oppor­tu­nity to grow and not merely fail. It demands that we put our focus on the Lord on not our own suf­fer­ing.  When we place our trust and our faith in Jesus we sub­mit to His power, author­ity and sov­er­eignty over our lives.  This doesn’t hap­pen imme­di­ately; it must be learned, tested and refined over time.

Be assured that ser­vice in the mil­i­tary will afford you the priv­i­lege of mak­ing dif­fi­cult deci­sion under stress.   What sep­a­rates you from oth­ers is where you draw your strength from and what defines your values.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own under­stand­ing, in all your ways acknowl­edge Him and He will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5–6