by Deacon Dana Nearmyer
The frenetic and cumbersome expectations of others can break us down.
The speed and fury of modern life can be a traumatic experience, leaving us withered and longing for authentic connection.
According to Psychology Today magazine, “Trauma is the experience of severe psychological distress following any terrible or life-threatening event.
“Sufferers may develop emotional disturbances such as extreme anxiety, anger, sadness, survivor’s guilt or PTSD. They may experience ongoing problems with sleep or physical pain, encounter turbulence in their personal and professional relationships and feel a diminished sense of self-worth due to the overwhelming amount of stress.”
Whether we experience clinical trauma or just high stress, many of us, young and old, experience excessive anxiety, anger, sadness, guilt or feelings of being overwhelmed.
Simply driving during rush hour is stressful. Students can feel bulldozed by academic and social expectations.
Meeting ever increasing sales goals and expectations at work can drain us physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually — leaving us feeing a diminished sense of self-worth.
The Oct. 3-5 Enflame Our Hearts convocation will walk 1500 fellow parishioners through “Prayer, Care, Share” methodology and many other approaches rooted in living in the freedom of Christ and joyfully living in a mantle of prayer and Scripture where God is near and present to us.
These 1500 delegates are supposed to bring approaches, tools, individual plan templates and parish plans back home to share. They are being commissioned to be a wave of missionary disciples.
Missionary disciples go to anxious and unsettled people that seek peace and offer to walk with them on the pathway to peace in Christ Jesus.
Christians are told in the Letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (4:4-7).
We can be beacons of hope to anxious and stressed-out friends and relatives. The Bible instructs us to slow down, listen to God through Scripture and to live with a peace that surpasses all understanding.
We all have stressful and anxious situations, but Christians are instructed by Jesus to give their burdens to him and allow him to guide us through the minefields of life.
The Oct. 3-5 Enflame Our Hearts convocation will send commissioned missionary disciples out to share the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
Please pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the convocation, and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our hearts, homes and communities.
