Stress Factors

Often what causes us to turn to our addictions in the first place are life's stresses. For some it may have started with abuse, others may have been ignored, still others looked for acceptance thru abuses. I grew up in a relatively stable household with love in it. I wasn't ignored or abused. I wasn't very confident in myself and tended to be a follower instead of a leader. I have since learned a bit more and am more confident that I was as a young man.

One thing I've never had the opportunity to learn about was money management. I can remember my mother trying to get me to sit down with her as she balanced the checkbook, but I was too busy with my friends to do anything as boring as that. I understood the concept, the why, but never understood that I needed the habit. This has lead to a constant financial stress in my life that I had no idea how to deal with. I made many bad choices that have left my credit rating in ruins. Other things have happened that caused me to be in debt to the medical community.

My choice in the past has been to ignore the issues I've made for myself. When I was drinking I could push the problems away from my sight. Now that I'm sober, I find myself unable to ignore the problems any longer. I believe that some people who relapse sit where I'm sitting and decide it's better not to deal with the mess they made. Sitting here, looking at the financial hole I've dug, considering the work I have to get out of it, I don't begrudge them their weak moments.

So what do we do? Give in to the call of the drink or drugs? Push the issues back to the back burner where it's been for who knows how long? Being sober we can't push them back, they're right there in our faces. They're mocking us with the power of the devil trying to get us to relapse, trying to stress us out, laugh at us, tell us we'll fail...They're right. The problems we made have grown larger than us. They've developed a veritable life of their own and become unmanageable, monsters out to drag us back into our personal hell.

There is a place we can turn, there is hope. A teammate that is bigger, stronger, and more loving than anything we've ever known. When we give ourselves to Jesus, He's on our side. He wants us to win, wants us to be happy, wants us to give our stresses to Him. When we don't it's like we don't trust Jesus to do what He said He would. If we don't trust Him, we aren't following Him.

So I trust in Him. I ask for His help and listen for His answer. He did.

My stress factor tends to be money. My inability to manage it, my irresponsibility with it, the lack of suitcases of it whenever I need or want it. Mostly want it, to be perfectly honest. The Bible never promises monetary riches, but as the song says, "If you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need!" If I consider what He has provided me with without my even asking Him. A decent job, a house, a car. More than I truly deserve and everything I needed to take care of my family's needs. So, now that I am sober, looking at the mess I've made of our finances over the past several years together and many years before, I am asking for His help.

Philippians 4:4-7 
Final Exhortations

 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

I presented my request to God. He answered and provided me with a chance to go to a financial class that will teach me how to handle money, get my finances under control, maybe even develop a little more ability to give and help others. If it is His intention for me and my family to get money, it must be His intention for us to use it to help others.

 

I am at peace about my stress factors because I have handed it over to Jesus and He has it under control. There will be more tests of faith. The adversary doesn't give up that easily, he looks for more ways in at all times. So I know he's gunning for me because he knows my weaknesses. I also know that Jesus is stronger. In Jesus's name, Satan, I rebuke thee!