MERRY STRESSMAS 2018 - RELATIONSHIPS
MERRY STRESSMAS
What stresses you out during the Christmas season?
What turns the celebration of Christ into an emotional meltdown?
Maybe it is schedules, budgets and/or toxic interpersonal situations?
The good news is that there tools, principles and wisdom to rise above these situations. When we approach stress with a “victim’s mentality” we are vulnerable to biological, mental and relational viruses. However, when we approach stress as a challenge to overcome, we enter with the health of a Jesus-disciple.
Join us for our annual holiday preaching series at LifePointe called, MERRY STRESSMAS, DON’T LET THE GRINCH STEAL CHRISTMAS. Discover with us how to reach the other side of the holidays being healthy, happy and holy!
TODAY’S MESSAGE
PSALM 37:4-6 TPT Make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, and HE WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU WHAT YOU DESIRE THE MOST. 5 Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way YOU’LL FIND HE PULLED IT OFF PERFECTLY! 6… He will manifest AS YOUR JUSTICE, as sure and strong as the noonday sun.
QUESTION
At the end of the holidays,
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HAVE EXPERIENCED,
or how do you want to have benefited?
PRINCIPLE
Expenditures/gifts should
HONOR the joy in relationships,
not BE the joy in relationships.
Gifts CELEBRATE relationships,
not FIX relationships!
FACT
WHERE DOES STRESS COME FROM?
Stress is rooted in our
desire to control
something or someone!
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PATH TO BEING STRESS FREE
1. SELF AWARENESS – ATTUNEMENT
PSALM 77:6 KJV [Asaph said in a time of deep distress] … COMMUNE with MINE OWN HEART: and my SPIRIT made DILIGENT SEARCH.
PRINCIPLE
You cannot CHANGE,
or FEEL DIFFERENTLY about,
what you DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE.
You have to NAME IT to TAME IT!
PRINCIPLE
Often we AREN’T BATTLING
the OTHER PERSON,
but our own WOUND-BASED NARRATIVE.
SELF-QUESTION #1 - “What does this person, group, event or environment DO TO ME?”
SELF-QUESTION #2 - “How long does it take me TO GET BACK TO ZERO after I have been with this person, group, event or environment?”
SELF-QUESTION #3 - “What JUSTIFICATIONS do I wrestle with?”
SELF-QUESTION #4 - “Why do I KEEP THINKING about this? Why do I get DYSREGULATED EMOTIONALLY with this?”
SELF-QUESTION #5 - “Is this GOOD STEWARDSHIP of my energies?”
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2. DIFFERENTIATION – BOUNDARIES
DEFINITION
BOUNDARIES, in a broad sense, are the lines or things that mark a LIMIT, BOUND, or BORDER. Boundaries are the realization of our own person apart from others. This sense of separateness forms the basis of personal identity.
PRINCIPLE
GROWTH in BOUNDARIES means growth in…
EMOTIONAL Intelligence
SOCIAL Intelligence
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3. LOVE – GENEROSITY OF HEART
COLOSSIANS 3:12-14 TPT … Be MERCIFUL as you endeavor to UNDERSTAND OTHERS, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others. 13 TOLERATE THE WEAKNESSES of those in the family of faith, FORGIVING one another in the same way you have been graciously forgiven by Jesus Christ. … 14 For LOVE IS SUPREME and MUST FLOW THROUGH each of these VIRTUES. Love becomes the mark of TRUE MATURITY.
HOW TO STAY HAPPY!
REMEMBER WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT:
LOVE is the answer to HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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CALL TO ACTION
What is your ONE NEXT STEP that you need to take?
Begin soothing/spiritual/self-care exercises
Invite safe family/friends into your stress
Decide in advance what you want each event experience to be
Prepare to limit exposure to dysregulating experiences
Take the Science of Freedom Workshop to understand yourself
Go with the energy of love generously flowing from the heart