Growing up on a 200 acre farm with 3 sisters I began experiencing adventures early in life. My oldest sister, Christy, was the ring leader for our adventures. Being the oldest and a little bossy we followed her lead and joined in her activities no matter how crazy they may have seemed.

We played school and she was always the teacher. We put on plays for our parents, they were mostly renditions of bible stories. We hosted roller skating shows. And we even ran through the fields at night with white sheets pretending to be ghosts to scare our neighboring grandparents. Needless to say life was never boring growing up. One of my most memorable activities was swinging on the swing-set singing. We would sing for hours any silly song my sister taught us.

These memories are so very precious to me. My sister, Christy, passed away of breast cancer in her early 40’s. Even though it has been almost 10 years since she left this world there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. She taught me so much and continues to guide me through her legacy.

One silly song she loved to sing was you can’t get to heaven on roller skates. The song says roller skates will cause you to slide right by those pearly gates. It then states you can’t get to heaven in a rocking chair because a rocking chair don’t go no where. Another verse pronounces you can’t get to heaven in limousine because God don’t sell no gasoline. My favorite verse (especially now) shares if you get to heaven before I do tell my friends I’m coming too. I am so excited to know Christy is up in heaven telling our friends I’m coming too!

So if roller skates, rocking chairs, and limousines can’t get us to heaven then how do we get there? The Bible tells us in John 14:6 there is only one way to heaven and it is through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father but through him. In John 3:16 God’s word shares “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”

The book of Romans gives us a little more understanding of how salvation works. Romans 3:23 states we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 shares the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life though Christ Jesus. Then Romans 5:8 tells us that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners. Finally Romans 10:9-10 says “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. So you can’t get to heaven on roller skates, but you can get there through Jesus Christ.

I pray you have or will accept Jesus and make heaven your eternal home. If I get to heaven before you do I would love to tell everyone your coming too!

Do you find yourself stressing out?  Always worrying about money, your job, or someone being mad at you?  Stress is a very common problem that can lead to very dangerous consequences.  Finding myself celebrating my 44th birthday in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack showed me just how dangerous stress can be.  Praise God it wasn’t a heart attack but stress taking a physical toll on me.  Not only does stress affect us physically, stress weighs on us mentally and emotionally as well.

Why do we stress? Most times we are trying to control something we have no control over or we are worrying about what might happen.  We go into “What if” mode.  What if someone buys that land before I can? What if that person is mad at me?  They drove right past me and didn’t even wave so they must be upset. What if I get a disease?  Cancer has taken so many friends from me, am I next? What if I lose my job?  How will I provide for my family?  The “What if’s” can go on and on. Some, actually most can be serious things that affect our lives.  But stressing or worrying about them will not prevent or change them.  Instead, it gives us a knot in our stomach and starts taking it’s toll on us.

God’s word tells us over and over again not to worry.  In fact, Matthew 6:27 tells us that being anxious can’t add a single hour to our life.  God promises His children He will supply all our needs.   He will take care of us if we ask.  Now that doesn’t mean that we will have everything we want.  A corvette might not be something God sees us needing.  And He’s not telling us to sit back and be lazy.  James 2:17 tells us faith without works is dead.  God wants us to have faith and to work just not worry.

Most often, we find our plans don’t match up with God’s plans for us.  We want to be in control verses letting God work His will through us. Also, there are consequences to our actions.  We can’t get mad and walk out on our job and just expect God to give us another one (though He sure can).  God wants us to be responsible, to trust Him and to ask Him what His will is.  When we are following God we can trust He will do what He says He will do .  We can trust He is able as He has shown us time and time again.  After His disciples fished all night and came up with nothing, Jesus sent them back out again and He provided so many fish their nets almost tore.  When Jesus needed money to pay taxes, it was found in the fishes mouth.  He provided safety for Daniel in the lions den. He supplied the Israelite nation quail and bread from heaven when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years.  God’s word gives example after example of God providing.  We can trust God knows what is best for us.  He wants to bless us!

There isn’t a problem too big for God.  I guess the question is, how big is our faith?  Worry and stress happen when we don’t trust God, believe God, and give in to God’s plan for our life.  If our faith isn’t big enough, we give in to worry and stress.  We don’t trust God to do what He has promised.  One of my favorite sayings when someone comes to me stressing out is ” Did anyone die because of this?”.  We so often stress ourselves out by making mountains out of mole hills.  We are so close to the situation and so vested in how we want the outcome to be, we don’t zoom out and see the big picture.  We misinterpret how this affects the grand scheme of life and God’s plans for us. We become upset, stressed, and anxious about things that don’t really matter or align with God’s plan for our life.

If only we could train ourselves to trust God with our lives and remember this world is not where our treasures really count.  If we really understood eternity and that life here is just a vapor, would we worry less?  Would we not stress out trying to get ahead?  Could we find more contentment? A wise young man once shared with me that “none of us get out of this world alive anyways”.  That is so true, it’s the next stop we should be focused on.  If we focused less on worrying about this life and more on eternity maybe we would be less stressed.  After all, God tells us He will take care of us.  “But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” Philippians  4:19.

So I am going to chose to be Too Blessed Too be Stressed!  Won’t you join me?