How to Cope with Pressure When We Are Feeling Stretched

I must admit that I would not think that somebody like the Apostle Paul would feel stretched, especially reading verses where he wrote about how he had learned to be content in whatever situation. We reflect on verses where he would say, 'Be anxious for nothing,' 'but by prayer and supplication,' which means that when he was anxious or stressed, he went about that with prayer. He handled pressure by going to God. He would say to Timothy, 'Timothy, these many people have deserted me. They have turned their backs on me.'  And apparently, that impacted him. Jesus Christ, in the garden of Gethsemane, cried out to God.

These times happen in our lives, too. Paul would say, 'I must press on. I pray that we will follow their model so that when we walk through life's pressures, we stick with the structure they gave us. So I pray that when you are stretched, you remember the models left for us to follow as we faithfully follow Christ.

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