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Anxiety

Did you know that about nineteen million Americans struggle with anxiety? Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States today. I work at NewPointe Community Church and have talked with many people that struggle with anxiety. Many struggle to the point that they can’t have healthy relationships, can’t keep steady employment and have multiple health problems.

Anxiety and worry go hand in hand. Worry is focused negative thinking, which can lead to anxiety which is the unpleasant sense of apprehension that comes with physical symptoms like sweaty palms, shallow breathing, rapid heart rate and general nervousness. Often worry and anxiety come from stress, it could be relational stress, financial stress, work stress, family stress. When a person is in constant stress their body produces way to much adrenaline and other chemicals that cause those physical symptoms. Over time anxiety gets worse and worse and our thinking begins to drive the anxiety.

For many people worry has simply become a mental habit. They automatically see events in their lives in terms of worse-case scenarios. Anxiety is often triggered by lies we believe and focus on in a negative way. The worrier will lie awake at night going through all kinds of what-if scenarios.

To overcome anxiety a person needs to deal with the root cause of the worry and anxiety. What lies are you believing about yourself, God and the world around you? The best way to identify lies we are believing is by reading truth. That is why I keep eleven truth statements in my desk drawer. I read through these on a regular basis and hand them out to people that are struggling with worry. These eleven statements come from the Bible. I often prescribe this to people by asking them to read these eleven truth statements out loud once a day for two weeks. What that does, is it brings your focus to something good and positive and true, even if it’s only a short period of time. If you can do that for 3-4 weeks it becomes a habit and can start to change the way we think.

To overcome anxiety you must develop new healthy habits for dealing with stress. Meditation is also focused thinking, but is focused on what is good. Meditating on Scripture is a great way to deal with stress. Prayer has also been proven to actually lower your blood pressure and reduce stress.

Philippians 4:6-7 says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

In Mathew 6 Jesus teaches about freedom from anxiety. In verse 25 Jesus says, “Therefore I say unto you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” Again in verse 34 Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” In other words, live in the present and don’t worry about the future which you can’t control or the past that you can’t change. Jesus is encouraging us to pray and give thanks instead of worrying. An attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving relaxes the body and calms the mind.

1 Peter 5:7 says “Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you.”

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True Compassion

Compassion has a way of turning peoples heads. The level of compassion to help the people of Haiti has been amazing. In times of crisis most people are willing to step up and try to help make a difference. The efforts in Haiti have been amazing as we continue to hear stories of people giving their time, talents and treasure to help. I am sure we will hear some truly amazing stories in the months ahead.

Jesus said this about the church, “You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Jesus was saying that there is one force in this world that can shed life giving light on a dark and hurting world. Who was in Haiti before this tragedy? Many churches and Christian organizations were there trying to make a difference in peoples lives. The church is made up of people that are called by Jesus to love other people. That love for people is the motivator for churches to reach out and help people. That is why there were people on the ground with the people of Haiti trying to encourage and equip them.

So here is the question, how bright is your light shining. Is your bulb wattage at 25? 40? 60? or 150?

Showing compassion to the world is what we were called to do. We are not called to judge this world, but to love those in this world just like Jesus did. When we show unconditional love to a broken world it gets people’s attention. True compassion is unusual. Acts of compassion are not just giving money, although money is often needed. Compassion is helping people in need through relief, rehabilitation and development. If we never get to developing people, we are not showing true compassion. Relief is often the first step, but the real compassion comes in rehabilitation and development. That takes time and energy to help people become what God intended them to be.

Here are three reasons we should get involved personally in acts of compassion.

  1. When you let your light shine it will change you. True compassion changes you from the inside out.
  2. You change the world one person at a time. Every person matters to God.
  3. It does something to the heart of God, It blesses God when we show true compassion.

Being compassionate requires action. If you just think about helping, cry about a tragedy or talk about how awful something is, you are not compassionate. Compassion happens when something is done to help another person in need. When you do that little extra to show love and respect for a less fortunate person. I hope that everyone that reads this Blog post will pray for God to give them an opportunity to show compassion in a real way this week.

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True Contentment

One of the Scriptures that I memorized years ago is Philippians 4:11-13 “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

True contentment is usually learned in the hard times of life, when our financial security is shaken a bit. It’s amazing to me how little we can live on when things get tight. Paul is saying that true contentment, or lack of it, does not come from the circumstances we find ourselves in; true contentment comes from Jesus who gives us strength. Because Paul put his trust and faith in Jesus, he was able to experience a deep peace no matter what life threw at him.

His identity did not come from what he owned or what goals he was able to achieve. Instead it came from his relationship with God, who loves him (And Us), so much he sent His son Jesus.

Here are a few questions to ponder about your level of contentment:

  1. Do you really want a God-centered contentment?
  2. What are you afraid of losing, or what do you need to be happy?
  3. When you are feeling discontent, do you turn to God for strength?
  4. Do you see yourself as wealthy because of your relationship with God, or is wealth dependent on how much money you have?

When our treasure is in our relationship with Christ, we are free from the bondage of pursuing things and allowing circumstance to dictate our level of contentment.

Here is a final word from God on contentment:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we will take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.” 1Timothy 6:6-12.

God-centered contentment guards us from becoming prisoners of what we own or the kind of lifestyle we desire. It also protects us from the temptations and mistakes that can cause all kinds of grief in our lives.

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Hoarders

Over the past several weeks my wife has been cleaning stuff out of our house. We have accumulated a bunch of stuff that really we don’t need. It is so easy to allow things to build up in our closets and spare bedrooms. If you have every watched the show “Hoarders” on A&E you have seen how extreme some people can get with hoarding and accumulating stuff. When you watch a show like that it makes you sad for those people, but it is a reminder that we too can allow things around us to get out of control.

It can be the same way in all parts of our lives. If don’t pay attention to our finances we can soon find ourselves deep in debt and struggling to make ends meet. We can find ourselves in a crisis and have no savings to get us through.

How about with our health? It is so easy to allow ourselves to slowly gain pound after pound, inch after inch and soon find ourselves overweight and out of shape. This can bring on other health problems and really complicate our lives.

What about your spiritual life? It is easy to get complacent or off center with our relationship with God. That is why we need to clean house spiritually every once in a while. It is healthy for us to unload all the junk we have accumulated and leave it with God. Allow Him to take the stuff that is holding us back from going deeper with Him. When we clean out the closets and the spare bedrooms, where we tend to hide our stuff, it frees us up to fill it with the good stuff that God wants us to have. Things like peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, patience, love, self-control, compassion, gratefulness and friendship.

So, maybe you need to start by cleaning up your house and throwing out the stuff you don’t need or maybe selling it or giving it away. Maybe you need to bring some order and control to your finances. It could be you need to start working on your health. All of us can work on getting our spiritual houses in order. A great place to start is getting into the Bible on a regular basis. Develop a plan to grow spiritually and try to stay on track. NewPointe has a great resource coming to help people develop a spiritual growth plan. It’s called Monvee, an online spiritual formation tool that we are a part of. Check it out and ask me about it sometime.

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Anger

Anger is an emotion that all of us have had to deal with. It may have been growing up in your home with an angry parent. Maybe you have had an angry boss or co-worker. Maybe it was a friend or a relative. It may have been you ex-wife or ex-husband. It also was you and me. Everyone experiences some degree of anger in our lives.

The more I talk to people the more I am seeing this as an emotion that is in most people just under the surface waiting for an opportunity to come out. Nothing is wrong with the emotion of anger per se. What is damaging is how we express anger – for example, in violent actions against another person that causes injury to property or the person.

The Bible has a number of passages that directly deal with anger. In Ephesians 4:26, 27 it says “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” What Paul is saying there is that we need to deal with our anger immediately in a way that builds relationships rather than destroys them. If we nurse our anger, we will give Satan an opportunity to divide us and destroy the relationship.

When we bottle up any emotion it does not die. Emotions that become trapped inside us seek a way to express themselves. That is because emotions like anger were created to be expressed and felt. When we refuse to feel those emotions and express them in healthy ways we risk physical illness, pain, emotional damage, relational damage and psychological problems.

When we bury emotions we are burying a living thing. It would be like pouring water into a bucket. The water is our negative emotions and at some point the water will overflow the bucket and get everything around it wet.

One way to temporarily control anger is to take a time out. When you become angry and are ready to respond in a way that may damage another person emotionally or physically, take a time out. Refocus and collect your thoughts, pray and ask God to help you in that moment not to sin. You can also take several slow deep breaths, which will diffuse your anger. Deep breathing promotes relaxation and reduces stress.

Are you angry with someone right now? What can you do to resolve your issue with that person? Don’t let the day end without starting the process of mending and working on that relationship. The best way to work on your anger is to practice forgiveness. Not just verbally, but through prayer with God involved. Most of the time God also wants us to go to that person and resolve the real issue. The emotional root of anger can be pulled up when you forgive from your heart and share your true feelings in a loving way. You also need to make sure you are dealing with the real issues and not just the stuff on the surface. You may need some help to dig down and figure that out, but it’s worth the digging and the dirt.

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Potholes

Don’t you just hate it when you hit a pothole? If your like me you know exactly where they are on your commute to work everyday. This morning I hit everyone of them on my way into work. Then I hit a big one on the way home tonight. Why does that happen? I know where they are, yet on some days I hit them and other days I am well prepared and avoid them. I think what happens for me is I am often distracted. This morning it was the ice and snow. Other mornings, I am thinking about my day and what I need to do when I get to work. Other days I notice a cat in a field or a hawk on a tree limb. When I get distracted I forget about those stupid potholes. When I hit the pothole, it brings me back to reality and I beat myself up for not paying attention.

We all have potholes in our life as well. We know they are there and some days we do a good job of avoiding them and not hitting them. Other days we get distracted and all of a sudden we hit a pothole and then another. That can start a downward spiral that leads to further distraction and all of a sudden we are way off tract.

Our enemy knows what our potholes are and how to distract us so that we run over them. Sometimes we even hit that really big one that you think will make your car fall apart. That big Pothole is the one that gets us in trouble if we are not on guard. When we stay focused on God and our relationship with Him we can avoid those nasty potholes of life. God gives us many clear instructions on how to stay away from those potholes and stay on the right path. When we get onto the wrong roads is when we start hitting the potholes that can take us out.

Guard your heart, stay on the right path and look to God for your direction. God can even fill in those potholes that we seem to hit everyday if we allow him to. If you have some regular potholes that you hit all the time, ask God to fill them for you. Ask Him to pave over them and bring smooth roads to your life.

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My Fab Five

Here are five disciplines I plan on working on in 2010. These five disciplines were practiced by Jesus while He was here on earth. As I start a new year I am working on both physical and spiritual disciplines. So here are my Fab Five Spiritual Disciplines:

  1. Solitude & Silence – This is spending time alone with God, escaping from all sounds and noises that distract us from connecting with God. I plan on scheduling time on my calendar to get away from people, electronic devices, TV, Internet etc. at least once a month.
  2. Prayer – Talking with God, conversing with him on a regular basis. I love using the ACTS method of praying: Adoration – Telling Him how much I love Him, Confession – Making sure I have a clean slate with God, Thanksgiving – Thanking Him specifically for all He has done for me, Supplication – This is praying for other people.
  3. Memorizing Scripture – Early in my walk with God I memorized some Scripture that is still with me as favorite verses. I did this through the Crown Ministries Bible Study I was a part of about 8-10 years ago. I memorized 12 Scriptures. My hope is to do that again in 2010. When you are under pressure you find out what is in you. If you have Scripture in you it will come out.
  4. Unconditional Love – This involves understanding how much God loves me. There is nothing I can do or say that will make God love me more or less. I then need to unconditionally love the people around me. Everyone deserves to be heard, encouraged, forgiven, accepted, guided, coached and praised. Loving my wife that way, loving my co-workers that way, loving my family that way, loving my small group that way, loving people in the community that way, loving the needy that way.
  5. Accountability Relationships – This means finding some people that I can share my vulnerabilities with. Giving some people in my life permission to ask me tough questions. Asking them to look for blind spots in my life. Finding people that will speak truth to me and not sugarcoat things. Getting feedback on a regular basis on how I am doing in all areas of my life.

If I can implement these five things into my life, My relationship with Jesus Christ will take a big step forward. It will also improve all the relationships in my life and make me a much better leader. Join me in this growth journey. Maybe its just one of these, maybe its all five. Maybe its your own five. The important thing is that you have a plan of action, because without action all this is meaningless.

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Emotions & Health

According to the American Institute of Stress, between 75 and 90 percent of all visits to primary-care physicians result from stress-related disorders.

I’ve been reading a great book, Deadly Emotions by Don Colbert, M.D. Much of what he is talking about has to do with understanding how the mind, body and spirit all are connected. When you are not healthy emotionally or spiritually, it is almost impossible to be healthy physically. I have always believed that our thoughts, emotions, body and spirit are all connected and affect each other.

Here are some statements from early in the book:

“The mind and body are linked. How you feel emotionally can determine how you feel physically.”

“Certain emotions release hormones into the physical body that, in turn, can trigger the development of a host of diseases.”

“Researchers have directly and scientifically linked emotions to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and disease related to the immune system. Studies have also highly correlated emotions with infections, allergies and autoimmune diseases.”

He compares how you get rid of dandelions or crabgrass. If you just mow over them or snap off the top, it may look good for a short period of time, but soon it is back and stronger. His point is you have to get the root if you want to get rid of the weed.

We often try to do what we can to get rid of the immediate symptom and don’t go after the root. We take medication and the problem comes back, we take another round of treatment and the problem comes back, over and over again, often with out much success. Many times we only mask the real problems, by treating the visible symptoms.

The author talks at length about stress and how it affects the body. “The body doesn’t know or care what caused the stress. All the body knows is that it is experiencing stress.” He defines stress as mental or physical tension, strain, or pressure. This often occurs when our perception of events don’t meet our expectations and we do not manage our reaction well. For example when your spouse does not meet your expectations you get stressed out. You might expect your spouse to pay the bills, do the laundry, fix the car or change the diapers. When that does not happen it can cause tension, strain or pressure in the relationship if you don’t manage your response.

According to Dr. Colbert, An emotion like fear, triggers more than fourteen hundred known physical and chemical stress reactions and activates more than thirty different hormones and neurotransmitters. If that happens a lot, your body gets slammed with these hormones and can get out of whack over time.

Some emotions are much more damaging than others. Several that he lists are rage, unforgiveness, depression, anger, worry, frustration, fear, grief, and guilt. These emotions when experienced over long periods of time will most likely cause physical illness or disease.

Did you know that just thinking about a previous deep emotional hurt can cause the body to respond as if those hurts are occurring in that very moment? The longer you dwell on those old hurts and wounds the more you condition your body to respond to the stress more quickly. After awhile one small thought about a person or past situation can trigger a high level of stress within seconds.

Maybe you are feeling highly stressed right now. Maybe you are experiencing some of these damaging emotions on a daily basis. If that is the case, you are heading for some serious health problems or are having severe health problems. You need to get help in getting healthy emotionally. Maybe its seeing a counselor or pastor. Maybe it is meeting with a mentor. Here are a few areas to focus on:

  • Identify irrational or distorted thinking and replace it with truth
  • Forgive – that is a big one for most people
  • Experience joy again through deep contentment (Laughing & Smiling are great medicine)
  • Peace is for everyone and brings healing – Slow down and learn to relax
  • Understand what it means to love – Love yourself and others. Read 1 Cor. 13:4-8

Emotional health is so important to our overall health. I hope you will take this seriously and make it a high priority this next year to work on your emotional health. I will continue to share insights from this book and others on this topic as I read and process the information.

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Help @ NewPointe

This time of the year we are reminded to be generous and give. We buy gifts for the people we care about and many people give to the needy or to charities that help the poor & needy. This generosity is nice, but it should be how we think and behave all year long.

In 2009 I saw a dramatic increase in the number of people looking for financial assistance. At NewPointe Community Church we have a Helps ministry that gives financial assistance to people in need and do home improvements & repairs. We have a good system in place to determine financial need and to help them work on improving their situation.

Everyone requesting help must fill out an application that includes their financial information. They are required to listen to a CD about money and return the notes filled in. They are also required to attend two services at NewPointe. They also are briefly interviewed to clear up any questions about their situation.

Once they have done those things we will give assistance at a limited amount. If someone needs additional help, they are required to meet with a mentor one-on-one to develop a plan of action and a budget. This system has worked very well.

Many of the organizations in Tuscarawas and Holmes County refer people to us for help. For NewPointe to continue this ministry to people in need, people need to be generous the entire year. We have become a beckon of light to people needing help. Many of these folks have met or are still meeting with a mentor and are now attending NewPointe.

The vision for the Helps ministry is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. This starts by meeting some basic needs, encouraging them and having them come to church. We want to help them take their next step, whatever that might be.

I am anticipating the needs to continue to rise in 2010 and would love to help more people take a step closer to Christ. Consider giving regularly, it is making a huge impact in many families. Here are some stats:

  • We have helped 84 families so far in 2009
  • Over $21,000 given away
  • The 84 families had 92 children
  • 30 single parent families
  • Built a ramp for a lady in wheel chair
  • Re roofed a house for an elderly lady
  • Over 30 of these families did not attend any church
  • We did approximately 20 home improvement projects funded through T4C a local non-profit agency.

If you would like to help by giving financially to this ministry, you can write Helps Fund on your check when you give at NewPointe or you can come to a First Wednesday Service and put money in the Black collection Box. All funds collected at the First Wednesday services goes directly to help people in need.

If you would like to volunteer to help on home improvement projects you can email me at cstutzman@newpointe.org.

When you are considering your giving for 2010, please consider the Helps fund at NewPointe.

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Picking up Sticks

Yesterday I was outside doing some last minute yard work before the first snow storm. We have a fairly large backyard, and I noticed there were a lot of branches and sticks in the yard from our numerous trees. This is something I do often throughout the year. Usually after a windy day or a rainy day some branches are down.

As I began to pick up branches a thought came to mind – Picking up sticks in my backyard is a lot like life. Let me explain.

To pick up sticks I have to bend down and get close to the ground. After a while I have to go dump the sticks in my hands, so I can collect more sticks. Every so often I need to stop and look over the entire yard to see where I have missed some sticks.

In life we bend down to do things like items on our to-do lists. We get into the tasks of life, work and family. When we are down in it, close to the ground, we can’t see the entire yard. That is why it is so important to stand up, step back and look at the big picture as often as you can.

If you are always doing tasks and have your eyes focused on the little piece of ground you are working on, you can miss some pretty big stuff. You may not see a train wreck coming or maybe you miss some great opportunities. You can mess up your relationships and lose influence with the people around you.

Sometimes you also need to go and empty your arms of the sticks you have been picking up. This frees you to pick up even more sticks or bigger sticks.

So how do you step back and look at this big picture and unload your sticks in life?

First you need to take time to ask your self some important questions – I often do this in a day long retreat.

  1. What are the top three things I need to focus on in my job, my family, my relationships, my faith, my financesm my personal development?
  2. Who am I trying to please and why?
  3. What am I trying to change and why?
  4. What is my personal mission or vision in life?
  5. How much money am I trying to make and why?
  6. How much freedom am I willing to trade for opportunity?
  7. What can only I do?
  8. What can others around me do nearly as good I can? – What can I give away?
  9. What do I need to stop doing?
  10. What one thing would change my life the most if I made that happen in the next month?

After asking yourself questions like that, you need to develop a plan and develop action steps. This is best done for me through setting goals. This time of year I am thinking big picture for 2010. I am reflecting on these and other questions. I am thinking about the next 90 days, 6 months and 18 months. I am setting some goals for my work, my faith, my health, my marriage, my relationships, my education and personal development and my finances.

I will compare this to the one I did last year and then put my strategic plan or life plan on paper, so that I can come back to it often to unload sticks and look at the entire yard. If you don’t have a plan, you can’t spend time working on it. Instead you will constantly be working in it, close to the ground getting tasks done, but possibly missing some things that God has for you.

Tasks are important and you need to get down there some to get things done, but make sure you stop, stand up, look around and develop a plan to cover the entire yard and not just a small part of it. If you need help in this area, I hope to post my system soon to give you an example to work from.

Now get out there and pick up some sticks.