Stress Dots

Have you heard of stress dots? They are little pressure–sensitive dots that you place on your hand. As adrenaline changes in your body, the dots change colour and reveal if you are under stress. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a tiny internal warning light that informed us every time our focus was off the Lord? Or if we had a small beep or signal light that cautioned us we were out of tune with God? We do! It’s known as tension.

Becoming tense is a sure indication that we have taken our eyes off the Lord and set them on circumstances. We are staring at the problem rather than the solution. And when we do that, we are going to get tense. When you think about it, stress can be God’s way of saying, ‘Get your focus in line: look at Me.’ The Bible says, ‘You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!’ You have the choice of focusing on your troubles or focusing on the One who holds the solution.

Corrie ten Boom (famous for helping Jews escape Nazis in WW2) wrote: ‘The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God. If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at God, you’ll be at rest.’

It’s what you concentrate on that decides your amount of peace. So when trouble comes, focus on God’s presence; He is with you, and He has promised that He will never leave you (see Hebrews 13:5).