DON’T ROLL UP ON ME WITH STRESS
“…. I’ve had my day in the sun; now, I am the sun. Roll up on me and you will blow a fuse. Don’t roll up on me…unless you’re leading with LOVE!” Actress Jenifer Lewis
Would you agree that the world we live in is full of stress and stress creating people? No matter how hard we try to avoid or remove ourselves from people, activities, jobs, or situations that could possibly cause stress, it still comes knocking at the doors of our lives. I mean how do you find PEACE in a WORLD that thrives on STRESS?
It is my prayer that the words I share in this blog will free at least 2 women who read it, maybe more. I am seeing far too many women carrying STRESS in their spiritual vessels, which hinders their ability to truly discover the depth of their divine purpose.
A couple of days ago a friend shared a video clip of actress Jenifer Lewis sharing some heartfelt gems of wisdom. The clip was only 49 seconds long, but it was POWERFUL. Every word the woman said in the clip touched the core of my soul. So, I am going to use quotes from this astonishing clip to girl chat about STRESS and how to minimize it in your life.
“Don’t roll up on me with stress! Go calm yourself down! Breathe 10 times. Take 10 deep breaths!!! Y’all know it’s a cliché, but take them anyway and see what happens.” Yaaaaassssss!!!!!! Ladies, stress management requires breathing. Stressful situations will cause you to STOP breathing!!!! Think about a time something stressed you out to the point of no return. How did your body react? How was your heart beating? Were you able to breathe normally? Be honest. Listen, STRESS will REMOVE you from LIFE. So, whenever you find yourself in a stressful situation….take 10 DEEP BREATHS….and do it again if you must. Keep doing it until you find yourself calming down. There is nothing good that can come from reacting to a stressful situation if you are not calm and rational. Most importantly, God cannot be present in stressful energy that is being amplified by our human emotions. God works within spiritual energy. STOP and ponder on that for a minute.
“Don’t roll up on me….unless you’re leading with love. I do that every day. I’m not perfect. My s*** stinks, but I try to lead with LOVE.” Sistahs, that is a praise and worship statement!!! When we lead with love, we respect the peace, harmony, and boundaries of others. Unfortunately, there are those people who will intentionally DUMP their gossip and drama-filled lives, laced with dissatisfactions, problems, sorrows, woes, and so-on at your altar of PEACE to disturb it. Give NO ONE PERMISSION to disturb your PEACE or topple your boundaries.
Our families, friends, and frenemies cannot SAVE us…that’s God’s job. Giving our “stress and mess” to God FIRST, allows His cleansing energy to show us the truth about ourselves and situations. It allows Him to grant us PEACE in our HEARTS AND MINDS. If God needs us to share with anyone, He will lead us to the source He wants to use to give us His word. However, the FIRST and most IMPORTANT step to being RELEASED from ANYTHING is being completely vulnerable with yourself and accepting responsibility for the roles you’ve played in whatever has and is happening in your life, that you had control of, and FORGIVING YOURSELF COMPLETELY….then FORGIVE those who hurt or wronged you. When you TRULY give yourself permission to do those two things, I am LIVING TESTIMONY that God will begin transforming your heart, mind, and life….BLESSINGS WILL BEGIN TO OVERFLOW. Y’all gonna make me SHOUT!!!
“….when you get free from that, and you know who you are, you wanna LIVE!!!I ain’t got no more time to waste.” PREACH!!!! When we decide to discover this multi-facetted, flawless, diamond goddess God has placed within each and every one of us, we begin understanding our divine purpose. We realize every moment is precious and we become intentional about our footprints in this world. We gain a fresh knowledge of a “Purpose Driven Life”. Stress will still come knocking, but stress will be handled and transformed with LOVE. Saying “No” to some people, activities, jobs, and situations will not feel selfish, instead it will feel self-caring and allow us to say a liberating “YES!!!!” to what is God and spiritually driven.