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Key Bible Verses: Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, NCV) Dig Deeper: Jeremiah 17:5-8

[Here are] ten stress busters for your soul:

1. Practice the spiritual discipline of slowing down.
2. Identify the sources of stress and seek to make a 20 percent improvement in de-stressing your life in specific ways.
3. Park in the parking place that is the farthest from your destination. Pray as you walk.
4. Incorporate more humor in your life. It's a proven fact that laughing is a stress buster.
5. Join what is called the slow food movement. Decide not to eat fast food for a month. Instead, enjoy meal preparation as a spiritual exercise.
6. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier every night for a month and note how you feel.
7. Do something that gives you life every day. Work with the question, "What makes me come alive?" and practice it.
8. Choose one day a week, perhaps your Sabbath, not to check voice mail, e-mail, or use any form of technology.
9. Become less available to people's demands and more available to the choices that lead to caring for your soul.
10. Walk 30 minutes five days a week at a steady pace and monitor how you feel after 30 days of practicing this.

—Stephen W. Smith in Soul Custody

My Response: I will try out some or all of these stress busters, or come up with my own.

Thought to Apply: Stress is the trash of modern life—we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.—Danzae Pace (writer)

Adapted from Soul Custody (David C. Cook, 2010) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to use my time well, keep my responsibilities in proper perspective, and not allow stress and anxiety to consume me.

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