The week before finals week is possibly one of the most stressful weeks of the year. You are worried about grades, scholarships, moving out, and studying. It's a lot. The stress can creep up on you anytime, anywhere. Last week as I was taking my last anatomy test, I felt as if I wasn't gonna graduate college for some reason. I had no logical reason to believe this, it just came out of no where. I am a stresser. I put more stress on myself than I need to. I try not to worry about things, but its like a predisposed thought process that won't go away in my mind. I realize that my life could be a lot worse and that I have everything going for me. The stress has got to go.

I think that stress is a part of life, but it need not be a big part. A healthy level of stress is one that motivates you to do well, but nothing else. As a college student, I am constantly stressed about school and my future. I don't stop to look at how blessed I am enough and I let the stress take over my life. This is not something that I can just change with a snap of my fingers, it is something that will take work to change. As I look around at the world and see all the beautiful things and all of the heartbreaking things, I realize that life is too beautiful let stress govern my life, and that there are worse things going on than what I am stressing about.

I think that stress is another reminder that without God, I fall apart. I am weak, He is strong. I am inconsistent, He is consistent. I am unwise, He is wise. I am unstable, He is stable. Sometimes we need to feel stressed and sad in order to fully appreciate how perfect God is. I hope that when I find crisis, I always turn to God first. I hope that I always trust in Him and not myself, that I find freedom in the cross and not in the world. I hope that I am always more worried about spreading the Gospel and being a good example of Jesus' love than my grades. Our God is perfect and He loves us unconditionally; knowing this and resting in His peace makes the stress all go away.