Volume 4 - April Theme: Stress is Just Rest
with Two Extra S's!
DESSERT: Anything sweet that claims to be fat free (Sugar Free Jell-O w/nonfat whipped topping or fat free cookies) Help reduce stress and our waistlines!
CANDY: Creepy Peepers Chocolate Eyeballs (#IN-K27) Oriental Trading Company 1-800-875-8480
Are you laughing? You don't want to cause undue stress this month with dessert and candy because of the calories! This candy is worth a splurge because each individually wrapped bloodshot eyeball is chocolate with a peanut butter center! They resemble what our eyes look like under stress with no rest!
- Have women wear their favorite lounging clothes and slippers, rated G.
- Serve them dessert and beverage, pencils and pads. (If you have older children, you may use them to sweetly serve the women instead of women helping themselves, so women can just sit down and put their feet up!)
- Tell them as an icebreaker they each have to sing a song. (Not really, just to give a practical example of STRESS.) After the moans...
- Ask women to:
- 1. Share one or two things they do on a regular basis to reduce stress, and
- 2. Ask them to share one way they rest.
Below is a sample of what I might open with:
I use the same calendar-style planning book that I have since marriage to
reduce stress. Every January I fill in appointments, Sweet Monday speaking engagements, reminders, etc. It is always placed in the same spot in my home!
or, I rest reading a book or magazine while soaking my feet in the bathroom sink propped up on the counter with a cup of decaf coffee or tea.
- Have fun! Remember FUN & FAITHFULNESS can go together!
- Announce your next Sweet Monday... no shoestrings attached!
TIED TO A GENEROUS GOD
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 NIV
There are at least two things we all have in common... SIN and STRESS. Sin is our own selfishness and desire to go our own way. Chuck Swindoll in Laugh Again defines stress as more severe than worry. "Stress is intense strain over a situation we cannot change or control - something out of our control. And instead of releasing it to God, we churn it over. It is in that restless churning stage that our stress is intensified. Usually the thing that plagues us is not as severe as we make it out to be."
Much STRESS occurred when my six-year-old daughter was changing her clothes, and I noticed a "new mole" on her back and touched it. Soon I realized it wasn't a "new mole" because some little legs wiggled. This experience gave new meaning to the phrase, "Heebie Jeebies," and I know I passed on some fear to my precious child. (I never have been good at "FAKING IT"!) I didn't know what to do so I grabbed my Taking Care of Your Child book. Then I ran over to the house of experience, my neighbor's across the street, "Grandma Hazel." After some simple instructions about cutting a tiny hole in a bandage so as not to burn any skin when I heated the tick with a match, and a pep talk, Kali and I returned home to reluctantly remove it. I was more nervous than my daughter, and I know she sensed my fear, so we prayed and pulled. And we prayed and pulled. After heat was applied, the tick loosened, and after several "heatings," I managed to pull it off. I couldn't believe how strongly it adhered to that precious skin!
What a picture to me later, after the STRESS of the tick was removed, of the only way sin can be removed. Sin is a lot like that tick! We all have it, deeply imbedded. Only Jesus Christ, by the heat of His blood shed on the cross, can remove our sin when we ask Him by faith.
If anyone here tonight is not sure if they have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, please call me. My number is on the pink invitation/reminder card in the foyer.
Personal Prayer for Sweet Monday Hostess and Me
Lord, thank you for removing the tick of sin in my life, which gives me right standing with God for now and all eternity. When I acknowledged my sin and accepted Your death and resurrection by faith in payment for my sin, I not only received salvation from sin, but a secure future in heaven with You forever when I die. Thank You!