“Signs of a Life” – Part IV
As you can imagine, hearing the nurse call for the paddles and being in the hospital for 10 nights was pretty traumatic. I wasn’t home for long before my doctor recommended I find someone to talk with to help me sort through my stress and anxiety. The first thing she wanted me to come to terms with was recognizing my trigger points. I didn’t know what a trigger point was until much later, but once I learned the meaning behind it, I quickly knew what my trigger was. The way it was explained to me is that it is the first feeling you have of anxiety. For example, you are sitting quietly in the living room reading a book and someone in the kitchen drops a frying pan or shatters a glass. It’s that feeling right then and there that you feel. What is it for you? Where do you feel it? Do you feel a tightness in your chest? Or is it a sinking feeling in your stomach. How do you react? What do you do? Think about it for a second and the next time that happens pay close attention and you will learn with your trigger is.
For me, I feel a tightness in my chest and when I am really stressed I then find myself rubbing my hand over my chest to help calm myself. I do this sometimes without even realizing it. When I do, I do eventual realize I am now able to recognize this as my trigger and a sign of anxiety that I need to deal with immediately. I then just start breathing deeply and talk to myself and God to get reassurance from Him that everything will be okay. Positive words and prayers of affirmation is the first thing I do. I close my eyes and quiet the room and try to feel the presence of God’s embrace. God has told me repeatedly to ‘Be Still’. I’ve taken this to simply mean, to Be Still in his presence, to stop striving for my will, and start embracing His Will and plan for my life. For Only God knows our next move and what is best for us! He wants us to live an abundant life.
“Be still and know that I am God,” ~ Psalm 46:10
As time has gone by, this practice is all I really need to follow in order to calm myself and quiet my anxieties, but there was a time when this was not enough. There are other ways to handle our stress and I’ll be sharing next several ways I learned to deal with mine and hope that it will help you!
I have found that when I am open to Signs from God, I actually find more of them! To be open to finding them, we need to focused on Him and His presence. He is always with us. Though, when we aren’t focused on Him, our thoughts may wander. We may go astray. When you recognize this, turn your thoughts back to God. Look for the signs. They are there. God speaks to us in many different ways. The signs we receive may be different for so many of us.
like two trees laying in the woods that had fallen down. To me though, when you zoom in on the picture, there laid a cross. Later on, I stopped by the stream and sat for a while. This is when I found a heart-shaped rock…another sign from God. When I recognize these signs, it’s like I stop in my tracks and I lose my breath for a second. Then I just take a deep breath in and know that God is with me! He cares, and He wants me to know that everything will be ok!
