The Power of the Christ Overcomes Stress

STEPHEN GOTTSCHALK

Recently, after a period of hard work involving the meeting of multiple responsibilities, I felt burdened and strongly in need of spiritual refreshment. No sooner had I settled down to prayerful study than I received a call from a friend asking me to share some thoughts on how best to handle the problem of stress through Christian Science.

At first it seemed quite out of the question for me to respond to this request, since I appeared to be under stress myself. But it quickly became apparent that the call, however inappropriate humanly, was spiritually opportune. For it roused me to see how general in human thought today is the claim of stress: the belief, that is, that each of us is subject to pressures, tensions, and anxieties capable of robbing us of our strength and joy, and of producing harmful effects.

Seeing this, I realized further the need for enlarging my motive so as to begin to discern the nullity of this belief, not only for myself but for everyone. Praying along these lines brought prompt relief through this wonderfully liberating recognition: that a complete triumph over the claims of stress in their most acute form had already been won in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

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