Wana appReset Your Stress Response With ScriptureChikamu
Reset from Insecurity
In fifth grade, my teacher taught our class to play box hockey, and we held a tournament. At one point, the final game was getting heated. The opponents kept scoring on each other.
Someone declared, “It’s not over yet until the fat lady sings.”
I’ve never forgotten the response that followed.
“Hey Erin, why don’t you come sing for us?”
That small comment is etched into my identity. It’s one of many labels that contributed to my negative self-talk for years after. It came not long after experiencing a trauma that labeled me helpless and alone, creating chronic digestive issues and dissociation. Later these labels would manifest in symptoms that became diagnostic labels like “clinically depressed” and “bipolar.”
Labels, whether given to us or by us, can become our identity and form our inner narrative. They can create our limiting beliefs, and they can anchor us in insecurity. I know this to be true, because I experienced it myself, battling insecurity that was created from my labels and faulty beliefs about myself. I even allowed that insecurity to set up a wall between me and God, causing me to distrust his plan and purpose for my life.
But here’s the good news: We can learn to rewrite the narrative and live beyond the limitations we place upon ourselves due to our labels. Setting our minds on Scripture, on the promises of God and what he says about us, can crowd in truth in order to overcome the lies. Supporting our nervous systems’ needs with breath work, meditation, gratitude, mindful prayer walks in nature, and times of stillness can reset the insecurity default our brains go to when stressed.
When I familiarize myself with what God says about me on a regular basis (instead of what I say about myself or hear others say), it reminds me that I’m not alone. He is a God who sees and feels and hears. He’s the living God who wants to be in a relationship with me—even with my big, complicated, stressed-out feelings.
Today, as you read through the following verses, I want you to personalize them to help you connect with God’s Word on a more direct level. Where it says “you,” I want you to add your name right after so you can be reminded to hold on to the promises of God. For example, “I have loved you [insert your name here] with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3).
We hope you've enjoyed this Bible-reading plan. For more from Erin Kerry, please ErinBKerrry.com to check out her new book Live Beyond Your Label.
Zvinechekuita neHurongwa uhu
Your body doesn’t know the difference between a real and a perceived threat. Each day, you likely encounter numerous stressors that activate your innate stress response and throw you off balance. Taking time to be still and set your mind on Scripture can take you from a fight-or-flight state to a rested state. In the next seven days, you’ll spend time reflecting on Scripture to reset from seven common stressors.
More
