Praying through stress

Hey Dunstanland!
I've been absent from the blogosphere for awhile, and it's because I'm stressed. There's a lot to do, and not enough time to do it. I have a feeling that most (if not all!) share this experience. When I'm stressed, I tend to "turtle," to get task-focused and self-absorbed. I lose the energy required to communicate with others. Does this, too, sound familiar?

This lack of energy for communication often goes double for our prayer life. There isn't time to pray, and when we do, it's difficult not to think of all the things that we "should" be doing instead of attempting to rest in God's Presence. Then prayer makes us more stressed! When we need prayer the most -- when we are stressed, or facing difficult decisions, or uncertain about a course of action -- we are the least motivated to pray.

It is precisely because of this that prayer is sometimes called a "discipline;" we are called to pray whether we feel like it or not. It requires time and an act of the will to pray when we are chronically stressed (that is, when our anxiety is more generalized and long-term, rather that a result of a particular crisis). However, if we are disciplined enough to follow St. Paul's injunction to "pray without ceasing," the benefits are huge.

There are two essential ways to pray through stress (as opposed to praying to get out of stress: good luck with that request!): to pray for creativity, and the prayer of surrender.

First, let's address the praying for creativity. This suggestion of mine is actually based on real brain science. There is a spot in your brain, about an inch and a half behind the midpoint of the back of your eyes, that brain scientists have come to call the "God Spot." It is the part of the brains that "lights up" in scans when someone is praying, especially in a deeply contemplative or meditative way. Interestingly, this is also the spot in the brain that lights up when artists paint or virtuoso musicians play their instrument from memory. What a wonder! The very part of the brain that we engage when we pray is the same part of the brain that has to do with visual and auditory creativity. It's almost as if God set it up that way ....

What this means to me is that when we pray through stress, we can pray to "see" a new solution to a problem, or "hear" God's answer to our needs. In prayer, the Holy Spirit wants to reveal a new way of looking at our lives: God wants us to be creative! So when we are stressed, it becomes all the more important to spend the kind of time in prayer (at least 20 minutes) that allows us to relax, be in God's Presence, and see and hear God's creative word to us. I often pray not for answers, but for the right questions, which require much more creativity and inspiration. I pray that God will help me see whatever is facing me in a new light: that might, after all, be how He sees it!

Finally, when all else fails, I advise surrender. Not surrender to despair, but surrender to Jesus. Sometimes the most effective prayer through stress is simply, "I don't know how to do "X," you will have to do it, Jesus -- with me or without me, as you will." In a sense, our surrender is both an act of humility and a daring challenge to God: it says, I don't have the answers, I'm not in charge, but you are, and I recognize your responsibility. Now glorify your Name!" This is the spirit of so many of the psalms: if you can't find your own words in the midst of stress, pray God's Word.

Stress is a part of every life that is lived in Christ, that is vulnerable to God's will, that is available to the world and it's challenges. Jesus wants us in the world, not out of it. Jesus does not invite us to pray our way out of stress, but our joy is that he has given us the gift of being able to pray through stress.