5 ways to overcome Christmas stress to see the beauty of God at work when you get overwhelmed by the holiday season.
Holly wants a pair of skates. Suzie wants a doll. Everyone wants something.
It is the Christmas season of wonder and miracles, but do we feel the wonder or see the miraculous?
It is easy to get overwhelmed by what everyone wants and all the stress of the Christmas season. We can easily miss the beauty of God at work during Christmas.
Below are five practical keys to combat stress and begin to live in the miracle of Christ’s peace and love throughout the Christmas season and beyond.
1. Overcome Christmas Stress by Asking for Help
We cannot have a successful Christmas by our own power or will; we need help with preparations and relationships.
And we need the help of God’s love in order to give love to our families, friends, co-workers, and the cashier at Walmart. It is prideful to think we can do all these things on our own.
First, ask for help in prayer. The Lord will show you specific things to pray about, what to buy, what to fix, where to go, what to say.
This itself is living in the wonder and miraculous. Days bathed in prayer end much differently than those other days.
Second, ask for help from those around you. Most people are more than willing to help if we ask.
The pressure to go beyond what you can bear is not from God. If you start to sense resentment in your heart, it is a signal to either rest, get help, or say “no” to something.
2. Overcome Christmas Stress with Appropriate Expectations
Many times, we begin the season with lots of ideas, dreams, and expectations of how things should be, then we get disappointed when those expectations do not happen.
First, God wants our social events and interactions to be even better than we can hope or imagine. He wants you to have lots of fun family traditions and activities.
But His focus is on the spiritual more than the natural.
He is more concerned with your heart and attitudes than your decorations (although He loves beauty and creativity too!).
He is more concerned with your peace and joy than what you might consider as the “perfect” gift or “perfect” dinner.
Do what you can do, and give the rest to God. Give yourself permission to be less than perfect. You may forget something, and your house lights may not compare to your neighbors.
Just relax and ask God where He is moving. Then notice the small things, like auntie’s laughter at the children, or the loneliness underneath grandma’s smile.
Nobody’s family is perfect, and no holiday is perfect, but God will move in miraculous ways our holiday–if we expectantly ask Him!
3. Overcome Christmas Stress with Healthy Boundaries
It is not your responsibility to make everybody happy. Some people cannot be pleased. Another person’s happiness is ultimately between him or her and God.
You can only be responsible for what God has you to do or not do. God is more concerned about your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health than your pleasing everyone.
A boundary is a limit you set around your actions and attitudes. It may be helpful to reexamine your personal boundaries with people.
Some of us must learn the value of saying no. People may protest, but underneath, they do know we can’t participate in every activity.
Jesus was not obligated to give people everything they wanted, even in the face of hunger and injustice (Mark 1:34-38; Luke 12:13-15; John 6:26-27).
If we say yes when we really want to say no, we can begin to feel resentful, stressed, and cranky.
If it is not possible to say no to something, try to move things around or ask for help to alleviate some stress. I like that Dr. Henry Cloud says “no” is a complete sentence. You do not have to explain your no.
4. Overcome Christmas Stress with Emotional Healing
Much of your personal success in overcoming Christmas stress begins with your own heart and emotional healing.
Regardless of who skips out on washing dishes, or who makes off-the-wall comments, or who brings up sensitive issues, decide not to be offended.
Christmas dinner is not the time to deal with irritations or past issues.
Make a mental note to deal with these issues later, then give it to Jesus. If we trust Him to take care of us and that person, we can walk in peace.
We must allow Jesus to heal our hearts of trigger issues and stop hiding behind the chocolate cake. In a time of quiet prayer, bring each person who will be at the event to mind, and pray for them.
If you do not feel peace, love, and joy about them, ask the Lord to show you why. You may need to forgive them.
Ask the Lord how to find peace, love, and joy with that person. Do your part, then ask the Lord to heal your memories and emotions. If this is extremely painful, find a prayer minister or counselor to help.
5. Feel the Love of Your Heavenly Father
Sometimes, you can do everything right and things just do not work out like you hope. A few years back, it seemed nothing worked out and my Christmas was a disaster.
I cried out to the Lord, “I am just disappointed.” I felt His tremendous love embrace me as I heard in my heart, “People will disappoint you, but I will never disappoint you.”
Just know that people have pressures and problems unrelated to you. Sometimes you may be disappointed, but you can always fall into the arms of your Lord who will be your comforter and encourager.
He is always there and will never disappoint.
Your Heavenly Father Never Disappoints
Discover more about The Christian Journey at www.drcynthiajohnson.com
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