There’s a big difference between pressure and stress. Pressure can be either good or bad for you, depending on where it’s coming from and how you deal with it. Sometimes a little pressure is just what you need to help you reach your full potential. But stress—mental, emotional, or physical strain that wears you out and gets you nowhere—is never good for you. If you’re feeling stressed, then something isn’t right. You’re either going about things the wrong way, or you’re looking at things the wrong way.

When faced with a challenge, difficulty, or some other form of outside pressure, if you try to handle it by yourself instead of asking for My help, the pressure will turn into stress. You will feel anxious, rushed, frustrated, discouraged, and ultimately overwhelmed. When you try to handle pressure on your own, when you switch into “self-works” mode, it’s really “self-destruction” mode. You think you don’t have time to pray and wait for Me to work or show you what to do, so of course you’re going to make more mistakes than you would with My help. That compounds the stress and makes a bad situation worse. It can become a vicious cycle if you don’t recognize the problem, slow down, and do things differently.

The pressure situations I have designed for your life are meant to help, not hurt you—and they will if you handle them the right way. If it causes you to recognize your own limitations and become more dependent on Me, you’re sure to come out ahead. If it causes you to turn around and transfer that pressure to Me by asking Me to help carry the load, I will. I will also give you the strength, patience, wisdom, understanding, or whatever it is you need in extra measure so you can do your part. Together we can tackle any problem without you getting stressed.