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It’s a cry we hear daily in offices, in classrooms, at home, and over the phone from a girlfriend confiding that she's having marital problems. We sound the alarm, we lament to our support networks — but do we think of turning to God? Do we ever think about stress and our spiritual life?

Likely not, if we are so stressed out we can't handle thinking about one more thing. Yet it is important to consider that attending to our spiritual life during times of anxiety can help us manage stress and rebalance our life. Also, maintaining our spiritual health is key to general stress relief and prevention.

We all know stress hurts us mentally. We know that it can take its toll physically. We also need to consider that it makes us spiritually unwell.

“I can do it myself!”

Most of us have been saying those words since we were three years old, and now as adults we may have a deeply ingrained, self-help, do-it-myself way of handling stress. Maybe it’s pride, or maybe it’s lack of faith that God can make a difference that keeps us from turning to God and working to strengthen our spiritual lives when we need it most.

How can we keep our spiritual life strong, especially when our schedules are so overcrowded?

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Visit the study page for ideas for discussion and further reflection.

The Old Testament doesn’t usually make the top ten list of self-help books, and the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is not where most people would look for a way through their stress. But the story takes place during a drought, and being stressed out is a lot like living in a drought. So maybe there is something in this story that can lead us toward refreshment in our stressful lives.

To set the stage: God has called Elijah to be a prophet. And God has told Elijah to go to a place called Sidon.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have com-manded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

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