Stress Management Starts In The Morning

Your battle with stress starts when your day begins. If you are waiting to combat your anxiety when it occurs, it's already too late! To be victorious, combine the disciplines of prayer and time management. The Scriptures repeatedly provide examples of people who began their day with prayer.

Psalm 119:147, "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words."
Psalm 143:8, "Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you, I lift up my soul."
Exodus 34:4, "So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone."
Mark 1:35, "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed."

Notice that the Psalmists, Moses, and Jesus all rose early in the morning to meet with God. But, consistently maintaining that schedule assumes that you must keep healthy hours. Thus, wasting time surfing the internet, scrolling through social media, or binge-watching tv late at night is unhealthy.

Spending time with the Lord early daily will give you a perspective of peace and a greater awareness of His presence. These two factors (God's peace and presence) will prove indispensable when stress decides to crash the party. Not only will you possess more power against pressure, but it will prepare you.
Preparation always gives me extra confidence. See, stress likes to impose its will upon you by bombarding you with discouraging thoughts. At times, those thoughts seem overwhelming. In these difficult moments, the prayer and time you spend with God will enable you to weather the storms of stress.
To be successful in stress management, start in the morning. Seek God first and leave the results to Him (Matthew 6:33).