The House That Stress Built

Jenny couldn’t recall the exact time her hair went grey. She was only in her Thirties, so how could this be? But slowly each day it seemed to be getting greyer.
Her brow had a constant frown set on it. Her eyes looked glassy and bloodshot from all the nights of lack of sleep. Her mouth was turned down in a sad sullen look. Her shoulders were stooped over as if she was carrying the weight of the world on them. And to Jenny, it seemed like she was. She walked slowly and bent over as if each step was painful and hard. Her constant companions were her tormenting thoughts. “What if I can’t make it?” “I can’t do this anymore!” I don’t know what I’m going to do.” And the favourite was “I’m such a failure.” These thoughts ran over and over in her head on a continuous loop. They wouldn’t stop even for a while so she could sleep. Jenny couldn’t remember the last time she got a good night’s sleep; it had been so long ago now. Sometimes the thoughts seem more tormenting in the early morning hours when she should have been sleeping.

Jenny found that she worried and stressed about everything. Everything was a mission and was always so hard to do. She had lost her “get up and go.” She often wondered how did she get this way? She used to be so free and happy. But then life happened. One disaster after another. She became so tired of all the deliberating in her head. She had no idea how to handle all the balls she was trying to juggle. Life just became impossible to cope with. Her friend Kat, had been on her case for months now, nagging her to come to church. She seemed to believe that going to church was the magic formula to life! Jenny had to admit Kat did seem a lot happier and in control of her life than she was. But surely church couldn’t do that? Kat went on and on about Jesus and how He can help her. Kat had asked Jenny so many times to just give Jesus a chance. But she had her doubts about all this. There was no silver lining for her. And she wasn’t about to become one of those Jesus freaks that’s for sure. Jenny woke up on Sunday morning, to her mobile phone ringing. She looked at the screen to see who could be calling her so early on a Sunday. Kat! She was tempted to just ignore the call, but she knew Kat would keep calling until she answered.
“Hi, Kat, what’s up.”
“Hi, Jenny, I thought you might like to come with me to church this morning and afterwards we could go out for a late breakfast.” “Please say yes.” “I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
And with that, she was gone. Jenny never got a chance to respond.

Jenny sat at the end of her bed deciding what to do. Well really, she had nothing to do, so she may as well go. What’s the worst that could happen?
Kat was over the moon that Jenny was downstairs waiting for her! Yay her approach had worked. She had been praying for Jenny for so long now, she knew that Jesus wanted to touch her life. Jenny muttered a “hello” in an annoyed voice, as she opened the door to Kat’s car. Kat just smiled at her. The drive to church was quiet. Kat prayed all the way and Jenny fumed all the way. Kat parked her car in the church’s parking lot. Everyone was waving and shouting hello to them.
Jenny asked,” do you know these people?”
“Oh, no they are just very friendly here.”

From the moment Jenny stepped into the church she felt something different, she couldn’t explain what it was, but it had her attention. The service was so different to anything she knew about church. The people sang as if they were singing to someone real. They prayed like God was there listening and would answer them. Their relationship with God seemed so tangible, it was amazing. Could God be real? Jenny had never experienced anything like this before. She fought off tears the whole time. Why was she crying? The minister said that Jesus loved her. Could this be true? Then he asked them to all say a prayer asking Jesus to come into their hearts. Jenny found herself repeating the prayer with everyone else. Kat had her arm around her shoulders and was crying too. And just as Kat had promised, Jenny’s world changed. At that moment, the weight that she was carrying lifted off her. She nearly fell over with the release of it. It was amazing and frightening at the same time. She found herself smiling. Oh, my when had she last smiled? She felt free, free from the bondage that held her down. Free from her past and all its mistakes. Oh, how wonderful it felt to be so free. She was crying like a baby now, the tears just kept coming. She was so grateful for Jesus’ love and healing power that was going over her. She didn’t want to leave in case this feeling went away. But Kat assured her that Jesus would never leave her, that He would stay with her for the rest of her life and all eternity. “You mean I will have this forever?” Jenny asked.
“Yes, always, God is so good,” Kat replied, “He just wants to be with you and help you become the best you that you can be.”

Jenny thought she had found gold. She hugged Kat in gratitude for not giving up on her and for showing her the way to Jesus. She decided she didn’t want to go out for a late breakfast after church, she just wanted to go home and be by herself with God. As Jenny got home, she climbed into her bed and prayed. “Thank you, Father, God for having me, for healing me and for loving me.” And with that, she went into a deep sleep. She woke up some 12 hours later. She looked at her watch and she couldn’t believe it she had slept so long! She started to cry, not with tears of sadness but of gratitude for being able to sleep again. She cried because she felt so much better. She cried because she knew that her life was going to be ok from now on. She cried because she had finally found a home and she was no longer lost.

Jenny finally felt at peace with her life. It was a new day and a new beginning for her…