Before I even thought about what I said, I said it. "You need your check for your rent, food for your family then start looking for another job."

Blessed not Stressed, this Holiday Season

"Bishop, I'm so stressed out, I can't sleep, can't eat and I can't even seem to be able to think clearly. Bishop, please pray for me."

I was at the gas station standing in line inside because their credit card (reader) was not working on any of the pumps. Before the women in her mid forties walked up to me  and asking me to pray for her and telling me she was stressed out, I was speechless that very few individuals in line were paying for gas. Beer, wine, black and milds, chips and back to beer and wine was being sold. I was asking myself if I was the only one paying for gas.

Giving the woman a hug before I could say I word, she begin to cry. Everyone in line looked at me and then looked at her, and you could hear a pin drop. It was complete silence as I got out of the line, pulled her to the back area of that gas station and started ministering to her. She needed earthly resources, spiritual support and encouragement to address her stress. As I made two phone calls on my cell phone when we finally did have prayer, we were thanking God for the resources she needed which resulted in her leaving out that gas station stress free giving God the Praise for using me and giving me thanks as well for being used by God to give her favor through the resources she needed to become stress free. If you didn't catch what I just wrote, just read it again.

I want to talk about being “Blessed and not Stressed” this Holiday Season. With so many real life issues, real life problems and unexpected things to jump off how can one really be Blessed under Stress? Can you really have a great deal of Stress and be Blessed at the same time?

At the grocery store this same day, a forty-eight year old man pulled me to the side. "Bishop Moultry, I'm so glad I ran into you, can I talk to you? I need someone like you to talk to." Leaning on my grocery cart really seeing this brother needed someone to talk to, I responded, "sure", you can talk to me. I never met this man before and have not seen him since that encounter but I had to listen to him.

"Bishop, my rent's due, car note too, no food in the house for my family and I've been waiting for my last check since they laid me and eight other people off three weeks ago. Bishop, I know the Lord, but the devil is trying to talk  me to do things I don't want to do to get some money." Before I could say a word of encouragement to him he continued, "Bishop, I'm so stressed out and I need prayer."

Before I even thought about what I said, I said it. "You need your check for your rent, food for your family then start looking for another job." He quickly responded, "What about my car bishop." I responded once again without thinking, RTA runs every day."

I believe in the power of prayer, faith, trusting God, believing better days are ahead but also I believe faith without works is dead. Why? Because the Bible tells me so!

How do we deal with stressful times knowing the fact at the same time that we are blessed? Or, here I go with the question presented differently. Are we blessed even when we're going through stressful situations? Blessed is a spiritual word and reality is a real earthly issue that might be stressing one out.

We can say all the right words but in reality are we believing what we're saying? "I'm too blessed to be stressed." The women with her hands on her hips put it better when she said, "I'm in a bad situation right now but I know someone, somewhere is worse off than me." She is now serving time in jail for a crime she committed. When I went to visit her she said, "I'm blessed Bishop cause I could be dead and gone, or in prison serving big time for the crime I committed." This woman handled a situation of reality of a crime she committed, looked at it for what it was and handled it instead of it handling her. Like I heard someone say, "If you don't pay attention, attention will pay you." She took responsibility for her actions and handled the attention that she got herself in that situation in the first place and once that was done she handled the stress by accepting the facts. The unknown was stressful to her, but once the unknown became known and she was sent to jail she realized she was too blessed to be stressed. What helped this process in her mental thinking?

So let's talk about stress and how one can handle it or it handling you. What role can and will God play when one is going through a stressful situation? When one is going through stress do we sit back and do nothing, expecting God to do everything while we do nothing? Does the Holiday Season add to the stress that you already had three months ago before the Holiday Season even was close?

The father of three kids of his said to me, "Bishop, I could not buy my eight year old son not one gift for his birthday last week. How am I going to buy gifts for them all for Christmas?" He continued, "Bishop, I know I'm blessed, but also I know I'm stressed as well with Christmas fast approaching and I have no job or money."

Join me this Sunday, at the In Touch for Christ Christian Center as I preach on this Stress thing and this Blessed thing. The Word of God has an answer for your stress and your lack of faith. But until I see you this Sunday, say with me, "I'M TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED NO MATTER WHAT.”

You can e-mail the bishop at bishopspeaks@aol.com or write him at the church

Join Bishop Prince J. Moultry each Sunday Morning 11a.m. sharp at the above address in the heart of the Collinwood Community off 140th and St. Clair directly across the street from the Job Corps Campus.