Deborah Smith Pegues - 30 Days to Taming Your Stress

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture verses are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

30 DAYS TO TAMING YOUR STRESS

Copyright 2007 by Deborah Smith Pegues

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pegues, Deborah Smith, 1950-

30 days to taming your stress / Deborah Smith Pegues.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-1835-0 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-3248-6 (eBook)

1. Stress (Psychology)Religious aspectsChristianity. 2. Christian life. 3. Stress (Psychology)PreventionProblems, exercises, etc. 4. Stress managementReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title. II. Title: Thirty days to taming your stress.

BV4509.5.P45 2007

155.9042dc22

2006026725

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

This book is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, my constant companion and stress reliever.

I am eternally grateful to God for allowing me to be exposed to the following powerful and pure-hearted leaders who model His peace: Bishop Charles Blake, Pastor Edward A. Smith, Bishop E.C. Reems-Dickerson, Dr. Barbara McCoo Lewis, Dr. Elvin Ezekiel, and Bunny Wilson.

J.P., Shannon, and Lainie Sloane, Pamela Johnson, and Sherrone Burke are the best critique-friends one could have. I am also grateful for a host of contributors and intercessors, which include: Marion Meares, Billie Rodgers, Raynae Hernandez, Althea Sims, James Kirkland, Carol Pegues, Creola Waters, Janet Sweet Thomas, Sandra Arceneaux, Sylvia Gardner, Angela Knight, Belinda Wallace, the Kelley family, and many others. My mother, Doris; my father, Rube; and my six brothers: Bobby, Rube Jr., Dale, Reginald, Gene, and Vernon; and their children are my biggest cheerleaders, along with numerous other family members and well-wishers.

I could never find words to express my deep appreciation for the wonderful crew at Harvest House Publishers. They are truly a writers dream team. My editor, Kim Moore, is phenomenal and extends her assistance beyond editing.

Last, but not least, I am most grateful to my husband, Darnell Pegues, for his patience, steadfast love, and support.

Contents

Your brother is on the line! yelled my administrative assistant through the half-closed door to my office. It was the second Tuesday of the month, the day of the monthly board of directors meeting at the church where I served as the chief financial officer. The meeting would start in a few hours. I had already instructed her to put through only the most urgent calls on board meeting days as we scrambled to prepare the various financial reports I would present at the meeting. However, the call from my brother was always deemed important because it most likely concerned my mother. I was her conservatorand her only daughter. My heart always skipped a beat when any one of my six brothers called because my mother had suffered a stroke two years earlier and was still struggling to get back to normal physically as well as emotionally.

I grabbed the receiver and put it to my ear a little too quickly. The intense pain in my jaw from the pressure of the phone reminded me that today I was supposed to find a doctor to give me a second opinion on my neurologists diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgiaa very painful inflamed facial nerve condition. At times the condition had rendered me speechless. Though it really was important to get another opinion, today I could only focus on urgent matters. Id have to do it tomorrow.

I longed for a nap. I had only slept about four hours the night before because I had stayed up cooking and writing. Though my husband did not expect it, I tried to make sure he had a cooked meal available on nights when I had to work late. I liked the idea of being a domesticated professional woman. It felt right based upon my traditional upbringing. Besides, it took away my guilt for working such outrageous hours. Of course, the time I spent writing was necessary because I had been fortunate enough to land a contract with one of the top Christian publishing houses in the United States. No way was I going to miss my manuscript submission deadlinewhich was only two weeks away. I was surely going to have to pull some all-nighters to finish on time.

Board meeting days were always guaranteed to be a 12-hour stint since the workday began at 8:30 AM and the meeting did not start until 6:30 PM . As a coping mechanism for my to-do overload, I decided to block out the thought of my upcoming speaking engagement on Saturday morning. I would work on the presentation on Thursday eveningor even Friday, if I could convince my husband to postpone our weekly Friday date night until Sunday after church. I was reluctant to ask him because I wanted to appear to be handling everything with no problems. I couldnt cancel the speaking engagement because the date was too close. Absent an emergency, I never cancel. Besides, speaking is critical for an authors exposure.

Back to my brother. He was calling to tell me that my mother had run out of her most critical medication. The person who was being paid to cover this function had dropped the ball again. I would need to call in the prescription right away so that Gene could pick it up from the pharmacy. As we bemoaned the continued frustration of dealing with my mothers care, I took a quick glance at the financial statement that had just been shoved under my nose to review for the board meeting. There were several glaring errors that threatened to send me over the edge. I wanted to smack the person who had prepared the statement, but I was so hungry I wouldnt have had the energy to engage in this fleeting fantasy anyway. There would be no time for lunch or any type of break todaywhich meant that I wouldnt be very discriminating in my food selection when things simmered down later. This schedule was wreaking havoc on my body. I was paying the price for working late instead of working out. I closed my eyes and thought, Oh, for the rapture! Of course, I did not really mean it. Thinking about being snatched away to be with the Lord for all eternity was just a temporary mental escape from lifes demands. Okay, I said to myself as I took a long, deep breath, things could be worse.

I have a lot to be grateful for, but at that moment, gratitude was not among my chief thoughts. The urgent matters at hand had already grabbed first place in my mind.