Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Stressed-Less Living by Tracie Miles

Are you feeling fatigued, frazzled, overworked, overloaded, overwhelmed, or over committed?
In this book, you'll learn how to recognize the signs of burnout, the symptoms of chronic stress and the consequences of ignoring stress.
Tracie had come to the point where stress was the norm for her life. She longed for her old life. God led her to a place that required her to step out in humility and swallow her pride. Stress overshadowed her faith. She realized she was the one who had to make the decision to change.
She found she was trying to control circumstances she had no control over. She was trying to fix things she had no resources to fix. She was worrying over problems she had no power to remedy.
Tracie helps us through a stress assessment. She encourages us to ask God to reveal the root cause for the stress. We are to pray for strength, courage and the desire to look deep into our soul, to see the problem for what it really is.
She reminds us that it will take time. “Real strength results from persistent communication and fellowship with him and allowing his words to guide us through each day.” (178)
Tracie's prayer: “...that you now have a heart that recognizes that Jesus is the answer to peace and serenity in a world characterized by chaos and stress.” (227)
Tracie has provided Bible verses with each chapter that are an encouragement to place our trust in Jesus. There are also questions at the end of each chapter that can be used for personal reflection or for a group setting. The questions are not about Scripture but ask for personal responses to the issues in the chapter.
Some readers may have difficulty identifying with Tracie as she quite a high stress job as part of her journey to less stress. But Tracie also shares many events from her daily life that shows how she has grown in her trusting Jesus for peace and serenity.
Go to www.stressedlessliving.com to see a video and read the first chapter.
 
Tracie Miles is a Christian speaker and author and is a freelance corporate trainer for Fortune 500 companies, teaching stress management, leadership, and performance-improvement skills. Tracie and her husband live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with their three teenage children. You can find out more about her at www.traciemiles.com.
Leafwood Publishers, 224 pages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

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