The 3 S’s Stress,Surrender & Sin

We explore how stress, skin health, and spiritual life intersect, arguing that much of our burnout and inflammation may stem from misalignment with God. We offer practical rhythms—Sabbath, offense audits, guided prayer—that regulate the nervous system and support true healing.

• redefining stress as possible misalignment or unaddressed sin
• how Scripture addresses fear and its physiological effects
• peace as a regulator of breath, heart rhythm, and hormones
• the gut–skin–stress connection and premature aging
• sin versus surrender framed as control versus release
• letting God lead schedule, relationships, and healing paths
• the hidden idol of striving and its body–soul costs
• Sabbath as recovery for spirit and nervous system
• weekly offense audit to prevent bitterness
• pairing skincare and fitness with daily time with God
• inviting the Holy Spirit as wellness consultant

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Transcript

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This is where your skin can make home body woman and hand where your skin becomes a scripture and baby. So let's take this time to begin the journey of learning the mind behind skin health, deepening our walk with the Lord, learning to membership our bodies and our spirits. Let's get into it. Hello and welcome back to today's episode of Alpha Skin, Wellness, and Faith. If you're a new listener, I thank you for tuning in today. And if you're a returning listener, I welcome you back. Either way, I thank you for tuning in today and for lending me your ears for today's discussion. Today we're going to dive into a discussion that's going to go a little bit deeper than green juice and facials. I'd like you to ponder on a question for a minute. Just something to just open us up for what today's topic is. And I'd like you to just think about for a minute what if what you're calling stress, burnout, inflammation, or even exhaustion is actually misalignment. What if it's sin or maybe just maybe? What if it's God calling you into surrender? Well, in today's episode, that's exactly what we're going to talk about: sin and surrender. Now, if you know this show, you know that we usually discuss a lot about detoxing our bodies in various ways. We talk about juice cleanses, healthy eating practices, the addition of necessary vitamins and supplements to benefit our bodies. We also talk a little bit, or a lot of it actually, about skincare, as I am an esthetician as well. We also talk about, let's see, what else do we talk about? We talk about a lot. We talk about facials, facial treatments, and we talk about a wide use of products. Now, both these topics are good, but today what I want to do is I want to talk about the cleansing of our hearts. Maybe this is an area that we may be missing the mark in. So today we're just going to examine that. Now, what do I mean when I talk about cleansing our hearts? Well, in the Bible, in Psalms 51, verse 10, it states, Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. That entire scripture reads, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right standing and steadfast spirit within me. Well, when the Bible talks about a clean heart, what it's basically talking about is a sinful nature that can sometimes reside within our hearts. That can be in a multitude of different things or different areas. Some of those things can include unforgiveness, control, pride, or even fear. Now, these issues don't just present a sinful nature, but they can also create internal stress responses as well. Now we know that the body responds to fear, but God commands us to speak to it. Sometimes when we feel stress, the body activates in what we call a fight or flight mode. What that means is that basically our heart rate increases, cortisol levels can rise, muscles and muscles can tense up. But scripture commands us to address fear at its root. If we look at one of my favorite scriptures, which is 2 Timothy 1 and 7, it tells us that God is not giving us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. Now, fear may trigger the nervous system, but that's not from God. What this means spiritually is that we can interrupt stress by aligning with truth. A sound mind reflects nervous system regulation, and power and love calm internal chaos. Now, Jesus said that he would leave his peace with us. In John 14, 27, what he says exactly is peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. But peace just isn't emotional. It also affects things like our heart rhythm, breathing patterns, muscle tension, and believe it or not, it also affects hormonal balance. Now, when we meditate on the truth, when we pray or when we worship, the parasympathetic nervous system activates what we call a rest and digest mode. God designed the body to respond to peace. In Proverbs 14 and 30, it tells us that a tranquil, a tranquil heart gives life to the flesh. Science actually now confirms that chronic stress weakens immunity, it can raise inflammation, it can also disrupt digestion. And one that I'm all too familiar with is that it ages the skin. Now, I tell my clients about this one a lot because what goes on internally within our bodies often comes out in the skin. You can see this in everything from premature aging to hyperpigmentation or discoloration in the skin, which is going to be that hormonal imbalance we just talked about. That's what that caused is caused by. But basically, we can see that a tranquil heart literally nourishes the flesh. Now, one of my other favorite scriptures I like to reflect on is 1 Peter 5 and 7, which tells us to cast our anxieties on him because he cares for us. The word cast basically implies intentional release. Basically, spiritually, surrender interrupts internal stress loops. Prayer shifts the brain from rumination to trust, and trust reduces hypervigilance. So, in a sense, what I'm saying is you cannot hold peace and panic in the same moment. The Bible also tells us, as we reflect on Romans 12 and 2, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Internal stress responses often begin with negative thought patterns such as self-criticism, fear of lack, performance pressure. And what happens is by renewing the mind, we can rewire, we can rewire stress pathways. Spiritual transformation basically equals neurological recalibration. So now let's take a look at sin versus surrender. What is the difference? Well, sin can be looked at in a couple different ways, but one way I'd like to look at it as a willful misalignment. We can kind of say some things like, okay, knowing what God said and then not going along with it. So knowing that God has told us to rest, but choosing instead to hustle, to continue, to push forward, knowing that he asks us to give, but still not give, I'm sorry, to forgive, but holding on to offense. Whereas surrender looks like releasing control in many different ways and many different areas. Basically, what I'm saying with that is just allowing the Lord to kind of take over our lives and surrender everything to Him. So basically, one way I like to describe that, how it's been described to me, and how I usually describe it to others that I'm ministering to is jumping out of the driver's seat into the passenger seat and allowing Jesus to take the wheel. Now, this can look a couple of different ways. Also, another way to look at that is just letting God like lead your schedule, lead your relationships, and lead your healing. When I say your schedule, for me, I can give you a personal example. Basically looking at my schedule and instead of getting stressed out over cancellations or things that are out of my control, knowing that just God has a plan, just having that sense of surrender where I'm kind of saying, okay, if I have this cancellation or if this has been, you know, a disruption in my schedule has been placed, then it must be there for a reason. And Lord, I leave it unto you to take over, to surrender, to do only what you can do in this situation. In our relationships, I think that one is a no-brainer. Just leaving relationships, whether it be a relational race, relationships, I'm sorry, relational relationship. That makes no sense. A relationship such as with your husband, your children, or even relationships with friends. If God removes friends out of your way, if there's a mishap or falling out or something that's going on, and you know it's by no means of your fault, then just let that situation be surrendered to the Lord by knowing that it may be just something that He's taking out of your way for a reason. And then looking at surrendering through things like healing, we get to go a little bit things crazy with just looking up on the internet and trying to DIY it, trying to try this herb, that herb, this remedy, all the different things to try and come to a solution on our own. When really what we should be doing is just surrendering the situation to the Lord through prayer. So while the Lord may guide you to many different resources, I feel that we first have to surrender it to him and allow him to show us and to guide and direct us to which avenue he would like us to take to receive that healing. Maybe it is through a physician, maybe not. Maybe there is a certain holistic professional he will have you go to, or maybe it is just a DIY remedy that he would allow you to. But the whole point of it is that we are allowing him to guide and direct and direct our steps. Another way can be striving. Over striving, just that can be in school, that can be in your job. There are many different ways that we just strive and we do things on our own. We do things apart from the Lord. And when we are striving to do things apart from Him, we usually get anywhere. Scripture says, apart from Him, that we can do nothing. Now, I know many of us are not sinning widely, and we're not sinning purposefully, excuse me. But sometimes there are things that we are doing that are sinful that we just simply don't realize. Sin doesn't always, you know, scream his way out as in, you know, going against the Ten Commandments, lying, stealing, cheating, all those things, while those things are sinful. But something that we don't think about, like I said, is like striving, having doubt, just taking things into our own hands, not allowing the Lord to be, you know, the Lord over our lives, not consulting the Holy Spirit, who is our guide. And these are just some things, you know, just at their least. Striving impacts the body, impacts us spiritually, and impacts the body, is what I wanted to say. Some different ways that striving does kind of, you know, dissemble us, I guess you could say it for lack of better words, is like I said before, elevated cortisol in the natural side or in the wellness side, hormonal imbalances, inflammation, sleep disruption, gut issues, and skin flare-ups. Now, some of the spiritual ways that striving can kind of inhibit us, which is a better word that I should have used, would be burnout and weariness or emotional fatigue, spiritual dryness is a really, really big one. And a loss of just hope, a loss of joy as we operate in the flesh instead of the spirit, it gives us a lack of what's another thing I want to say, a lack of spiritual wealth, I guess is what I can say. Because as we're striving on our own, we have the Lord just kind of sitting there and saying to us, okay, when you're done trying to do all these things on this on your own, then I'll step in and I'll help you out. In the meantime, while we're exhausting ourselves doing things on our own, what we're thinking is that the Lord is not answering us. We're thinking that, you know, the Lord is not there. Why aren't you helping us? Why aren't you answering our prayers? But really, what we don't realize is that it's a lack of surrender. Because when we refuse to surrender, the body carries what the spirit is meant to release. Now, Jesus was a perfect model of surrender. Even in pressure, he revealed, he withdrew, excuse me. He rested and he also prayed. The gospel of Luke 22 42 tells us where he says, Not my will but yours be done. So sometimes we have to release that surrender. We have to let the Lord know, okay, we may see and we may want this, but ultimately, what we need to sit and think about is that in God's will? Is that in alignment with what he wants? Or, like I said at the beginning of the show, are we in misalignment? So let's just ask ourselves this question. If the Son of God surrendered, then why are we overfunctioning? Simple. We are operating in self-righteousness. That's the answer to that question. And we know, guys, that I almost said boys and girls, I'm sorry, but we know that that will get us nowhere. So some tangible things that we can do to kind of just, you know, recalibrate and you know, realign ourselves is just in our time, you know, with the Lord, just kind of sit and ask the Holy Spirit, okay, what am I forcing that God hasn't ordained? So getting to the bottom of this, seeking the Holy Spirit is what we need to do. Seeking the Holy Spirit is just as what he is. What is the Holy Spirit? The Bible says he's our guide, he's our teacher, he's our wonderful counselor. So just seek him to get in realignment and to figure out what the areas are where you may be falling short. Another area that I tend to fall short in, in which I recently just actually got a little poke from the hair, Holy Spirit on is scheduling a Sabbath and scheduling rest. This is something that I really think that we don't pay a lot of attention to. We constantly find ourselves going, going, going. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Even on the days when we don't have our actual work, we still put some form of work in place. If we take a look at what the traditional Sabbath is according to the Bible, it means you do nothing. It means you don't make phone calls, return emails, fold the laundry, clean the bathroom, nothing. It literally means that you take that time, that day, to just rest in the Lord. While even you can see in Genesis that the Lord God Himself, even after creating the earth and all its inhabitants, took a day to sit back and reflect and rest. And he said, It is good. Now, another thing that we can do, going back to offense, as I spoke on briefly earlier, is just take some time to review what I call our offense meter. What does that mean? We get offended pretty easily, and sometimes we don't even realize it. It can be any offense from something that's said to us that pokes a nerve from a friend, a family member, or even a driver on the road that may stick up a finger that is not so nice. Any of those things can cause offense. We know that when, or we should know that when we don't deal with offense, what happens? It grows into bitterness. And what happens with bitterness? It gives the devil a way to operate in our lives. We know that the Bible says to do not give the enemy or the devil a foothold. So any type of offense, anything that is a crack, he will use to come in and to wreak havoc on our lives. So just taking some time once a week to what I call review offenses and then just kind of repent for them, whatever it is. It could be, you know, a person in the grocery store that was standing in line in front of you was just taking an extra long time and you were in a rush or whatever the situation may be. And then, you know, you huffed and puffed, and then they turned around and they snapped at you, and you were offended by the look that they gave to you. It can be a multitude of situations. But just ask the Holy Spirit in your quiet time of prayer and reflection to just bring those things to the forefront of your mind so that you can repent for them and cleanse your heart, and then you can, you know, just get rid of and release those offenses that we have unto others. Excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I would normally edit that out, but I'm on a roll here, so I'm just gonna keep going with it. Another thing that we can do is we can kind of structure our prayer time a little bit more. We take time for skincare at the end of the night. We take time to schedule and to put into our schedules, time to go to the gym to work out. All those things. Do we have a structured time to meet with the Lord? It is so, so important. So you can easily add that in on those times where you have your nightly routine for skincare. Add a 15-minute block, you know, just to spend some time with the Lord. 15, 20 minutes. I mean, 15 minutes is really nothing. It goes by so quick. The Lord is so much worth so much more than that. If you can add another 20 minutes, you know, to just calmly just sit down and reflect after you do your skincare routine. Or if you're getting up early in the morning to go to the gym, if you can just be mindful and start that day with a 20-minute meditation, devotional, whatever it is, to just, you know, allow the Lord to just minister to you. That is an amazing way to, you know, just kind of get things recalibrated, to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you, to speak to your heart, and to show you the areas that you may be in that misalignment. Also, invite the Holy Spirit into your wellness routine. You may say, Well, what do you mean by that? So there are so many things that we do. If you're like me, you have a whole bunch of supplements, you have a whole bunch of things that you're doing, you may have, you know, a bunch of fitness classes that you're taking, you may go to Pilates one day, you may do nope, not yoga. That's a whole nother episode. So I won't use that as an example. Not yoga, but you may be doing Pilates, you may be doing a weightlifting class, you may have, you know, a spin class on Tuesday. You know, all the things you just may do be doing way too much, and maybe you are just causing yourself a little bit of burnout. So, with this, what I mean is is just kind of inviting the Holy Spirit in to say, okay, what would be more beneficial to me? I mean, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate wellness consultant. I'm a good wellness consultant too, but I'm going to admit to you guys, the Holy Spirit can definitely do a lot, a whole better job than what I can do. So let him guide you, show you, teach you, reveal to you what only he knows, what is best for you. Sometimes what we need to do is just sit down and reflect inwardly. You know, sometimes you have to think about it. Your acne may not just be hormonal, your exhaustion may not just be a work an overworkload, your anxiety may not just be life. Sometimes what the body whispers to us what the spirit has been ignoring. Because wellness, it just isn't about organic herbs and clean products. What it's really about is divine alignment and surrender is the most powerful detox that there is. So I just invite you to just, you know, take this time to sit with the Holy Spirit and let Him minister you personally and tell minister to you, excuse me, personally, and just tell you, you know, what are the areas in your heart that need to be cleaned up or what are the areas of misalignment that need to be straightened up. So yeah, we're just gonna wrap it up there for now. Basically, I really, really hope that this hits home for somebody. I know that, you know, I've gone a little longer than what I would sometimes with just about 30 minutes, but I just really want this to make an impact on you to just look at other things than just your wellness, your physical wellness, but to also look at your spiritual wellness as well. So we'll wrap it up for there for now with a little prayer. Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord, for all those that are listening to this podcast. I pray that this podcast has been nourishing to their spirits, their minds, and eventually their bodies as well. As I come before you, Father God, I ask you, Lord God, to deliver this podcast to those that need to hear it. I ask, Father God, that they would benefit from it in some way that they would be implement be able to implement change in their lives and draw closer to you. Thank you, Father, for all that you have led me to speak on this podcast today. In Jesus' name I pray and I say amen. All right, guys, I thank you so much for tuning in today. I pray that you guys have received something from this podcast. And if you have, I invite you to leave a nice review on whatever platform you're listening to this podcast on, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or there's a billion of them. I'm not even sure of all the platforms. But wherever you listen, please, please, please leave a nice review. And then of course, you can also share it with someone with someone so that they can benefit from it as well. All right, guys. So as I tell you guys, we are here to be blessed and to be a blessing. So carry on for now, and I will catch you on the next episode. Bye.