Don't Stress Out Your Unborn Baby
1 Peter 5:6-7
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
We all instinctively know that worry and anxiety is not good for us. Previous studies have shown that stress affects our health and makes our immune systems less efficient. But somehow that knowledge doesn't seem to be enough to keep us from fretting about the challenges and problems of life.
A recent study conducted by researchers from the State University of New York at Stony Brook examined the effect of a mother's stress on the birth weight of her baby. They studied 130 women between the ages of 18 and 42 years of age. This exhaustive study examined causes of stress including daily feelings of anxiety, long term anxiety and financial stress. They also factored in 66 medical risk factors associated with the birth weight of their child. They found that premature births were most likely among women who faced both medical risks and emotional stress. In fact, they concluded that emotional stress was more likely to produce underweight births than just medical risks alone. Researchers admitted that every mother-to-be faces some stress, often without harm to the baby. But the key is how one deals with negative events in one's life. We can deal constructively with stress by giving all our cares to God. Because God has loved us so much that He even allowed His Son to be sacrificed for our salvation, we know He will carry all our cares.
Prayer: I thank You, dear father, that You have loved me so much. I cast all my cares upon You, for I know You love me. Amen.
Ref: B. Bower, Anxiety weighs down pregnancies and births, Science News, v. 138, p.102.
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