A word you don't hear very much teaching about is one the book of Proverbs discusses: prudence (or being prudent). Prudence means "careful management: ECONOMY."
In the Scriptures "prudence" or "prudent" means being good stewards or managers of the gifts God has given us to use. Those gifts include time, energy, strength and health as well as material possessions.
They include our bodies as well as our minds and spirits.
Just as each one of us has been given a different set of gifts, each of us has been given a different ability to manage those gifts. Some of us are better able to manage ourselves than are others.
Each of us needs to know how much we are able to handle. We need to be able to recognize when we are reaching "full capacity" or "overload." Instead of pushing ourselves on over into overload to please others, satisfy our own desires or reach our personal goals, we need to listen to the Lord and obey what He is telling us to do.
We must follow Wisdom to enjoy blessed lives.
Nobody can remove all the stressors, the things causing or increasing stress, in our lives. For that reason, each of us must be prudent to identify and recognize the stressors that affect us most and learn how to respond to them with the right action. We must recognize our limits and learn to say, "No!" to ourselves and other people.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers