Stress Management: How to Manage Stress Well
Through Prayer!

An interview with Sherry Stahl

founder of Soul H2O Ministries

By Nathan Reid-Welford

With a career spanning from co-owning and operating a Profit Hot 50 company in the

Automotive/Tier 1 Industrial Sector, business consulting, devotional book launches,

tours, blogs, mission trips, and now the Anyone Pray account manager at Crossroads,

Sherry Stahl’s professional experience has strongly fused business and faith.

Underneath the Kingdom impact—devotionals that have been studied in prison and by

girls rescued from human trafficking to name two—faith has grounded Sherry, helped

her develop strategies to manage the unique stress the professional world has exposed

her to, and equipped her to bring them to others.

A Worldwide Problem

“The number of days employees call in sick due to mental health is significant,” Sherry

asserts. “The cost for businesses to manage the mental health of employees is

something that continues to grow. It can debilitate them.”

Her research includes reports from The Lancet Journal that businesses worldwide are

estimated to spend $6 trillion a year on mental health and stress for their employees by

2039.

“It is believed that the average business spends about $3000 or more a year on health-

care services for employees,” Sherry says.

This epidemic extends beyond financial strain, into company efficiency—absenteeism

and turnover due to burnout resulting in quitting—and most significantly into people’s

daily lives.

As a professional herself, Sherry is aware of the prevalence of stress and the reality that

many business owners and entrepreneurs face when it occurs.

“Everyone has to keep working when life gets tough, especially as business owners and

entrepreneurs; there is a lot of weight on you.”

Her Own Journey

While a job can often be the root of stress, in Sherry’s experience stress has often

grown from struggles and difficult life circumstances that bleed into work.

She cites an instance when she was meant to present at a board meeting for twelve

people—executives in the automotive industry—during a difficult family situation.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go into work. I was struggling, really upset. I

had been up most of the night and couldn’t imagine my brain functioning enough to do

it,” she recalls.

Then, something changed.

The Solution

“I called the Crossroads’ prayer line,” Sherry remembers. “It was a short call, but I felt

the peace of God. I slept for a couple hours, got up, and held the meeting.”

Aware that the power of prayer can sustain you and mitigate afflictions like stress,

Sherry recognizes the difference in herself when she stays connected to God in prayer.

Such was the pull on her heart toward the significance and accessibility of this spiritual

discipline that upon joining Crossroads as the account manager for Anyone Pray—to

help churches and charities to get their very own prayer line—she knew God was telling

her to “let go of all that she had done and was doing.”

Feeling that her experiences in business and ministry led up to her work in this position,

Sherry and the Anyone Pray team are now venturing to expand Anyone Pray beyond

church and charity lines to businesses, offering it as part of a company benefits

package to care for employees and implement the power of prayer more intentionally

into the business world.

“It can help give Christian business owners an opportunity for people to receive prayer

and show they care for their people beyond what they can produce.”

A 24/7 network of such prayer lines and operators is essential given the confines of the

professional world—work hours, scheduled calls, deadlines that must be met.

“You can’t always call a friend,” Sherry says, remembering times during the workday

where she thought she might be interrupting or bothering someone. “But sometimes you

need someone to pray—in the moment.”

Managing Stress Before it Takes Hold

However, Sherry recognizes that as a service like Anyone Pray is still expanding into

the business world, not everyone has access to it, or knows about it.

As such, over her time in the workforce, Sherry has continually discovered and

implemented other processes and steps in the battle against stress and worry.

These include:

• Calm meditation—focused on listening to God.
• Finding confidence and strength through scripture.
• Personal prayer.
• Coming together with others for prayer.
  
  

Such steps have allowed Sherry to persevere through difficulties and continue her

Kingdom impact through various ventures. An initiative like Anyone Pray adds another

tool to assist Christian—and non-believing—professionals in their daily lives (making it a

form of gentle evangelism as well).

“The bigger the battle, the more warriors you need,” Sherry explains.

Prioritizing stress management, steps to mitigate it, and expanding services to

overcome it will continually help to change the perception of success—the quality of life

for employees and owners—and thus, lead to greater impact to be carried out through

the work of employees who feel cared for, lifted up, and determined but not stressed.