You don’t have to listen too hard to make out the cries of harried Americans today. Pressed by too many demands, too little time, mushrooming pressures, and shrinking paychecks, people are quick to confess, “I’m just trying to survive.” That’s exactly what Americans were saying in the days that led to our nation’s first Great Awakening. Forced with building a society from scratch, the early settlers defined the word “pressure.” Pressure didn’t come from daily freeway commutes or seventy-hour workweeks but from fighting medical emergencies without the ability to dial 911 and winters without cozy, insulated homes. Crops failed, diseases spread, and early deaths were common. Into such a dismal cultural climate, a spiritual outbreak occurred which no one could have predicted—the Great Awakening.