Due to mobility, the topology of a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) changes frequently, making it more difficult to find routes that last for the entire duration of data transfer. Energy awareness and congestion control is becoming a crucial factor in the design of routing protocols. Satisfying both stability and energy constraints is a complex task. In this paper, we propose a novel, Energy and Load Aware Stability based Routing (ELSR-AODV) protocol that integrates energy and load metrics into stability routing to alleviate congestion and improve the performance of the network through cross layer approach. This model computes the reliability factor based on the link stability and the residual energy of the intermediate nodes, where load balancing mechanisms is incorporated to sustain the network functionality. It is simulated using ns2, under different mobility conditions. This protocol is compared with other similar routing protocols: LAER, PERRA. Our experimental results show better performance in terms of Packet Delivery Ratio, Control Overhead and Network Lifetime. © 2005 - 2014 JATIT & LLS. All rights reserved.