saltandlight

Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Lately I have been carrying a lot. It didn’t all pile up at once. It has been slowly piling on bit by bit. I was thinking about it the other day while dealing with neck and back tension. I started going over in my mind all of the things that are stressing me out. And I realized that – it was a lot more than I thought.

I’m pretty sure we all do this. We know we aren’t supposed to worry and let things stress us out. We should lay it down, give it to God and let Him work it out. And then what do we do? We pick it back up and start worrying again. Because sometimes we don’t feel like God is working fast enough. LOL Or maybe that is just me that feels that way!

The enemy is so sneaky too. Yes, sometimes a lot of stressful things pile up at once. Or one big stressful thing hits me and takes precedence over anything else. When that happens, I immediately go to the Lord about it. But when I’m not paying attention, Satan will sneak stuff in. And I don’t even realize that I’m stressing over these things until I’m listing them out in prayer and/or feeling all of the tension in my neck.

I felt God saying, “who told you to carry all of this?” So this morning while reading the Bible and praying about these things I went to Matthew 11. I knew that if I needed that reminder, someone else probably does too. “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden”. Heavy laden can mean carrying a physical heavy load but it can also mean severe emotional, mental or spiritual burdens.

Those emotional, mental and spiritual burdens are heavier than a physical load sometimes! I would prefer a heavy physical load over a mental load any day! It’s kind of funny but when I get overly stressed my neck and back hurt more than usual due to all of the tension that I carry in that area. But when I am doing physical labor, cleaning house, working out in the garden or in the chicken coop, my neck and back feel better. Sometimes my lower back may start to hurt a little from that type of work but my neck area usually feels better.

God wants us to bring these things to Him. Lay them at His feet. Cry to Him, even if we have to vent to Him. It’s okay, He can take it. He would rather we do that than not communicate with Him at all! Don’t try to carry these things alone. It’s not up to us to solve everything for everyone. (I don’t know about you but a lot of times it’s not even my own problems that I am worrying over!)

Isn’t is such a comfort to know we have a Father that can handle it all!?

Matthew 11 goes on to say:

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) A yoke was something built to share the load. Two animals hooked together with a yoke, shared the load that they were carrying. I LOVE the symbolism here. When we share our burdens with Him, we find rest for our souls. I need rest for my soul today.

And in today’s world, even if you don’t have personal stress, there is plenty going on with our country that we need to pray about. Not stress about, but pray about.

If you look at a picture of a yoke, it looks like it could be heavy. It was built to carry heavy loads. But the last verse of the chapter Jesus says “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (verse 30) When we take His yoke, it lightens our load tremendously. Not because our load gets easier, but because we are not carrying it alone anymore.

Whatever is burdening you today, give it to Him and let Him carry it. Don’t feel that you have to solve everything. When you start releasing that grip and letting Him have it, you will feel lighter. He’s got it. He has a plan worked out already anyways, you are worrying for nothing.

I pray that we all spend a little more time with Him today and trust Him with whatever is weighing us down!

Blessings,

~ Cheryl