Got Burdens?

I go to the post office for work nearly every day. Some days I only carry an envelope or two. Other days I may have several boxes. On some days the box carrying gets interesting. Between 20 pound soil boxes, light plant sample boxes and envelopes, it gets hard to hold them securely. Sometimes, when trying to open the post office door or put the boxes down, everything goes flying. If I’m not careful my frustrations will fly as my calmness flies out the door as well.

When life is a heavy load of stuff I find that I get more and more frustrated as I try to handle it all myself. God speaks to my heart and reminds me to let Him carry the load and then I can relax as all those things settle in proper order. Can you relate?

I have discovered that I might need to let some things go. How many boxes are you holding? What all are you trying to take care of? Are you barely hanging on? Are things flying wildly away around you? Do you wonder where it will all land and if you will be injured in the process? Hold on – God’s stepping in to give you a hand with all the “stuff” of life. You may be trying to make up your mind to make it on your own, but don’t leave God out of the decisions when you need Him the most. 

God wants you to know that you don’t have to keep juggling things. He wants you to know that life in Him is not always easy but you can handle it if you will give it all to Him. He speaks calming words over your life. The extreme struggle you feel is not from the Lord, but He will use it to get you to look to Him. He knows that often it is only when you are unable to do another thing that you will call out to Him, but He’s been helping you all along. He wants you to look only to Him for help, so that your life is hidden completely in Christ. That kind of life will bring you great peace and you will realize your true worth and value to Him. Juggling on gets you frustrated but walking in the light of the Lord will keep the frenzies and flusters away. 

Oh beloved, it’s never too late to release your overburdened life to God. He has shown you through the Easter promise that He is trustworthy, faithful and true. He has shown you through His Salvation that you are in His hands. He has shown you through His Word that everything you need to know about life and godliness is available to you. It doesn’t matter what other people think or do, it is your destiny to hold onto God and let Him relieve you of unnecessary burdens so you can live loved and walk in peace. The world’s message says busyness is godliness. But godliness comes flooding into us when we let God do the choosing. It is in the quietness of time spent with God that you will find the ability to handle your life’s demands and leave the choices to Him.

God loves you and He’s for you- on this you can rely. Live life and love Him and let Him walk through it with you always.

“Lord thank You for being my Help. Only when my life relies on You do I truly walk in victory and shed the burdens of life. Oh how You love me. You keep wooing me back to You. Today I give my burdens to You to order my life for Your glory and my peace. Amen.”

Psalm 94:19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

Psalm 61:2 From the ends of the earth, I cry to You for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety.

Psalm 124:8 Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 55:22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

You Were Meant to Travel Light!

While working on my boss’s travel to Washington DC last week, I noticed that he had two tickets for baggage. Each time he checked his baggage, it cost him.  It wasn’t a whole lot of money, but if a person had to declare their baggage and pay for it every week it would count up.  I understand that some airlines charge for baggage even more when it weighs more. The heavier it is and the more bags you’re carrying, the more it costs. You can be charged on one airline for heavy baggage, large baggage and too much baggage. Three prices added up makes for expensive travel.  Imagine if you had to carry your heavy, large and overloaded amount of baggage onto the plane yourself? It would be so tiresome that some folks would just give up trying to fly.

We all have had baggage. Some of it was of our own making. We gave our hearts to the Lord but we didn’t know how to give our problems, our past, our regrets, our fears to Him. So we kept hauling that stuff around with us everywhere we went.  It makes for expensive travel. It bears so heavy on some folks that they are totally bent over with the load. Without having anyone to carry their baggage for them, they are destined to live under the load, tiring out easily and always out of breath. They can neither travel the high mountains of extreme joy nor make it through the valleys of trouble. It’s a rough life to walk around with excess baggage.

We were meant to travel light. We were never meant to carry the stuff we had before Christ with us forever. We aren’t meant to gather new baggage either. If we insist on carrying our own stuff, we will be so burdened that we won’t be able to share God’s love and tell others how He heals, sets free and delivers.  We won’t be able to do that because we won’t be walking in freedom from the load.

People are looking for someone to lighten their load. Nobody intends to live burdened lives with all that junk stacked in their hearts and minds. Nobody wants to have to pay daily for excess, too large or too much baggage.  It’s hard to feel you can never let it go. It’s a rough life to walk around with all your fears and animosity, your troubles and regrets drug behind you like an anchor in the sea.  You know people are looking for an answer to this oh so heavy load, because there are so many self-help books on that subject. Trouble with self-help books is they all point you to you!

Oh beloved, this morning God is walking beside you and He’s telling you that He will lighten your load! He will say to you were never meant to carry that stuff around with you eternally. He says to you, lay your burdens on Me. Let’s look at those things you’ve been carrying far too long and talk about each one. There – that Unforgiveness? I can relieve you of that. For I forgave you at the cross and already made arrangements for all of that.  There – those Regrets?  You don’t need to carry them around with you for I don’t even know about them – they are in the sea of forgiveness never to be brought up again. Fear? Oh my beloved, you were never meant to carry one ounce of fear, not for yesterday, not for today and certainly not for tomorrow. I AM your load bearer, I AM your lifter and your lightener. If you will let Me I will remove your baggage and together we will travel to My anointing and My plan for your life.

This morning the Baggage Carrier is calling out to you, I love you, I love you, I love you! And because of His incredible, unending, eternal, perfect love He will lighten your load, carry your burdens for you and give you a travel plan that’s out of this world!

 

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Psalm 55:22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Psalm 146:8  The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly.

You Can Find Sweet Rest

I’ve been having a little trouble sleeping lately. Not a big deal, but I can’t seem to sleep through the night without waking up, sometimes for an hour or so.  I’m not upset or overly thinking about anything, just wide awake.  I am ready to sleep all night again!  With a music app on my phone I have been known to turn it to praise and worship, put it under my pillow and listen.  Doesn’t take long for me to be back asleep.  Soft, soothing music is good for my spirit and helps me slip back into dream land.

Rest is imperative for the human body. Without comfortable solid sleep, the day ahead can get weary. We may find ourselves grumpy or even find our joints and back sore. Wrestling with the bed to get settled in just right is tiring.  Being too hot or too cold will also cause discomfort and wakefulness. There are a lot of outside elements that make or break good sleep.  Rest makes for clearer thinking, better outlooks and more stamina to make it through the day.  I remember my mother telling me, when my kiddos were babes and sometimes didn’t sleep good, “If a mother can get a good night’s sleep, she can handle pretty much anything during the day.”  So, so true.

Believers need rest too. Faith rest is absolutely important for the spirit of a believer. If you fret and worry and carry the burdens of the previous day, you’ll find yourself oh so tired.  If you go to bed with baggage, either yours or what others put on you, and you don’t lay it aside  you will stay fatigued.  With spiritual fatigue comes physical fatigue. Weariness of heart makes for a weary mind which makes for a weary body.  Unless a child of God learns how to rest, they’ll be perpetually tired. They won’t be able to handle the day’s events – upsets, sorrows, discouragement, and more. It will just snowball and you’ll find yourself wakeful, fretful and tired.

Oh beloved, are you need to rest?  Are you handle all your problems alone? Run to the Lord, who wants to take your burdens, who wants to give you the rest you so need, who wants to bless you with comfort and peace! Seek His Word and see – He promises to give rest to you.  He promises to take your burdens and carry them. He promises give you every answer to every problem, so that you don’t have to wrestle with them! Beloved, you do not have to carry everyone’s problems either. Just carry them to the Lord in prayer and rest in the promise of His answer as well!

God loves you and He’s always with you, working things out for you and those you love, so you can rest! Resting in His promises is your birthright and His delight. And that’s all that really matters.

 

Psalm 91:1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Isaiah 30:15a This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.…”

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. (NIV)

Exodus 33:14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

It's Time to Rise and Shine!

“Rise and Shine” is a phrase I heard often as a child. My dad would wake me up every morning singing reveille and saying those words.  As a little girl, I was delighted to be woken up that way. As I grew into my teen years I admit it bugged me. What I wouldn’t give to hear my daddy say those things to me again.  After I married and had children, it’s a song my kids learned in Sunday School. “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory!”   It was peppy and fun with gestures to go along with it.

After reading a friend’s post about the frustrations of working on a new computer that would not cooperate, I realized that it’s a rough world out there and we don’t even have to leave the house! Life can be so frustrating. The world says it’s walking in “freedom” yet chaos is everywhere. There’s very little commitment, hardly any standards and what used to be normal is viewed as weird. Life has indeed gotten topsy turvy, in a state of utter disorder and confusion. Often it’s hard to get up in the morning and to turn on the tv means hearing news about wars, murders, disasters and more. Rarely do we wake up to hear anything that will bring joy or peace or comfort.

So how do we do it? How do we live in the light when all around us is falling apart? How do we present the Truth in light of such wrong thinking? Where do we go to find peace in a world in such uproar? Can we find joy in the midst of darkness? Can we make ends meet in a world that wants more and more and more from us? What about our rights? What about our future? Who cares if we’re going off  a fiscal cliff or a spiritual cliff? Can we hang on, can we survive, can we overcome?

Oh beloved, it’s time to “Rise and shine and give God the glory!”  It’s time to wake up in the morning and praise the One Who gave you everything for life and godliness, in spite of the sorrow that hits you square in the face, the gloom and concern that wakes you up, in spite of the hurts and regrets and unfulfilled dreams. For God’s Word is your only source of hope, not just in bad times, but in good times as well. God knows you and He has promised many things to you. And His promises are not left at the altar, but rather His promises walk you down the aisle, carry you throughout your life and stay with you all the way to heaven! When the world is tearing you down, God promises to lift you above it. When people are walking away, God has promised to stay the course with you. When sorrows hit, God has promised to give you joy unspeakable and full of glory.  

I know. When you’re in the midst of the troubles, it’s hard to believe, but God loves you. I know it’s difficult some days to get out of bed, but God is the One Who wakes you up each day.  And, if God Himself is waking you up, then that’s a sure sign that He has a plan for the day, regardless of the headlines, the hurts, the fears or the concerns.   Just follow Him.  Just live by His Word. Just trust in the Only One Who loves you unconditionally and will never leave you or forsake you.

If you follow the Lord, live in the light of His Word and seek His face, everything else will work out. It might be messy along the way, but His will for your life will be completed. Hangeth thou in there, beloved!

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. NAS

Psalm 43:3 Send out Your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You live.

John 15:11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Feeling Weighed Down? Give Your Cares to Him!

My children always loved collecting rocks from the area we vacationed. Every once in a while I’ll find a small pebble or a couple of rocks in a box. There’s a big collection that our son saved in a box out in the shop and it is heavy.  I guess you could call them memory stones.  I was cleaning out my car last week and found another rock – it looks like the grandkids now want to collect them. 

We gather memory rocks don’t we? Not all the stones are from pleasant places.  Some are picked up along with hurts, discouragement or sorrow.  Some are thrown at us.  We catch each one and keep them so that we don’t forget who hurt us.  The  unkind word, the impatient response, the indifferent or ignoring disregard from those we trusted.  We go home and empty our pockets of the stones and think we’re done with it.  We place them away in the closet of our heart. But let another hurtful word or an unkind gesture come our way and out comes our collection. We add to and look it all over and it becomes oh so heavy.

We cannot avoid hurts. We cannot control how others treat us, how we might be ignored or undervalued or overlooked.  We may want the best in a relationship and yet the other party wants nothing to do with us. People walk away, lie about your life and wipe their hands of us. If we gather each hurtful or hard memory up in a collection, pretty soon we’re harboring a heavy load.  We could become so enthralled with our collection that’s all we concentrate on.

But if we give those stones of remembrance to the Lord and ask Him to help us, He will lessen the hurt and take our burden from us. We were never meant to carry this load. It’s heavy and weighs us down. If unchecked, it will actually sideline us and keep us from moving forward.  God in His mercy will turn that pile of hurts, disappointments, unforgiveness, or rejection into an altar of love. If we turn those stones over in our hearts and give them to Him, the burden will be lifted as we forgive and move on. Our hearts feel better, our load is lighter and we’re filled with His mercy to go higher with Him.

Oh beloved, God loves you! He has a wonderful plan for you life! He says to discard the rocks and follow Him! His plan is oh so sweet and His desire is oh so outrageous for you! He will carry you higher than you’ve ever been and the view from the heights of His mercy and love is beautiful! Run to Him this morning and show Him your burdens, share the truth about each memory stone and let Him heal your hurts!  He loves you so much that He will discard them for you and walk with you all the days of your life! Hurts may still come, but you won’t have to load yourself down for God walks before you and His angels surround you. What an amazing Savior!

Psalm 55:22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

I Peter 5:7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

Got Burdens? Let Jesus Lift Them From You!

My friend Kathy raises donkeys. They are magnificent! I know you’re thinking, donkeys? Magnificent? But these are no ordinary donkeys. They have special papers and names. They are a breed fit for the show ring. Most donkeys are considered mere beasts of burden. From old cowboy movies to modern day pack rides, you see donkeys everywhere. I will tell you I didn’t know that donkeys could be so beautiful and do so much!

When we come to Jesus we are mere beasts of burden. We carry such a weight on us. All of our sins, mistakes, hurts, pains, troubles, trials, disappointments, discouragements. It’s heavy and we can barely walk. The Lord Himself takes our burdens from us! We are free to be His creation, fit for Him to show His glorious praises! Sometimes we come to church looking for freedom and we find more burdens – religion, duties, condemnation and more. But Jesus never gives us more burdens! He loves us so much that He frees us to come and go from His pleasant pastures. As we lean on Him He removes our burdens ever so delicately.

Oh beloved, today is the day you can let God release your burdens for you. He says to you today, I AM the one who has taken your burdens all the way to Calvary and beyond. I AM your burden bearer. I AM your load lightener. If you will just give me your burdens, hand them over to me, I AM able to make you a magnificent example of my love and care! I will always take perfect care of you, I will always display My love for you and I will openly bless you with all the good things that are found in Me.  

Run to His Word and see this morning! See what He says about you! You may feel ordinary, but you are extraordinary as you read His Word and see your papers – His Word tells you everything you need to know about the pedigree of your spiritual lineage. You are loved and you are cared for and you are free to be all that you were ever meant to be! He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters!

Psalm 55:22  Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Matthew 11:28  Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Psalm 146:8  The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly.

Ephesians 6:10 For we are God’s masterpiece…

Genesis 49:25  May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.

Psalm 16:5  LORD, You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.

God is Able to Relieve Your Load of Burdens

We saw them walking through a parking lot yesterday afternoon. It appeared to be an entire family of homeless people - three youths and a mother and father. They were pushing a grocery cart full of plastic bags piled up high. The cart was obviously over filled and quite hard to push. The tiredness on their faces showed the depth of their despair.




If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves wandering around with a heavy a weight as well. Trying to push our load or get ourselves where we need to be is just too hard. A face can show the obvious pain, sorrow or trouble. Sometimes others will try to load us down with their problems. They may even say you’re to blame so it’s your weight to carry for them.



Oh beloved, are you bent beneath a load you were never meant to carry? Are you stopping often to readjust – the guilt, the fear, the worry, the sorrow, the un-forgiveness and more? Or are you trying to carry what someone wants to put on you?



Run to the King Who is Able to Relieve the load of burdens you carry. He never wants you so weighed down that you cannot move and He doesn’t expect you to carry everyone else’s guilt and burden. He means for you to roll it all on Him. He is a Father to the homeless  and orphans. Not only will He see you through your present problems, He’ll give you rest and hope and peace. Let Him take that burden you’ve born far too long. Let Him take you home to live as a child of the King! He loves you and He’s on your side and that will relieve any burden forever!



Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.



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



Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.