Isn’t it a wonderful feeling...

Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. – Psalm 55:22 

Isn’t it a wonderful feeling of relief when we finally give things to God and allow Him to work through us!?!  The times I have truly seen God at work is when I have given my burdens to Him and allowed Him to take care of me, not to mention the stress that is taken off my shoulders.  Why is it then, that with every new burden, I try to carry it and fix it to the point of wearing myself out.  It seems that only after getting nowhere with my burden(s) do I reluctantly give them up to God.  I don’t know any other way to explain it other than a spirit of pride in which I truly believe that I can fix all of my problems and carry all of my burdens on my own.  Maybe it’s a spirit of guilt from not praising God when He has taken past burdens and shown me His true strength and love. 

One thing I do know……carrying those burdens on your own can weigh you down.  They rob you of your joy, your peace, and your love.  Ever tried to show joy, peace, and love to others through the stress of trying to carry your burdens on your own??  I know for me that gets very difficult.  So, when we think about it, trying to carry our own burdens every day rather than giving them to God not only robs us but it robs those around us of being able to see God through us.  Our own stubbornness, MY own stubbornness, to try and take on all this world throws at me is crippling to my testimony of what an awesome and powerful God I claim to serve.  With that in mind, this scripture really hit me hard today:

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

For me, I am letting go of burdens today.  I am giving them to God.  He can take care of them a lot better than I can and I know He has been waiting for me to hand them over.  I am going to trust in the Lord that He will give me rest for my soul as He promises.  May I be a reflection of His gentleness and humble heart that I know I cannot be when I am so tightly wound with the stresses of the burdens I too often carry. 

I share this so that if you too are like me, may you remember God’s promises as well and may we all spend some time laying our burdens at His feet and leaving them there.  May God bless you abundantly.