Heavy loads

"Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.". Matthew 11:28-30

This scripture passage was on my heart when I woke up this morning. God knows that I have been carrying a heavy load these past weeks, trying to make a way on my own out of the storm of unemployment and financial concerns we carry right now. Working and laboring to make the solutions come for the call Todd and I feel on our hearts. It's time to get back to a life of ministry, a vocation of ministry for Todd. When we are used to pulling in close to $90,000 a year, paying student loans, a mortgage on a house that is worth less now than when we bought it 6 1/2 years ago, paying off a life lived on credit cards 2 years ago during 8 months of unemployment and lots of medical bills, it seems an impossible move. Do you hear the stress? Feel the tension? It's a heavy load...for me. But not for God who made me and is larger than all of this.

Does He have a plan for you? You can count on it. Does He have the way mapped out to make it happen? You bet! Can He move the mountains? No problem for Him! So He says to you, and to me, "Stop struggling. Come under my leadership and let me guide you, and you can stop your feeble and stressful attempts. My yoke is easy. I won't whip you or wear you down as we plow on through. My way is so much easier. Rest your weary heart and mind."

"The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.... He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength. Even youths will faint and be weary, and young men will fall down. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

Did you catch that? "Those who wait on the Lord...." We need to wait for Him, rather than trying to plow on through ourselves. Can you picture what a newly plowed field would look like if the oxen were left to pull the plow on their own, unguided? Talk about a mess! You'd have patches of grass that they missed, tough areas that the plow skipped over, a haphazard random meandering. But, when the farmer gets behind the oxen and directs the plow, no area is missed. He helps push through those rough patches. He sets the perimeter, and completes the job so that a good field sits ready for a bountiful harvest.

How awesome is that? God is waiting for me to put on His yoke, come under His leadership, and work under his direction to plow a field ready for a bountiful harvest. So, do it His way. Wait on Him. He's got a plan and a direction for getting there. Follow his prompting. Don't be afraid. He's not going to whip you or work you down to exhaustion. Just like a good farmer, God cares deeply for you and your well being. He will take care of you and nourish you, and help you.

"For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.". Isaiah 41:13

Give up your heavy load today. Hand it over to the Lord who loves you. Take on His yoke and His direction, and you WILL find rest for your weary heart and mind. He promises it will be so. And our Lord is a faithful God. No empty promises. You can count on Him. So let's plow through those mountains with Him!