He Will Carry Me and You

In my previous blog post I promised my next post would be about two verses God had shown me in the past few weeks and share how they given me comfort and strength during some difficult times.  I am journaling this blog after a difficult day hoping that by trying to encourage you, I will in turn be re-encouraged.

The first verse is from Matthew 11:28: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

How does the above image speak to you?  Notice the lightning against the darkened sky, the waves rolling in, the broken pieces of wood along the shore line and even a few scattered rocks.  Does your life ever feel this?  Storm clouds rolling in amidst your already darkened sky.  Lightning striking all around you.  Waves crashing in on you leaving you feeling as though you are drowning in your circumstances?  Do the broken pieces of wood remind you of how you feel broken at times?  But look again at the picture-see it?  See the faint image of Jesus carrying a woman?  That woman could be me.  That woman could be you.  That woman should be me and you.  But so many times we don't allow God to carry us.  We try and do it all on our own. 

God gave me that verse during the first week that our son, Nathan, was living in the homeless shelter.  I was emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted as I spent hours on the phone trying to find him some help.  Then after hours on the phone it was day after day of appointments and errands.  It amazed me at how hard it was/is to find help for someone who truly needs it.  The verse came to me through our church's Facebook page.  I receive a verse each day via text.  When I read the verse, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and said, "God, I am tired.  I am weary.  Please give me strength."  I'd like to tell you that I am one of these prayer warriors down on my knees with my prayer list.  But we are working on laying down our masks and being real, right?  With that in mind, I'll tell you that most of my prayer life is like my prayer after the text.  God brings something/someone to my mind or heart and I just pray - wherever I am, whatever I am doing.

So, for the next couple of weeks as I continued to help Nathan along with all my other daily duties, I spoke that prayer a lot.  "God, I am tired.  I am weary."  Have you ever felt somewhat of an expectation, that, as a believer, you were supposed to just pray for God to take your burdens away and that was that.  Almost like God is a magician of sorts who magically takes away our "feelings" of being burdened?  I have and sometimes I still do.  But it just doesn't work that way, girls, does it?  Why?  Because we're human and we're not perfect.  Even though us Type A personality folks try our best to make it work that way. And when you add depression and anxiety to the mix, it is even harder to lay your burdens down.   I have found that most of the time giving my burdens to God is a consistent, continual process on my part. Because my problems just don't go away because I pray about them.  God knows my heart and He knows your heart.  He knows our struggles when we want to give things to Him so He can carry us.  But He also knows how hard it is for us not to pick them right back up.  God knows us inside and out.  He created us in our mother's womb.

So as you continue through your week, remember that whatever struggles, problems, battles, or emotions you might be facing, try to continually give them to God.  Be weary before Him on a consistent basis and allow Him to carry you. For a little more encouragement, watch the following video on you tube.

Mark Schultz - He Will Carry Me