I read in my bible this morning these words, as I have many times, but today they spoke loudly to me. Here are the verses I read:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I ask you, does this mean that once we know Christ as Lord and Savior all our trials, weariness, hurts, etc.. go away? NO! That is not what that means. We are promised our fair share of trials and tribulations in this world. John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

What this is saying is that once we come to Christ and accept him as Lord and Savior, we see things differently. We see an eternal purpose in all that is done and happens on this earth and to us. God wastes nothing. All things are working for our good according to his purpose in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:28) What we see is God uses everything. He uses it to grow us, mold us, change us, lead us, helps us die to self and so much more. Our burdens get lighter as we learn to trust God, to take him at his word. Our burdens get lighter when we pray and give them back to God, knowing he will work it all out in us and in our lives. He carries us, He gives us His peace in the midst of trials and hurts. He reveals His truth to us as we search his word and read. Our faith is made stronger as we see the faithfulness of God unfold in the lives of those who have gone before us.

And we are reminded as we read, study and pray that this is not our home. Our final destination, our zip code is found in Jesus and our eternal home. In the span of eternity, these things do not matter much. Oh they feel like they do at the moment, but if we can center our focus on the eternal, on what God has done, can do and is doing, then we can stand these moments and maybe just maybe do it with a peace and grace that is not of ourselves, but comes from God.

Jesus walked this earth as a man, he was hungry, he was bone-tired, he felt sadness, hurt, he cried. He knows what we are going through, we are experiencing nothing that is not common to man. Even our temptations and failures.(1 Corinthians 10:13) There is nothing new under the sun, just new ways to do it. Man is sinful from birth, we all need a Savior.

God gives purpose to our sufferings, our sin, our hurts, our failures, our everything. He reveals the truth to us, He leads us down the craggy paths of life. We do not have to be afraid, we do not have to feel overwhelmed, we need only to lean in and let God be God. We need only to see the greater picture, eternity. We need only to give him our burdens, hurts, disappointments, failures and see what he will do.

I know for myself that when I try to bear up and soldier on in my own strength it always ends badly. I have crashed and burned so to speak from doing that. I know I am not strong enough to handle this life without Jesus. It does not mean I do not cry, I do not wish things differently at times, it just means I know to go to my Father in heaven, to unpack all my junk and leave it on the throne room floor. It means I see a greater purpose for the things that come my way…it means my burden is made lighter, my way seems brighter and I can smile even when my heart would rather not.

People God sent his precious Holy Spirit to help us, teach us, guide us and bring peace to us, and Jesus intercedes for us every second of every day, does that not blow your mind? It does mine! Wow, just wow!

If it were not possible to live a life of peace, to not be overcome by the things that come our way, he would not have said these words.

Romans 8:37 “Yet in all these things you are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Lean in, let God, be at peace, rest in his Goodness and Faithfulness, He can and will see you through!