rest

What I have been longing for more than anything else in this season of pressure is rest.  Rest from worry.  Rest from what seems like a never-ending job hunt.  Rest from homework.  Rest from feeling like our family is always being stretched just a little further.  Rest physically, because we are still not sleeping through the night.

Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest.

In my prayer time I was setting a few needs before God when He reminded me of a passage of Scripture found in Matthew 11.

I’m familiar with Jesus’ words, but I have always read them to mean, “Bring Me all your troubles and I will make everything easier,” as if by speaking these words God would make my worries disappear and I could leave Him empty-handed and burden free.

But I don’t know if that’s exactly what He meant.

In that moment of prayer, God gave me a different mental picture to frame this verse. Instead of Him taking my burden away from me, I pictured Him joining me in carrying it, teaching me how to navigate life with it. Learning how to handle my burden by watching how He did.

This was a revolutionary paradigm shift for me.

I believe God can do the miraculous. I believe He can instantaneously change my situation, your situation, but right now, He hasn’t. In the meantime, I have this picture of Him carrying the burdens of my worry, my fear, my sleeplessness with me, instead of struggling with them on my own.