CAUTION: HEAVY LOAD!

I recently made the decision to start walking in the morning before my family wakes up.  It's been wonderful, and it's also been very eye opening for me.  Why has it been eye opening?  Besides the fact that I'm just plain out of shape, I've realized that my brain is constantly ON.  While I've been walking, I've found myself thinking about NEXT year's tax return money, wondering how much longer my car is going to last, etc.  So often I am thinking about things that are contrary to the word of God.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Phil 4:8

I am realizing that when my brain is on "auto", I am not thinking much of anything that's true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.  No wonder I can so often find myself worn out by middle of the day.  No wonder I often find myself feeling "down" and I don't know why.  Now I DO know why!

God has not called us to worry.  We are to cast all of our cares on Him! 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." Knowing this and DOING this are two entirely different things!  When I was walking this morning, I started praying about this.  God gave me a great analogy that I want to share with you...

Imagine you are at work, and you have several extra projects piling up on your desk that you don't know when you'll be able to tackle.  Suppose your boss comes up to you and offers to complete some of those projects for you since you've been overloaded with so much extra work.  If your boss decided to take some of these projects from you, you would no longer be responsible for them.  You wouldn't need to keep checking with him/her to make sure these projects were completed, because your boss is responsible for them now.  You are no longer responsible for what happens to them.  Your boss did this as a favor to you to lighten your load.  You only need to focus on the projects that he/she left for you to handle.

This is what God showed me this morning regarding the things I think about, worry about and try to always figure out.  Jesus is my boss.  He does not want me to carry this extra load.  He has not designed me to carry it!  He has offered to take it from me, (and YOU!) so I can accomplish what He has called me to do.  If I'm constantly carrying around a load that He didn't call me to carry, I won't be able to accomplish what He wants me to!  I'm actually sinning by not handing all of my concerns to Him!

Now this is something that I've known for a long time, but it really became clear to me today.  For example, say I get angry with someone who hurts me intentionally.  I know I need to forgive him/her.  Letting go of the hurt, though, is something that has been so difficult for me to do.  I tend to re-play situations in my mind over and over again until I get upset all over again.  I've always kind of felt like giving these things to God is the same thing as "stuffing" it further down and ignoring it.  To me, there's always only been 2 options:  1)  Get upset like I want to.  or   2)  Give it to God and stuff my feelings about it.  Neither are the correct way to handle it.  God pointed out something so entirely important to me this morning! 

When we give things over to God, He becomes responsible for them! 

I'm not just handing these things over to God and letting the situation just handle itself.  I'm handing these things over to God so He can be responsible for them!  When we give our worries, concerns, fears, etc. over to God, He doesn't just put it on His "To Do" list and forget about it.  God is not like our friends, co-workers, employees or relatives that don't follow through on things that they have promised to do.  God is not passive, and He's not a procrastinator!  When we give things to Him, they will be taken care of.  This may not always be in our timing, but they will be handled with care by an all-knowing, all-powerful God!

Take some time to become aware of where your mind is "traveling" during idle times.  What are you carrying around that you should give to God?  Give it to Him today, and know that He doesn't want you to carry that load in the first place!  You were not meant to carry such a heavy load.  Jesus has called you to live for Him and accomplish certain things for Him, and you can't effectively do that if you're carrying around so much weight.  It will eventually wear you down.

Thank you, Jesus, that you have not called me to figure everything out.  You have called me to give You all of my worries and concerns so that You can handle them as You see best.  You are not a procrastinator, and You won't forget about what I have given You!  Thank You for this revelation that has helped to lighten this load that You have not called me to carry!

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