Faith

Learn from the Lord and Lean on Him   

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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.” Matthew 11:27-29

It’s easy to carry around a load of discontent. Life doesn’t go you’re way so you blame God, or your husband, or your irritating neighbor, or your kids, or the most recent thing that didn’t go your way. You strap the anger and frustration on your back and head out into the day. They weigh you down taking the joy out of the good things that do happen and making the bad things even worse. You feel justified in your self-righteous choice to carry the load and add to it. You’ve been mistreated by gum and you have every right to be prickly and uncooperative, snappish and sad. Really? And you’re the only one who’s had a bad day, a bad week, a bad year? We carry our load. We make that choice. We can make a different choice, one that rids us of our burden and takes the weight of discontent off our backs. That choice is Jesus. Find rest in him.

Prayer

God's unknowable plan 

Luke 22:42 – “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Do you pray believing? The strength of prayer is less about the words we choose and much more about the depth of our belief. Impossible outcomes do happen, because they are only impossible in our sight, not God’s. Having written those lines I will  insert the common questions about how, when and why, or in some cases “if” God will indeed answer your prayer, or mine for that matter. Horrific and devastating events do happen, and often after we have prayed our hearts out for a particular outcome. The words I come back to as reassurance and instruction are found in Luke 22:42 – “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus, knowing what was ahead, gave himself into God’s hands – “not my will, your will.” Pray believing, trusting in God’s unknowable plan, His will, not yours, not mine, His.

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