Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Often, part of the reason we feel “heavy laden” is because we are trying to do everything in our own strength instead of taking it to God!  You want to rest from the struggle, but you won’t give it to Him.  

I seem to have a tendency to take over when I don’t see God moving.  It isn’t that I consciously make the decision to take over; sometimes I just wake up and realize that the reason I feel overwhelmed is because once again I have picked up the burden myself to try to work things out!

This also applies to all of those times when we seem to think that we need to take on the world, fixing the problems of everyone around us, making sure our houses look perfect, keeping up with work…. the list can go on and on and then you wake up one day and can’t seem to figure out why you feel blah and don’t feel like doing anything, life just seems overwhelming! That is especially easy to do around the holidays.

2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  The Spirit of God that dwells within us already possesses these qualities, they are not things we have to strive for.  We just need to allow God to lead and we need to rest in Him.  Stop trying to do it all yourself and rest in Him.  Be intentional in trusting God to work in and through you.  Make the conscious decision to trust Him with everything you are facing!  God has given us The Holy Spirit to give us His strength and to guide us, but God is a gentleman and He will not force you to follow Him or to rest in Him, you have to make the daily choice.

I would like to encourage you today, to give it all to Him and then allow yourself to rest in His promises.  Hold on to Who He is, He loves you and He wants His best for you.  His timing and His answers are perfect whether or not we understand them.  Don’t take on more than you should! You don’t have to feel “heavy laden” today, the choice is yours!  He wants to carry your burdens and he will mend your wounded heart if you will just give it all to Him!  He wants to help guide you to have more balance in your life. With this new year coming up, make the decision today to trust Him with it all!

Quote: “It’s not what happens to me, it’s what happens in me.  It’s not the size of the problem, but how I handle the problem when I fall.”  Greg Horn