Lay Down Your Burdens
I saw a woman standing with a multi-pocketed apron. The apron was filled with heavy stones and life added even more as time went on the apron grew and stretched until it reached all the way down to her feet. She appeared torn as she looked at the rocks and then she put them back in her apron one by one. You could see she wanted to toss the stones away but could not, so she just stuck them back in her apron. She was burdened to the point, I feared she would never be able to move. She would be frozen.
God explained, “The act of looking at a rock is not the laying down of a burden. In fact, you continue to add more. You’ve let these stones leave your hands, but you kept them. By your estimation, close enough to keep an eye on the burden and yet far enough away to say you didn’t still hold them in your hands. Unfortunately, the act of pushing the rocks down, and ignoring them then freed your hands to reach for the next burden.”
In contrast, I saw a woman floating on top of a peaceful, unwavering lake. She would hold up a rock and look at it, then with a smile, she let her arm fall outward and released the rock. I watched as it sunk into the lake. Never to be seen again. Peace rolled over me and without a doubt, I knew which woman I wanted to be.
As the rocks continued to drop into the water covering the floor of the lake, the water level rose. This was a great mystery to me — an unexpected fact.
God flooded my mind with understanding as I asked how to become the peaceful woman. “To become the floating woman, you need to let go, and deal with the reoccurring problems, give them to Jesus, and then they can’t weigh you down. Deal with the root of the problem and then:
• Repent if needed
• Forgive if needed
• Drop a habit if needed
• Create new habits and actions if needed
• Or you may have to do each of these steps.”
“But just as the water level rose for that woman, I promise you your perception and understanding of your life will rise. Gone are the lies of being a victim and past hurts and rejections will no longer taint your perception of events. As you surrender the burden to Me, I will replace your understanding with Mine. You will see things from the eternal perspective of God’s kingdom and not the fallible kingdom of man. Each surrender will become easier as your strength rises and your vision is set straight. It doesn’t mean burdens won’t come, it just means I will train you to look at them and deal with the necessary things as I see fit, and then release them. One fluid process. Pray for that, My daughter, one fluid process.”
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Lay down your burdens.
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:6, NIV)”
I urge you to continue and read from Philippians 1 all the way to verse 11. Paul wrote this letter to a church, a group of people who were seeking the Lord and surrendering to His understanding. If you are surrendering to the Lord, then you can also take this promise as your own.
We aren’t left to our own understanding; we have Christ to help us through all things. He can help us to lay down our burdens.
Prayer for you and me: Lord Jesus, we want to acknowledge You in all things. Let our lives be a testimony to surrender. Let each burden that comes be released in a fluid motion of acknowledgment, surrender, and then release of what You want us to release and a gathering of the gifts You desire us to pick up. Thank You, that You change us from the inside out. Thank You for Your faithfulness, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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