Armloads

You   are not responsible for another person's actions or choices.

You are not to blame.

You can not control or corral others to keep them in line or in sight.

Your shoulders are not that big.

You arms are not  that wide.  

You don't have the reach or strength enough to hold everything that you are trying to carry.

There is only One that does have shoulders broad enough and arms that reach far enough.

Give it to Him.   

He said "my yoke is easy and my burden is light". 

It is easy because He is enough.

He is big enough and strong enough and wise enough.

Let Him have whatever it is.

If you do try to keep control, you will break.

And that pile of problems will just grow and grow like a never ending tsunami.

It will wash you away.

We are not meant to carry that kind of load. 

Leave it in His hands.

The only way to shrink the problem is to give it away.

Remind Him about it occasionally if you must, but leave it with Him.

You think that you are fighting a battle?

You think that you can't lay down your weapons of warfare or let go of the fight?

You think if you do rest from it that all is lost?

You are not that powerful.

You don't have that kind of swagger.

Stop contending against your enemy and spend some time with the Victor Over All.

It doesn't mean that you are giving up on anything or anyone.   It means you are passing it on to Someone that can actually do something about it.

Stop long enough to see your reflection in His eyes and consider what He sees.

Let Him contend with you, make you see what you really need is to rest in Him and let Him wage the  war.

He is the War Lord.

He is in control of every battle, every skirmish, every disagreement.

He is the One that hardens hearts and softens hearts.

He is the One calling the shots.

He is the One that will instruct you when to speak or act.... when to draw  your weapons or lay them down.

Your job is to rest in Him, trust in Him, talk with Him, listen to Him.

Your job is to let Him change and refine you ... and not worry.

He will change others in His time and for His purpose.

Making sure they change is not your job.

He's got your overwhelming armloads of stuff right there with Him. 

You may still see the load, but He is carrying it.

He has not forgotten about it. 

It is a priority to Him.   

So don't act like you can take care of it better than Him.

Your job is to pray and to keep your armor on and sword by your side so that when He directs you to act, you will be ready.

He will intervene when the time is right.  Not before.

Jesus did not go to the cross without spending time with the Father.

He did not go unprepared for the battle that was coming.

He won the victory by surrendering to the Father.

You can win in the same way.

Traveler

Not all who wander are lost, or tripping aimlessly along without a plan or a thought. 

Forces within compel ... and this traveler must spring into motion without a notion
of the future,  but with a longing to experience the wonder and beauty of the Maker's glorious work.

To stand in places of which I have only dreamt.

To soar above oceans and depths.  To dive from the heights of the azure.

One day to breathe in the bouquet of God's garden and to walk the velvety cool surface of an unthinkable oasis.

Or climb the hot and craggy cliffs of unknown worlds.

One day to view the heavens and earth and all of creation from the grand scape of His eyes.

One day to see What no one has ever gazed upon and none but I will ever gaze.

Oh! To know the look, the visage, the face of God. His voice. His touch.  His spirit.

Intimate.

Personal.

To know that I am the only one of His that He will ever look on, or touch or speak with in that manner.

Faithful.

True.

For me.

The beauty of His glory.

To know as I am known.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.   Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.   (1 Cor 13:12) NKJV

Thoughts On Love

Jesus said:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV)

This walk of faith sometimes doesn't seem so easy.

But it should be.

I don't believe Jesus ever intended for us to struggle as much as we do to believe and have faith when we are in the middle of transition or turmoil and feel overwhelmed.

He says that He gives us rest when we are heavy laden ... with worry or strife, anxious and fearful, or if we feel like it is just hard work (labor) to follow His lead.

His law is love. His law of love is an easy and light burden.

"Love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love others as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets..." Matthew 22: 37-40

He didn't complicate things with conditions, and it is not rife with rules and regulations.

His yoke is love.

It's fairly easy to say we love God with all our heart and soul.

What about with our minds?

He thinks about us continually.   He loves us with His Mind!

Shouldn't we love Him that way also?

After all, our love for Him (or anyone) should not just be emotional and spiritual.  It should also be a smart choice.   

I think that obedience comes from loving Him intentionally with our minds... with the intelligence that He gave to us.... with the ability to make a well thought out determination and a decision about what we believe. About how we love Him.

We must love Him with our thoughts, our thought out belief, our reasoning, our knowledge of what He did for us, what He has done, and what He is doing,

We have to keep in our minds His Word and also the remembrance of answered prayers, miraculous events, quiet intervals with Him, joyful moments, sorrowful times, every blessing we have received.

When we do so, and temptation comes around, our minds are ready and armed to make the right decisions. We will make choices that show we love with our intelligence and we will not be deceived by lies.

When we love with our minds, and hard days come, although our hearts and souls that believe and love Him are hurting, our mind remembers His provision and His love and compassion are real and tangible ... not just wishful thinking.

We shouldn't look back on our past with regrets, or with anxiety and fear to the future when we know Him and His love.... when we love Him with all our heart, soul and mind.

Because if we are loving Him and believing Him intentionally and with knowledge of Him, with our hearts and souls and our minds, then resting in Him and His faithfulness, trusting in Him for today and every day, will come naturally.

It's not so hard if you think about it.

It's easy and light.

Rolling

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.  Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord.  Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.  He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."  (Psalm 37: 3-7 NKJV)

"The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever." (Psalm 37: 18 NKJV)

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way.   Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand."  (Psalm 37: 23-24 NKJV)

I want to explain a bit before I get into the story, so:

In the above scriptures where we are told to feed on His faithfulness, the word "feed" is defined: tend, pasture, graze, feed, associate with, be a friend or companion.

Where we are told to Delight yourself also in the Lord, the word "delight" (Hebrew word "anag") is defined:  delicate, soft, pliable, relaxed, pampered.

The word "commit" (Hebrew "galal") is defined: roll (together, away, down, upon) 

When He delights in us, the word "delights" is defined:  takes pleasure, to move, bend down.

A few years back, I was working as an Army civilian deployed to Iraq.   The Army provided me with body armor, boots, belts, uniforms, etc.    

This little squatty body was quite a sight to see wearing all that garb.   But I loved it and I was astonished that I was living in a combat zone in Iraq and wearing a military uniform representing my country.   

I had actually lived in Iraq for 2 years as a child, and always wanted to return.  I also had always regretted not joining the military as a young adult.

So in mid-life, God, just out of the blue, gave me the opportunity to do both.   

He has a way of giving us the desires of our hearts, in His timing and in His way.  

Which is always perfect.

I was coming home for an R&R.   Anytime you flew out of Iraq on the military flight, you had to wear the body armor that was provided.   

So I donned the bulky and heavy vest and steel toed shoes and climbed aboard the C-130 to fly out.  

Once we were all on board, the pallet full of all of our belongings was loaded.   

This load was massive. It contained things that everyone on the plane needed.  It filled the entire rear of the plane.  There was no room to walk around it and it reached to the ceiling.   

It was so big it was a bit intimidating.

Lucky me!  I was sitting right next to it and just used it as a lumpy bumpy cushion to rest against during the flight.

I thank God for all the adventures He has brought me through and for the current new adventure I am on now. I am not traveling physically; however, I am traveling through a trial.

In this trip of life we are on, God has provided so much.   He has given us the Armor of God to protect us. To protect our hearts and minds, our spirit, our walk, our talk.  

If we will just use it.

But more than that, He tells us to trust Him.  To 'feed' on Him.  He wants us to associate ourselves with Him as a friend and companion, to stay and graze on His Word and His love and faithfulness.  To fill ourselves with Him, to get to know Him, to pamper Him with our focus and attention.  

He tells us to be soft and pliable or malleable so He can shape us  and form us.  To just relax and let Him do His work.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it is hard to just relax.   

Have you ever had a massage?   Every time I have ever had a massage, when the masseuse begins her work, I immediately tense up.  My muscles tighten and I have to literally make myself relax and give in to the work that she is doing.   

But by the time the massage is done, I am limp as a wet noodle!

So just relax.   Chill.  Give in.   Let God do His work and enjoy the results!

He tells us to commit our ways to Him and trust Him so that we will shine like the sun.   To roll all our heavy burdens onto Him, to roll our concerns, our wants, our needs onto Him.

In other words, to give Him control.

Letting go of control is one of the most difficult things to do.   

I recently lost my job which I loved.   

I was literally in the middle of a project on my last day of work and had to stop.   I couldn't finish it.  I had to give it over to my co-worker and trust that she would finish the job.  (Which of course she did and I knew that she would)

But it bothered me so much that I no longer had control over that work.  I fretted about it for days.

God says that whatever it is we think we have to manage or control, He's got it.  He can do it better.  He says "Let it go.  Let ME roll with it."

Just have a little faith that He has your best interests at heart and will never let you down.

God says...

 "Let it go.

  Let Me roll with it."

"Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." 

"The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever."

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way."

What are your desires?   What are your needs?  

Become a friend and companion of God.   Relax and lean on Him like I leaned on that monstrosity of a load of bagged up cargo.  Like finally giving in and letting that masseuse do her work. 

He is going to keep His promises.

He is going to provide and protect.

Just like that pallet full of provision reached to the ceiling of the plane, God's pallet of provisions reaches beyond the ceiling of Heaven.    Beyond all we can think or imagine.

He wants to move it our way, to bend down and put it in our hands.   

He wants to show Himself as a bright and blazing light to the world through us, to show what a life with Him looks like, through our relationship with Him.

All he wants from us is our belief, our commitment. 

Belief that He is who He says He is.   Belief that He will do what He says he will do.

Outrageous Belief.

Unusual belief.

Unconventional Belief.

Extravagant Belief.

Remarkable Belief.

Belief that shines!