“Mary, did you know you’ve started slouching?” asked my husband.
He noticed my deteriorating posture during an early morning walk one day. He first observed it in pictures from a family vacation. While everyone around me was standing up straight, my head hung low and my shoulders drooped. The unfortunate truth is that he wasn’t wrong.
There was a time when I held my head high and carried myself with confidence. But my body began showing signs of exhaustion after years of caring for my mom and then grieving her loss, worrying about our teenagers, health concerns, and other life hurts. My shoulders could no longer carry the weight of the struggles I attempted to carry on my own.
Friend, I wonder if you, too, are feeling the effects of carrying life’s burdens? Maybe you’ve been stressed for years, living paycheck to paycheck and wondering if it will ever get better. Or maybe the chronic illness you’ve battled for years has taken its toll on you emotionally. Perhaps you are dealing with a strained relationship that once was your go-to source for support.
I want you to know that when you feel like you are about to collapse under the heavy weight of life, you aren’t alone. In Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV), Jesus says, “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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus wants us to turn to Him and release all that weighs us down, allowing Him to carry our burdens. But how do we do that when society tells us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and keep going despite our exhaustion?
We begin by sitting quietly in prayer with the Lord. We lay one concern at the foot of the cross and allow Him to meet us in that need. As we trust Him with one issue, we’ll gain the strength to trust Him with the harder issues. And with each weight that is lifted, we’ll find healing and rest for our souls.
So, the financial concern that has you pinching pennies until payday. Talk to Him about it and trust Him to provide just what you need. The health concern that has you worried about the future. Trust Him to be the Great Physician. The relationship that’s become more complicated than it should be. Trust Him to work everything out for His glory.
Since that morning walk with my husband, I have paid more attention to my body. I do my best to regularly check in with the Lord and release the concerns I tend to hold too tightly. I’ve even consciously started holding my head high and my shoulders back as I focus on building core muscle strength.
Now that I’m actively standing up straighter and doing strengthening work, my shoulders and neck hurt. My muscles aren’t used to this posture and position. However, I know that over time, as I focus and put in the work to build both my core muscle strength and trust in the Lord, the pain will subside and my posture will improve.
Friend, the healing process may be uncomfortable and sometimes painful. But, as we sit with the Lord and trust Him to carry our burdens, we will once again be able to walk confidently in the joy that comes from finding rest for our souls.
This is so personal for me. A friend who is also a massage therapist made a comment in passing, not directed at me just in general, how grief sometimes manifests in our body in different ways. Wow. I had been trying to keep busy as a solution to not thinking or feeling. I have worked extra days (I’m almost 72 and work in a boutique) I am convinced my back issues are connected. I have been trying to slow down these last few weeks. Trying to let some of it go. I made some radical decisions….I only put up a little Christmas outside decorations. And nothing inside. I also have chosen not to travel, or accept invitations from friends to celebrate Christmas. My children are in 2 different states and are not able to make it back to Maine this year. For me, Christmas eve candlelight service at my little country church is all I want and need. Christmas day will be quiet except for phone and video call. I will rest. Me and Jesus. Not everyone is happy with my decision. But I am so relieved.
Sometimes the simplest Christmases are where we truly feel the wonder of Jesus’ birth. Praying you experience that during the Christmas eve service.
Mary thank you for what you wrote. We can get so weighed down at the time of year with all the things of the world. That we feel we have to buy gifts for Friends and Family. When some of us don’t have the money. Then we spend the following year getting sloughed down with the worry of how we are going to pay of our debts. We can feel if some buys us a gift we have to buy them back we say it looks better. We get stressed and make ourselves ill. Our Lord wouldn’t want any of this. He if we are saved just want us to give the best gift we can that is showing your love to the world that needs you Lord. Especially our Family and Friends if they have everything. That is best gift we can give. As our Lord gave his son as free give that was born in humble manger for all mankind. That went on to show us how to live and his love by then going to Calvary’s Cross for the whole world. We that don’t have the money she tells people and be honest with them. Even if not pleased with us. That they will get a gift if we can afford it something small. They might not like us for being honest. But we are doing what God would want us to If saved. As God wouldn’t want us to get into debt to buy a gift for them that we can afford. If not if they are not saved showing them we care and love them like Jesus did. If have the money God would want us to give some to poor to help them like Jesus did when alive. Thank him for what he did for us. Love Dawn Ferguson-Little Enniskillen Co.Fermanangh. N.Ireland.
Yes, Jesus is the best gift of all. Praying you are able to share Jesus with those you love this Christmas.
Your words this morning are a warm hug from God. It’s been a long tough year. I’m currently healing from recent surgery to remove a malignant tumor from my stomach. Months of not being well and the stress of working full time and caring for my precious 93 year old Mom have left me barely holding my head up. I was talking with my brother earlier this morning about so much that is going on and how it can seem hard to let go and give it all to God. Then I walk into the office this morning, log into my email, and there are your words. God has used you and your talent to tell this weary soul “child I see you, I hear you, I know. Let go of it and give it to me”. I can only smile at the Amazing God who loves each of us so very much.
Oh Stella, you have so much going on right now. I love that the Lord gave you this sweet hug this morning and showed you His loving kindness just when you needed it. Praying you are able to experience true rest in Jesus this Christmas.
Beautiful Mary. Thank you for sharing. The weight of life can truly impact our shoulders – our physical well-being along with our spiritual well-being. One of the “hardest” yet also one of the most wonderful things to do is put our complete trust in our Lord.
Let Go and Let God stands true through all of life’s ups and downs. God Bless and Merry Christmas.
It really is amazing how our worries and burdens can so weigh down our physical bodies. But I’m so thankful Jesus invites us to come to Him and release those burdens to Him.
Mary,
Thank you for sharing your walk. I can sure relate as I cared for my father who’s recently passed and my mother. The way to the world can bear heavy on our shoulders! I’m so grateful that we have a savior who wants us to come to him when we are weary! Thank you for all your reminders.
Sending you advent joy, Lisa
Praying for you as you grieve the loss of your father this Christmas season. May you feel the joy that comes from Jesus as He carries your grief.
Dear Mary,
When I was a young teenager, my dad would come up behind me and gently put his hands on my shoulders to straighten up my spine. He was always saying that I looked like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Well, I was. My mom had passed away from metastatic breast cancer when I was 10 years old. Fast forward, I’ve spent a lifetime of PT, massage, yoga and other forms of strengthening excersises to address this. Yes, I pray multiple times a day to lay my problems at His feet. Funny how we are quick to take them back! Keep up the great work Mary you are not only growing in bodily strength but caring for your soul as well.