burden

Another Day 13 Gentle & Lowly Lifestyle

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Another Day 13 Gentle & Lowly Lifestyle

Rebecca Adams

March 22, 2023

gentle,Grace,Humility,Love,Relationship

Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Isaiah 46:1-5
Psalm 139:1-7
Revelation 3:19-21
Matthew 11:25-30

We cannot authentically love what we do not deeply know.

I was enamored with my husband from Day 1.
But it wasn’t until over two decades had passed and we walked dark pathways that I had an inkling of what love meant.

I was head over heels in love with my firstborn the moment I saw those 2 pink lines on the pregnancy test.
But my love for her multiplied with every day I spent with her, knowing her, arguing with her, and learning from her.

Love grew strong, fierce, and authentic in the days, years, and decades of learning to know.

Intimate familiarity changes everything.
Misconceptions flee, doubts dissolve, and the brilliance of authentic love shoots through like daybreak when we commit to deeply know another.

Who is this God who has called us to live together in the humble fabric of gentle love, seeking the other’s good, and partnering with them for peace and unity? (1 Thessalonians 5:12-28)

He is precisely who He has called us to be as we love One Another as brothers and sisters in the family He calls His Bride, the Church.

He is constantly humble toward us. (Philippians 2:7)
Perpetually extending us peace. (Colossians 3:15)
Continuously seeing the unseen. (Matthew 9:36)
Ceaselessly helping the helpless. (Psalm 116:6)
Patiently hemming us within His love on all sides. (Psalm 139:5)
Modeling submission to the law of Love. (John 13:34)
Steadfastly convicting us with kindness. (Romans 2:4)
Endlessly lowering Himself to bear our burdens. (Psalm 68:19)

He desires us.
He wants us.
Not just to be “His”, another “child” in His family to do His purpose,
but to both know Him and be lovingly known.

Is there anything as precious as being deeply known and authentically loved?

When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of His own heart posture toward us,
He chose the words “gentle” and “lowly”.

“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 11:29-30, ESV)

He spoke these words while describing what it means to know the Almighty God,
whom Christ perfectly represented.
To know Christ, is to know God Himself.
(Hebrews 1:3)

Hundreds of years before Jesus spoke these words, King David penned his understanding of the great I AM as the God who “day after day… bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19)

Daily.
Bears.
OUR.
Burdens.

Can we just say that again?

On the DAILY, sisters.
Love Himself,
who reigns in the heavenlies,
holds all power,
possesses all wisdom,
and is present in all places
stoops low to DAILY lift our burdens.

Forever the gentle and lowly of heart lowers Himself to shoulder-level with us only to rise and carry the weight upon Himself.

The weight of our hard things, our broken things, our wounded things, and infinitely greater, this is the God who stooped to the cross, naked and shamed, to bear the weight of the sin of the world. (1 John 2:2)

Do you see those precious words that next cross Jesus’ lips following His nondescript characterization of His heart?
“My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

Not only does He carry our burden for us, and our sin for eternity if we will entrust our wretchedness to Him, but He gives life in return! In His humility, He teaches us to shoulder up next to Him, the wholly divine God, that we might learn His easy rhythms of life.

As several of our authors have noted in this Journey theme, it’s impossible for us to live out these One Another commands if we have not first submitted to the Spirit of God living inside of us. This is holy work; it’s His work, and we cannot muster or manufacture it ourselves.
But neither…
Can we live out these richly beautiful, life-giving commands if we do not intimately know the heart of the God in whom they perfectly abide.

We cannot authentically love what we do not deeply know.

Consider the Lord’s own words through His prophet Isaiah to His beloved people.
Come, know Him!

“Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. (false gods)
[…] The images [they] carry are loaded,
as a burden for the weary animal.
The gods cower; they crouch together;
they (false gods) are not able to rescue the burden,[…] “Listen to Me (true God),
[…You] who have been sustained from the womb,
carried along since birth.
I will be the same until your old age,
and I will bear you up when you turn gray.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will bear and rescue you.”
(Isaiah 46:1-4)

If you do not know the Lord as a gentle and lowly, burden-bearing God, then come on into His heart. Feast with Him, see His smile, hear His laughter, and confidently grow in authentically loving this God for being precisely who He claims to be in the pages of His Word.

To know Him, is to love Him!
And the proof of our love is made manifest when we stoop low with humble gentleness to lovingly carry another’s burdens just as Christ has done, and is doing right now, for us!

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burden,church,family,humble,kind,service,tender
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May we grow in deeply knowing the One who knows us so well! For the Lord is near to those who draw close to Him through repentance of our sins. (James 4:8-10)

What intimacy awaits those who feel lonely, fearful, and depressed when they come to the Lord to confess their sin and enjoy the pleasure of relationship with Him because of His forgiveness and mercy!

What sweet connection awaits if only we would pour ourselves over His Scripture and meditate on His character day and night that we might deeply know Him! (Joshua 1:8)
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Treasure Day 9 The Gift Of Laboring: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out The Gift Of Laboring!

The Questions

1) What was the burden that wearied the people to whom Jesus was speaking? (verse 28)

2) What does it mean when Jesus says to “take up my yoke” (verse 29)?

3) In what way is the yoke of Jesus easy and how does He make a burden light (verse 30)?

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Original Intent

1) What was the burden that wearied the people to whom Jesus was speaking? (verse 28)
When you study the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), you’ll learn that verses 28-30 are distinct to Matthew’s gospel alone. Though a simple reading of Chapter 11 may cause an observer to feel it is disjointed, there is a connection we find when we dig into Jesus’ repeated call to the weary. In these three verses, Jesus invites burdened people to come to Him for relief from what loads them down. In the context of all of Jesus’ teaching, it is quite evident He isn’t speaking of physical burdens like a backpack or an illness. Jesus wanted those who followed Him to understand He was inviting them to surrender in a much different way than the religious leaders of the day required (which was purely physical). (Matthew 23:1-7) Jesus called them to reject their own sufficiency. The burdens of heartless law-keeping were placed on them by men, not God. Matthew reveals Jesus’ heart through His words of rebuke to the cities. Jesus and John had preached repentance, had worked miracles, and had given them ample opportunities to be released from the bondage of sin, but they continued to ignore the message of hope, Instead, by rejecting Him and His freedom from the bondage of sin, they brought upon themselves judgment instead of comfort. (Matthew 11:16-20)

2) What does it mean when Jesus says to “take up my yoke” (verse 29)?
Verse 28 reveals the offer Jesus made to those listening, “Come to Me.” In verse 29, He presents to them Himself as their example of what finding rest will mean for them. Jesus had come to release them from the heavy burdens the religious leaders placed on the people. The entire ministry and message of Jesus centers around this exchange and drastic mind shift. Jesus knew the oppression they experienced was never what God intended the Law to produce. Instead, the Law was intended to be a reminder that repentance and faith was all that was essential, since no one would ever be able to keep the full law perfectly. The obedience that followed the surrender would not be burdensome because Jesus’ righteousness provided all that was necessary to release the weary soul from sin and death. (1 John 5:1-4) The good news of Jesus was His promise that no would need to earn their way into heaven! Instead, all one must do is come toward Jesus and exchange the burden of impossible perfection for His true goodness. (1 Peter 2:24)

3) In what way is the yoke of Jesus easy and how does He make a burden light (verse 30)?
Earlier in chapter 11 we read John the Baptist (Luke 3) was in prison. Considering the inquiry, it appears John’s faith in Jesus had been met with doubt. Though we don’t know for sure his motivation, the message from John’s disciples required Jesus to assure John that He was indeed the Messiah of whom John had preached. (John 3:28-30) Jesus instructed John’s friends to tell him of what they had observed. Was it possible John’s weariness of waiting had caused him to doubt? Maybe. Even so, Jesus affirmed John (Matthew 11:11) and Himself, rebuking the crowds for their unrepentant hearts. (Matthew 11:19-20,  25-27) Under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, Matthew records John’s inquiry and Jesus’ response. Even John the Baptist, the great forerunner of Jesus, (or his disciples), needed to be reminded why Jesus came and assured He was exactly who He claimed to be. It wasn’t to overthrow an earthly kingdom built by human hands. He came to replace the burdensome system by surrendering His own life so ours would be death-penalty free. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Everyday Application

1) What was the burden that wearied the people to whom Jesus was speaking? (verse 28)
The burden that afflicted the people in Jesus’ day is the same one that we must shake off from ourselves today in our own time. It’s the burden of our own efforts in our salvation and spiritual growth. We cannot be “good enough” to gain favor from God or make Him smile on us. Jesus has provided the answer, the only answer, for us when He said, “abide in Me” (John 15:9). The only effort we must make is to move toward His extended hand and heart, openly, willingly, humbly receiving His lavish offer of grace and forgiveness. Once we have come to Jesus, then we rest. The burden of perfection is too heavy, too demanding, and will never be lifted by our efforts. That’s why faith is essential. We must trust Christ at His work on our behalf, believing His word as true. Faith is resting in what Jesus has told us about Himself, then believing and abiding in that truth. The yoke of Jesus is a hopeful assurance of life abundant and everlasting as we learn to live in the pattern of love and surrender He has modeled for us. Only here will we finally find rest for our souls!

2) What does it mean when Jesus says to “take up my yoke” (verse 29)?
The author of Hebrews tells us to “run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eye on Jesus, the Source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) This is the light yoke Jesus calls us to take up. There is not another yoke in existence that gives us rest for our souls. “Oh soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free! Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” (Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus) Where are you working hard to be good enough for God and earn His favor? Where are you relying on your own strength to be a better Christian, wife, friend, mother, or daughter? Only Jesus is your strength and sustenance. Only by His Spirit can be made like Him! Surrender to Him!

3) In what way is the yoke of Jesus easy and how does He make a burden light (verse 30)?
The yoke of Jesus is easy because He carried the burden that was meant for us to carry; and He was the only one who could carry it all the way to the end perfectly without a single flaw. We are the recipients of His gracious and perfect obedience to the Father’s plan for our redemption because of His unfathomable love for us. You could say our obedience to Jesus is “easy like Sunday morning.” It’s resurrection power & peace. Those of us who have put our faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross find ourselves being made into His likeness by the Spirit’s work daily in our lives. What sweet rest we have in Jesus, through the gift of grace from the Father and the help and comfort of the Spirit. We aren’t to bear the burdens of a life of law-keeping, checkboxes to mark off, and “being good enough” in order to make ourselves right with God. We are instead worshippers, resting in the obedience of Christ and His finished work on the cross, which He did on our behalf that we may, finally, be truly free! (Hebrews 10:8-14)

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with The Gift Of Laboring!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

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Anchored Day 8 Yoked & Equipped

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Matthew 11:28-30
Colossians 3:1-11
John 14:15-17

Anchored, Day 8

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

The following words by John Mark Comer profoundly impacted me when I first heard them shared at a conference I attended in October.

God does not offer escape.
He offers equipment.

Prior to hearing those words from my balcony seat in the midst of thousands of people, I don’t think I realized how often I have prayed for His yoke to be a way of escape from the world, rather than the equipment He provides to make spiritual progress.

Stay with me and let this really sink in to your spirit for a moment: Our spiritual progress is produced by accessing and utilizing the equipment He gives in the midst of the world around us, rather than by avoiding it.

Suddenly, the thought of the yoke is no longer a way to survive scenarios on the way to our eternal destination, but a way for us to thrive in and through them.

So, how does that happen? We understand more when we dig in to a few key things.

First, what is the significance of being “yoked” anyway?
When I asked Jesus to be my personal Lord and remove my sins, I died to my old way of life and began a new one. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

Part of this newness is the Holy Spirit now dwelling within me. It is only through the help of the Holy Spirit that I live out this new life. I cannot imagine what this journey would be like without His guidance and empowerment.

It would absolutely be impossible!

He has the strength to bear the burdens of life, and since I am now yoked, or joined, to Him, He provides me the ability to obey and accomplish His good works in my life.
“I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

This “yoking” connection between me and the Spirit of God is far more efficient and successful when I am moving with Him rather than against Him. He spoke the universe into existence, so I am pretty sure that in a power struggle I will not come out on the winning end.

Okay, so what does it look like to move with Him?
How do I cooperate within the yoke? Welcome to Colossians 3: those boundary lines I mentioned a few moments ago.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
This refers to a mindset change; an intentional shift toward renewing my mind (Romans 12:2) because of the newness afforded me by the Holy Spirit.

As a Christian, I recognize that earth is not my permanent home. I know I will spend eternity in heaven and choosing to hold to a heavenly mindset provides me with an entirely new perspective on life. Hope is instilled within me, in the midst of the hardships, and an endurance to run the race is evident. Instead of looking at the world around me and seeking to see how it impacts me, I find myself looking at the world around me and seeking to see the Lord at work.

Where is He moving?
What is He doing?
How will He use this current frustration for His glory?

In order for this new mindset to be in place, Paul reminds us that the old mindsets need to go. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed… All are thought processes which lead to actions. Actions that draw us away from the Lord.

Yokes work best when we are moving in tandem rather than fighting to go down separate paths. Not only does working together help us with the movement, it also helps us avoid the pain of learning to follow the hard way.

Paul continues to expound on more heart responses that impede growth and inflict wounds in others if they are allowed to continue:

anger,
wrath,
malice,
slander,
filthy language,
lying…

This list is a powerful one with actions that cause our “yoke” to strain as we push against it.

However, Paul’s list in Galatians 5:22-23 is even more powerful. “But the fruit of the Spirit is

love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self-control.”

When we move in tandem with the Holy Spirit, working within our yoke to Him,
this fruit blossoms.

He is the only One Who trades anger for joy and peace, malice for kindness, and so much more, when we choose to work with the yoke of the new life we’ve been gifted in Christ. It is through this movement of the Holy Spirit working within us that we can navigate this lifetime, not as escape artists holding out for heaven, but as co-laborers for the kingdom of heaven.

So suit up.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Anchored Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Anchored!

Pause 2, Day 3 Treasures Of Wisdom

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Pause 2, Day 3

For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you,
for those in Laodicea,
and for all who have not seen me in person.
I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love…
Colossians 2:1-2

This is Paul’s heart, spilled over onto parchment with ink to his brothers and sisters at the church in Colosse and the surrounding areas.
His heart breaks for them, even those he hasn’t met.
Why?
Because he knows Jesus.

Jesus, His treasured riches of wisdom, love, and grace, are boundless.
And Paul’s heart struggles laboriously in love that those who read his words might know the Savior as he does.

Community is the life-breath of the early church, its pulse beating steadily all throughout Scripture and into our churches today as we span the globe for the gospel.
Sisters, let Paul’s burdened heart burden you today as you read his Spirit-breathed words in Colossians 2.
Lean in to your biblical community and ask the Lord to give your heart a weighty burden for others that they too might know and experience the treasured wisdom of Jesus Christ!

Today's Challenge

1) Be a scribe and copy the precious words of Scripture down word for word. Make space in your journal to write down all of Colossians 2 today. And as you copy, lookup a cross reference or two as you come to them (they are the small letters next to certain words in your study Bible or online at www.biblia.com). As you write, think of the incredible gift it is to be invited into God’s presence through His word!

2) Choose one of these options to answer the invitation of going deeper into biblical community! 
a) Take a photo of your journal time this week and share it, or share a quote from it.
b) Do a Facebook Live on the GT Community group and share how God has been working in you.
c) Leave a comment here about it.
d) Share something God has been showing you in a comment at the GT Community Group 
e) Plan a coffee or lunch date with a friend and share what you’ve been learning and soaking in as you have hit Pause.
f) Write a note of encouragement to a sister who has been through the nitty-gritty of real life with you. Let her know how deeply she has impacted your walk with Christ.
g) For some of us, having a “2am friend” to build biblical community with is a new concept. If that’s you, this is an exciting, fresh place to be! Connect with our Facebook Community, send us an email, reach out to your local church body, seek out a small group and plug in! 

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Colossians 2

For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ. 3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.

8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.

16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18 Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

How Does “Pause” Work?
1. Each day, Monday through Friday, for 2 weeks, we will provide you with a simple challenge. Each challenge is designed for you to engage with the Almighty in a deeper way and perhaps in a new way than you have been recently.

2. Having a journal is a must! You’ll want to take notes as you walk this special Journey of Pause.

3. Each week focuses on one or two passage of Scripture and we walk with you as you study and flesh these out for yourself. As you write your thoughts, read His Word, and pray, questions might come up. That’s Perfect! Ask a trusted fellow believer, a pastor, or send us an email as you work through them!

4. Jumping in at the middle? No problem! Here is the entire Journey Theme.

5. Connect with others on Facebook by visiting our GT Community Group!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Pause 2 Week One!
Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies
in Pause 2!

Worship Day 13
Your Hands

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalm 56:3
Isaiah 41:13-14
Philippians 4:6-7
John 14:27  

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn’t there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That you would take my pain away
You would take my pain away

Loves. Can we all agree to set aside our shiny, polished answers and well-intentioned sound bites for a minute? Pull down your defenses and be vulnerable with me. It will be gritty. Probably painful, too. It’s okay. There is some truth we all need to hear. We will get through this together.

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord before these feet of mine
Oh Lord before these feet of mine

Let’s talk about our unanswered prayers. You know the ones. Those soul-wrenching, throat-throbbing, stomach-clenching questions we wrestle with in the wee hours of the morning.

The ones that make us think we don’t really know the God we serve.
The ones that make us think we don’t really know the people we love.
The ones that even make us think we don’t really know ourselves.

Yep. Those unanswered prayers. Or, perhaps worse, the ones that make us realize we do know Him. And we know His answer, but His answer threatens to tear the veil in our heart in ways we can’t repair.

Maybe it’s the financial ruin we desperately tried to avoid, but it found us hiding and waved a pink slip in our face. Maybe it’s the parent we begged for forgiveness, but they refuse to return our calls or texts no matter how many times we reach out. Maybe it’s the abuse we didn’t want to see, but now we have and it’s here and it’s ugly and we have to make a choice. Maybe it’s the spouse who pledged to love only us, but shared their heart with another when we weren’t looking. Maybe it’s the illness we denied with everything in us, but as the days marched by and the number on the scale continued to drop, we found ourselves forced to face a reality we never wanted and aren’t sure we can handle.

Maybe it’s the daughter whose life we I begged and pleaded for God to spare, but she slipped away from us me anyway.

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands

I put off writing this for quite a while. Like, as long as humanly possible before the study started. (Sorry, Becca.) Sometimes, we put defenses in place before we consciously realize what God is actually asking of us. Sometimes, He asks us to do or say or sing or share or write things that are far bigger and harder or higher challenge than anything we would ever choose on our own… because it means being totally vulnerable in our brokenness. And sometimes, we just don’t feel brave enough.

Probably because we aren’t. Probably because I’m not.

But He is.

When you walked upon the earth
You healed the broken, lost and hurt
I know you hate to see me cry
One day you will set all things right
Yeah, one day you will set all things right

The day our firstborn arrived, we weren’t ready to meet her. It was too soon. I vividly remember gripping my husband’s hand tightly. His lips moved silently, praying. The team of doctors and nurses rushed her to the corner where the waiting equipment stood.

People from all across the country had been praying. For days. Friends who didn’t even believe in our God, crying out to Him on her behalf. Hundreds of prayers.

A flurry of activity, followed by one impossibly tiny cry. Then, silence.

When my world is shaking

My parents, praying and praying, just outside the delivery room door. So many prayers.

Heaven stands

The kind doctor grasped one of my hands in his and placed his other hand on my shoulder. Tears in his eyes.

When my heart is breaking

He shook his head. He couldn’t even get the words out. There was nothing they could do. The nurse handed her to me. An impossibly tiny person wrapped in a blanket that could have easily swaddled six of her. She had her daddy’s nose. She was perfect and beautiful and ours. She was there, until she wasn’t.

I never leave your hands

Loves, I know. The not-knowing is hard. It is so, so hard sometimes. When we are deep in our trouble and our world is shaking, we feel abandoned and alone. I get it.

But what we have to understand is that our faith is not about our feelings.
Rather, it is about Who is holding us. And the truth is that He never changes. No matter our circumstance. No matter our situation. No matter our loss.

When our worship is rooted in Who He is rather than His answers to our prayers, our reality shifts. He brings beauty from our scars, from our pain. We make room for Him to bring His Kingdom here. Through our dirt, through our trouble.

And He brings His Kingdom here. The reality of His Kingdom shows up in us, His people. When we own our faith in the hard things, this world takes notice. We are given divinely appointed opportunities to walk with people we might not otherwise walk beside. Hurting people. People in trouble.

And we are connected to them in ways that only Jesus can author.

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands

Loves, you and I, we are going to have trouble. Real, painful trouble. But do you remember what He said about trouble? “…you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV) When we set aside our feelings and choose to believe and walk in the truth of Who He is despite our trouble, we are choosing to live a life of worship, a life of faith.

And that’s exactly what we are called to do.

Your hands that shaped the world
Are holding me
They hold me still

Jesus, You are our only King and Savior. You are worthy of our worship because of Who You are. Thank You for holding us in the midst of our trouble, in our hard things.  In the middle of our not-knowing. Thank You for Your peace. Help us to remember that regardless of our feelings, our faith is rooted in the One who never sleeps. Thank You for never leaving us. We love You.

*lyrics to “Your Hands”, by JJ Heller

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Worship Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Resting Day 6
For The Weary

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Jeremiah 6:16
Matthew 11:28-30
1 John 5:1-3 

Full disclosure?

I’m maybe the last person who should be writing about resting.  

At least, resting in the physical sense.  I haven’t slept more than four consecutive hours in…well, I can’t really remember how long.  In fact, one of my three Littles has been fighting a nap for about an hour at this exact moment.  Our children are still quite small, so they are completely dependent on us at this point.  We have spent time sleep-training, but two out of three have literally been teething for eternity.

Kidding.

Kinda.  But really, in between wife-ing, growing a business, personal projects, mom-ing…  You get the picture.  My point is that physical rest is rather elusive for me these days.  Lucky for you, I’m writing about spiritual rest.  (See what I did there?)

Physical rest, while vitally important, is not always a reality for everyone.  Some of us may be working by day and studying or attending class by night.  Or vice versa.  Some of us may be in the weeds with our little ones, surviving on unintentionally cold coffee and hugs.  Some of us may be caring for a parent or a sick or elderly loved one.  Some of us may wrestle insomnia or any number of physical maladies that disrupt our physical rest.  When the long nights grow longer and our patience wears thin, our spiritual rest is what sustains us.  Sometimes when we deal with adversity, trials, illness, or fill-in-your-blank, we find ourselves so deep in the valley that we can’t even see the path in front of our feet.
Have you been there?
Are you there?

It’s okay if you are.
I am, some days, too.
It is in these vulnerable, broken moments that Jesus whispers.
Come to me.  All who are weary and burdened.  I will give you rest.  

He isn’t watching us from afar or oblivious to the challenges we face as He does priestly things on a pretty chair in the sky.
Jesus is right here with us in the dirt, in the struggle.
Come to me.
This isn’t a question, but a loving command.  The Bridegroom to his Bride.
All who are weary and burdened.
Oh Loves, this is for me as much as anyone!

He sees our tired eyes, our deflated countenance.  The weight of all we carry.  He knows when our body is sore and our spirit feels dull.
And He says I’m right here.
Swallow your pride, recognize that you can’t do this alone and just come to me. You were never meant to carry this alone.
I will give you rest.

He isn’t talking about physical rest here.  He is talking about the spiritual rest that He wraps around our spirits, hearts and minds when we are in right relationship with Him.  As we spend time in His word, time in prayer and time worshiping Him, we are obeying His command.

Sometimes we hold ourselves back from Him because we subconsciously think He can’t or won’t be able to carry it for us.  That it’s too messy, or too big, or too trivial for Him, whatever “it” is.  We simply can’t process all of Who He is because…well, He IS God.  We could (and will) spend eternity with Him and still fail to scratch the surface.
Whatever our reason,
when we resist bringing our spent selves to Him,
we are actually operating in disobedience.

So practically, how can we obey Him in the fray, in the long days and longer nights?

We set aside time for and with Him daily.  Time to study His word.  Time to ask Him what He would say to us.  Time to dialogue with Him, to share our hearts.  Yes, He knows what is there already, but He wants us to communicate with Him….and for us to want to communicate with Him.  We set aside time to worship Him for all that He is and all He has done.  By making Jesus our priority, even in especially in our deepest valleys, we are being obedient.  As we begin and continue to build relationship with Him, He is faithful to wrap us in spiritual rest that can never be touched by our physical weariness.

Jesus, thank you for your incredible love for us.  Thank you for seeing us where we are…and being with us.  Help us to recognize when we are holding on to things that we need to lay at Your feet.  Thank you for being our rest.

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!

Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Resting Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Resting!