Maybe you need this reminder too!

So for about three weeks a certain theme and passage of scripture keeps popping up. Accident? No way. I needed this theme in my face for myself, but God has had me share it with several other women. Seems to be an issue for several of us.

God had been impressing the passage in Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me all 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.

He also had me in Matthew 6 where He says do not worry about your food or clothing because He has clothed the sparrows and cares so much for us. He tells us to seek Him first and commands us "DO NOT BE ANXIOUS!"

As I finished up our summer Bible study homework last week, I was not surprised that these passages were referenced. Here are some of the powerful words of Jennifer Rothschild:

"If we settle into the position His grace has placed us, we'll see His strength made perfect there. And we'll experience the joy of our journey following Him."

She challenged us to rest, NOT resist the place God has placed us. To surrender to the position and even more challenging surrender our BEHAVIOR in that position.

Ouch. Rest, not resist. That one is tough sometimes. Especially when you feel like you are being put in a place that you don't deserve. But really, if we were given what we deserve.....thank you Jesus for your grace.

She quoted some of Matthew 11 "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." and then said this..

"If you feel that the weight of your circumstances is too heavy to bear, maybe it's because the burden is yours, not His."

Last week God convicted me that I had a death grip on a couple of things. Understand these things are important and have eternal value, BUT. I was clutching them, attempting to control them and change them on my own. Was I praying? Yes. Was I listening to God? Yes. BUT, I was also keeping my feeble human hands in the middle of it and quite frankly, it was exhausting.

The burden was mine. I had not taken my hands off it. Until last week.

I accepted that anything "I" did would fail in comparison to what God could do. The death grip that I was exhausting myself with was exchanged for God's hand. I have let go and refuse to be anxious, or worry about it anymore.

There is some freedom in that that I can not begin to describe. I "know" this, I've experienced this before! Goodness, sometimes God has to send me to summer school to remind me. :)