Skip to main content

Weight Lifting: Lifting Beyond the Capacity of What You Can Carry

 A default mode that I have developed over the course of time is the ability to understand everyone’s perspective in a situation. This is easy for me to do because I have been doing it professionally for years but it can be physically taxing on my mindset personally.

As a person who always understands, it can be difficult to feel understood. As a person who is always giving, it can be difficult to receive. As a person who pours life into the dry places of others, it can be more than easy to wither in your own personal desert if you never ask for help. 

A hard truth is that even when you instinctively know what is bothering others, people will not always know what is bothering you. I encourage you to speak up, and if you feel unheard, voice that feeling and refuse to shut down.

Asking for help looks different for everyone. You may be able to pour your heart out to a friend, someone in your family, someone at your local church, or to a therapist. Who ever that person may be for you, reach out to them and allow yourself the freedom to release the weight of the world that you are carrying off of your shoulders. If you don’t have that person in your life at this moment, I pray that you will be able to identity them soon.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says to us, “ come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke  over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A yoke can be fastened to one animal or to two. It is an object that is placed around the neck of animals to keep them on track, so that the animals can help one another, to ease discomfort/ pain, and to ease the task of pulling a load.

 In John 14:16 Jesus told us that He would leave a comforter with us. Because of this comforter, the Holy Spirit, we are never alone and our burdens will never be impossible for us to conquer when we enlist His help..

 Consider this:

·      What task have you been fighting to complete and it is now a burden because you have not humbled yourself to ask the Lord for help?

·      What/ who are you holding on to that you have struggled to release?

 Remember that you are a spirit being that is having a human experience. Don’t hold your emotions in and release the people, places and things that only God can correct. 

I want to remind you that you are not alone and to trust God with your emotional nakedness. I also would like to remind you that you are not called to carry the emotional weights of others despite understanding their predicament. Take the time to release the emotional heaviness that you carry in place of ignoring your own needs to make sure that others are good. 

Lord, I pour my heart out to you. Expose the things that I have attempted to keep secret from you, and help me to not feel alone or understood as I continue to understand others.  You are my safe place and the lover of my soul. Thank you for your ear, for bottling up my tears when I didn’t have the words to coney my emotions, and for being present, especially in this very moment. In Jesus name amen. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can You Praise the Lord in Prison?

“Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening” (Acts 16:25 NLT). Paul and Silas were some bad boys! Can you imagine doing the right thing and being locked up because of it? These men had a freedom that the people they encountered needed to see because they were not bound although others could visibly see the chains that had been placed on them. They did not misrepresent Christ because of their circumstances and they did not try to give up serving Him because of the predicament that they had found themselves in. ~~~~~ Stop being mad at God because things do not go the way that you expect them to. ~~~~~ “ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Paul and Silas knew who their God was and they knew that He was going to come through for them no matter what their situation looked like. They knew enough about God...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Are You Here?

During an encounter that I had with a young person recently, I told them that things were difficult for them because there were some things that they would need to do that had never been done before. The analogy that I used to help this person understand what I was saying to them was that of a wilderness full of trees. I told this young person that they would be the first one to cut down the trees in that wilderness to create a smooth path for those coming behind them. The same is true for many of us. There are large trees that we must cut down so that those coming behind us won’t have to fight as hard as we are fighting, and they will not stumble because we are destroying everything at the root that is attempting to block us. The task of doing this may seem difficult but the testimony is worth it.     You have to be able to identify the things that have hindered individuals in your lineage, know what the signs of those things are in your own life, and then eliminate it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Preparation in Waiting

One thing that I have learned about God over the years is that his plan for my life is so much greater than my own. I have also learned that his vision can be more than I can bear at times because I have a tendency to try to make the parts that he has revealed to me come to pass on my own. I ask God why and when, but the truth is that I am not ready. My faith has to grow and I’m still being prepped. It’s easy to feel like a failure when you’re trying to meet the expectation of others. I come from a family of all stars. I was expected to go to college. I expected myself to have what they have and to live how they live, but God…… God is expecting something different from me. He is expecting me to do and to move how he tells me to. This is hard…I have people expecting success from me. God is expecting success from me to. He is expecting me to listen and to wait. Waiting is hard. Jesus waited. At 12 Jesus was wise, but he had to wait. People expected things from Him also. They expected...
Post a Comment
Read more

You Are Not Alone: Wilderness Chronicles pt.2

“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (1 Kings:19;4 KJV). The wilderness is a different place to different people. Some people consider the wilderness to be a dry place full of nothing. Other people may consider the wilderness to be a situation. Whatever you consider your wilderness to be, know that you are not alone. The devil uses the wilderness to isolate you, but God uses the wilderness to teach you, advance you, equip you, and then eventually release you out (or back) into your purpose. God can also use the wilderness to refresh you. Elijah was an awesome man of God. He literally prayed down fire and he went against kings in the name of the Lord. Elijah was bold, but he was also human. On one particular occasion, Elijah went into the wilderness after an encounter he had wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pass The Test

People have a tendency of telling me that I am nice. Some people say that I am too nice and other people attempt to take advantage of my niceness and mistake it for weakness. The truth is that I am really not that that great, I just get convicted. I cannot treat people any way that I want to and receive the things that God has for me. I cannot kick your cat just because you kicked my dog. There are many instances where I have to apologize, work on my heart, and repent instead of blaming other people for how I feel they treat me. “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”. (1 Samuel 16:7) I cannot go before the Lord with a filthy heart and truly believe that he is going to bless me. You have to know who you are in Jesus regardless of how people treat you and you have to respond with wisdom and with the heart of Christ. “Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Walk on Water Faith

  Becoming great takes faith. Peter did not become great in the twinkle of an eye. He had to go through things. This same man who stood up boldly to tell people about the Holy Spirit also once denied Jesus. We have to be so prayed up in Christ because we don’t always know what our flesh or our circumstances will cause us to do. The struggle to greatness gets real! David had to fight many battles not only in the world, but in the kingdom of God because he was called to greatness. David wrote many psalms documenting his trails and successes. He was a man after God’s own heart, but yet he was not perfect. We go through things that help sustain us in this life and we can’t remain discouraged by the hurts that the world throws at us. I admire the bravery of the apostles because I don’t know how well I would have done emotionally if whole systems were coming against me. These men were beat, lied on, and put in prison because of the Christ that they were representing. People will ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Healing Prophet

 I did not desire to write this, but I heard this title and agreed to be obedient. I once read a statement by Tasha Cobbs Leonard. She shared that she would go and sing, return home, and then feel depressed. I understand that feeling more than I would like to admit.   Depression is a weapon the enemy uses against those whom God has anointed in many areas. Depression has stagnation attached to it, and its assignment is to either kill you, isolate you, or both.   As a therapist, I help many people navigate through depression. I advise increased therapy sessions and medication when needed. I tell them all the ways to battle what has been battling them while being in the very same fight myself.   Depression is nobody’s friend. It is an enemy that wounds.   The Healing Prophet is an intentional title. It speaks to the heart of the one who carries and speaks the oracles of God, and  today, God has a word for you, and for me. “Get up and believe Me.”   I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Those Are Fighting Words!!

If you would, imagine that words can be cloth in armor, have a helmet on, and can carry a sword. Now, imagine that the words are powerful and can be gathered into an army. The words are strong on their own, but in a large number, they can either propel you into your next step or stop you in your tracks. With a battle field full of words with helmets on in mind, do you see the seriousness of this powerful tool that pushes us through life? Words are spoken to us and around us in our mother’s womb. The words help to shape us and to influence our thinking patterns. Now let me ask you a question, what are you allowing the words that have been spoken to you to do? Are you using the words to fight for you or are you allowing the words to war against you?” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 KJV). In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God (truth). Everything that God had to say about you from the...
Post a Comment
Read more

HOPE

I believe that God sends us prophecies to offer us hope. I received my first prophecies around the age of 16. I was pretty aware of how God used his people to speak into the lives of others, but I would always hide at church when God started talking. I used to be afraid of people who had that gift because I was scared that they would know what I was thinking. Many times, although our thoughts are uncomfortable, when God lets you know that HE SEES YOU, there is a comfort in that. Wow, God sees me. I don’t remember who or what the first words were that God used someone to speak to me, but there are still so many words that He has released to me that offer me hope. Hope can be hard to hang on to in the storms of life. There are many times that I feel alone and forgotten, but I have to remember that GOD SEES ME. God will send a word of hope to you to comfort you in the times that you feel hopeless and lost.   The irony in this is that some words may come before you think you need the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Waiting for the Promise vs. Moving in Impatience

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? ” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him”   ( Genesis 17: 17-19 NKJV). Isaac was desired, but Ismael was birthed out of impatience. If God told you that you were going to birth something beautiful, no matter what your season may look like, bank on the Lord’s promises. Your Ishmael does not have to be a man, your Ishmael can be an opportunity. Don’t walk into just any ole thing because you got tired of waiting on God. If God promised you something in 2016 and you didn’t see it in 2017, that does not mean that He forgot about what He promised you. Isaac had a set season and ...
Post a Comment
Read more