Lay It All Down

Have you ever tried carrying too much at one time in your hands? Then as a result, you either drop some (or all!) of what you're carrying. When you make it to your destination, you feel tired. The weight was too much to handle. But it didn't seem like it was a lot, right? It seemed like you had it under control. Maybe you're not going that far and you have figured out (or so you thought!) how to hold the items so you wouldn't drop them. Mmmmmm...isn't that what we do in life? We feel like we got it all under control and we got this. We don't need any help. We tell ourselves it's not really that much. What happens though is we start becoming tired and weighed down. You feel like everything is coming out of your grasp and you become distracted. Oftentimes, we're holding on to things we should let go of and letting go of things we should hold on to. Can I tell you help is available? So glad! We don't have to carry all the weight because it is so tiring when we do..I'm a witness. Our God cares for us. I Peter 5:7 says, "Casting all your cares on him because he cares about you." Notice it say said all. Psalm 94:19 says, "When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul." Not only does God care, but He will comfort us..I'm a witness! We have a lot of cares with everything going on in our world today, but it's good news to know we don't have to carry the weight any longer. God wants to help us. Psalm 121:2-3 says, "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber." He never sleeps and wants us to tell Him our problems, weaknesses and concerns. He wants us to make an exchange with Him. He wants to give us peace where there is panic, faith where there is fear and direction where there is doubt. Proverbs 12:25 says, "Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man, but a good word cheers it up." When our worries and cares weigh us down, it affects our whole life. We can't think clearly, make right decisions, start tripping over things, blinded and blurred vision (perhaps from the pile we're carrying!). Today, let's make a decision to lay it all down. Let's lay it all down on purpose. Every day, we can make a decision to give it to God. Your "it" could be concerns, worries, problems, whatever is bothering you. My problem is (and it may be yours!) I pray and say I give it to God and then I'll go back and pick it back up, especially in certain areas of my life. I pick it up in my mind and thoughts of "what if" and "what should" want to come, so I constantly have to knock down those thoughts and give it back to God. The minute we find ourselves doing that, we need to give it back to God and do this as many times as we need to. We need to speak what the Word says. We can speak that God cares and God's with us. It's a daily surrender that starts in our morning prayer and telling God what's going on and giving it to Him. Then, we need to continue to do this throughout our day. God has now sent the invitation. The question is..will you accept?