Most people who know me are aware that I have a slight Pinterest addiction. (I use the word addiction only for lack of a better term.) Most days I spend my time scrolling through endless boards and pins for no reason whatsoever, typically just wasting my time. However, every once in awhile something useful will pop up on my small screen. This happened the other day. While scrolling through "Quotes" on Pinterest, I ran across a pin that read, "I wonder how much of what weighs me down is not mine to carry." This got me thinking... How much of my stress, anxiety, etc. could be relieved if I could learn to carry only what God intends for me to carry?
Before we can talk about this more in depth we need to realize one thing.
Nobody is superhuman.
We often experience unnecessary anxiety and burdens we were never meant to carry. I believe this happens when we bring something to God in prayer, but ultimately end up taking it back.
Every time we start to feel burdened, anxious, or overwhelmed by something in our lives, it is potentially because we haven't completely given it over to Him in the first place. OR.. If we have, we have tried to take it back into our control. This action will always lead to feelings of heaviness because He never designed us to take on what He has promised to take care of.
Quite often we do this without even realizing it. The good news is there is a simple way to overcome this. The first step in giving something to God and leaving it there is to trust Him to take care of what He has promised to take care of.
Think about this. Last summer I went out of town for a week and I asked one of my friends to come to my house and feed my dogs daily. I didn't have to worry about whether he would do it or not because I trusted him. That stress was lifted because rather than having to drive home every day to feed my dogs or taking them with me, I shared enough trust with him that he did it everyday and I was able to enjoy my vacation.
We can reach that place of trust with God by understanding how much He cares for us and loves us. If you have never felt his great love for you, that's the first step in trusting Him. All you have to do is simply ask the Lord to reveal His great love for you. Trust me. He wants to show you more than you want him to.
