My Yoke Is Easy.......

"Then Jesus said, 'Come unto me all of you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (NLT) "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." ( NIV)

Matthew 11:28-30

~~~~~~~

 

Four weeks ago I started to feel challenged by old symptoms of illness.  Three weeks ago I went into a major relapse and  have been living life mostly from my recliner since then.   I have spent much of that time struggling with this turn of events, and used up more energy than I care to admit crying, questioning, lamenting, and yes, whining over my circumstances.  In some ways my soul felt as broken as my body, because I truly NEVER thought I would be here in this place again. 

 

 

But

God

 

 

Four weeks ago I started receiving the verses that I shared above from Matthew 11. As of today this passage, or parts of it, have shown up eleven different times. 

 

 

YES. 

E.L.E.V.E.N.

 

 

Eleven different times these verses as a whole or in part have been given to me by eleven different sources in the past three weeks of my struggles; from different blogs, Biblical teachers I have listened, emails, devotionals, a book, and also from two friends.  A very dear friend had the words "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" come to her as words of knowledge from God while she was praying over my situation.  She knew nothing about how this verse was showing up in my life at the time.  I had asked her to pray and then quietly asked God to show me that what she heard was truly from Him.  Through her from God came this verse...."My yoke is easy and my burden is light" as a confirmation that what she had to share with me was from Him. She kept hearing it over and over again.

 

 

I have never in all my years received any one verse eleven times. 

 

 

Never 

~~~~~

I
Am
So
Loved
By
God

 

I have decided I need to write about this in part because I am trying to discern what it all means and writing will help me to do that, and in part because I feel God smiles when I share my own journey as it can help others and glorify Him.   I plan to write a series on what I am learning going back to three weeks ago when it all began.
 

I don't know if I am done receiving this verse yet...I know I am not done with learning all I need to learn from it. Every day something new comes to light.  I am using different Bible translations, and a concordance, teachings, and anything he sends my way. More and more is being revealed to me.  I think I am a slow learner :)..... I don't want to complicate it, I just want to make sure I am getting it. ALL of it...all that God is showing me.  I have realized it is a gift He is presenting to me and I want to cherish and embrace it.



Praising God In The Hallway

"Therefore let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, 

proclaiming our allegiance to his name."

Hebrews 13:15

 

 

Old Symptoms, New Pink Shoes and Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart And lean not on your own understanding In all your ways acknowledge Him And He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:4,5 

This photo of Joel and me was taken on Friday September 7th by our friend John after a great 5 hour visit. It is significant to me because the next morning when we went to the mall to walk, I crashed. I hit a wall and old symptoms that had been whispering quietly in my ear for several days knocked me over the head. I tried to keep going, but soon I could not even walk without my body responding in a very negative way.

I was in a major setback and confused. We were both truly stunned. We both began grieving the loss of what we truly believed was a permanent gain in health. Joel became angry at God which evolved into situational depression. I spent two days weeping. I could not.stop.crying. My feelings alternated between desperation, bewilderment, anger, fear, and deep sadness.

Phone calls to my practitioner and Dr. Lane had us believing that the homeopathic remedy I took was STILL going deeper into my body bringing up old symptoms and memories and it was all taking a huge toll on my physical health. Maybe. What about stress? Maybe. But do we really know why?  This body has fought illness for nearly thirty years and is fragile in many ways.

Time and prayer is easing the strong emotions we were feeling, and we are working things through. Joel is laughing more and I am able to move around the house without a kleenix box in my hands. We have talked about how powerful the remedy was and even though it helped me so much it was now hurting me.....we have spoken about how since being sick, stress knocks both of us down more than anything physical.....we have talked about how I push myself too hard, we have also danced around the edges of the quietly whispered idea that God may not restore me the same way he restored Joel. This is where our anger and sadness has come in. The possible losses of specific hopes and dreams.

Certainly we have weathered far more difficult challenges. So, in the scheme of things this is a minor setback, but it has shaken us. I believe it will also strengthen us. We still believe God wants me well. What has changed for me is my belief that I can make it happen now. I am still working on surrendering to HIS plan for me. God is God, and it is not a matter of understanding, but a matter of trusting.

T.R.U.S.T.I.N.G.

Today I am still in my recliner, but I no longer carry the kleenix box around and I am visualizing a walk to the river in my new hot pink tennies.

You heard me right! I have new HOT PINK TENNIES made for walking! !!!!!!

Aren't they great?!

I found these while looking for tennies. Recently while praying it came to me that these pink tennies hold my hope to WALK OUT MY HEALING. I ordered them and they arrived yesterday. I put them on, they fit great (I always have trouble getting tennies to fit and support my weak lower back). I WILL walk again wearing those great hot pink shoes. Every day I am going to put them on and walk a few seconds, minutes, whatever I can manage as a reminder of my future.

This too shall pass and I WILL walk again :).....to the river and beyond.

A Blogation

I have decided to take a short vacation from blogging

A "blogation" 

Thank you to all those who visit my cyber home 

I appreciate your thoughts and prayers 

God bless

MBM: Just What We Needed

Memorial Box Monday was started by Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity.  She relates it to Joshua who was told by God to build a memorial of large rocks for future generations to remember God's faithfulness and provision. Looking back and writing about our own stories reminds us of God's faithfulness and provision, while strengthening and encouraging ourselves and others. 

 My story today started about two months ago when our built-in microwave started to malfunction. It decided to have a mind of its own, working sporadically except for the express defrost. We adjusted to using that one single button as we usually only warm things up, but eventually Joel called our favorite fix-it man to ask him about what could be wrong acoffin he could fix it himself.  Our handyman told us what it was, what it would cost, and then shared that he had just been to the Habitat for Humanity Store here in town and noticed that they had an over the stove built-in microwave for sale...brand new but really inexpensive. Joel and I prayed about it, deciding to check it out as long as we had the cash to buy it. He measured ours and headed to the store, only to find it was closed! He went back the next day and the microwace was still there. It was the right fit and same color as our stove, so he bought it.  He purchased the new microwave for $5.00 more than it would have cost us to replace just the touch pad for the old one. (Our old one is over 8 years old).

 When we headed up to our daughters in Minnesota for a visit the next week, we discovered they had the exact microwave we had just purchased, so we could see how it worked and what it looked like set up. 

 As some of you know, I have reactions to chemicals so we usually "outgas" new things that come into the house. New plastic can be challenging for my lungs. We figured we could just use the express defrost a bit longer while it was airing out, hoping it would hold on until I was able to tolerate the new one. Well, a few weeks later the microwave was still able to outgas because ours went back to working fine until just yesterday when we are now back to only express defrost. God not only provided a new microwave for about half price that we could pay cash for, but he gave us time to outgas it before needing to use it! God worked out every single detail!

Conversations In The Garden: Heavy Loads

"Come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest." 

Matthew 11:28 

When God gives a verse to me two to three times from different sources, I know that I need to pay attention. Last Sunday I read this verse in my Daily Light scriptures book, and also from two different bloggers. Even though I had no clue why this particular verse had come to light, God had my attention.   A short while later I logged on to Saddleback Church's site to watch their Sunday service live. As I looked at the screen I saw a statement about being weary in large print, Of course I had to click on those words and see what Rick Warren would have to say....He spoke about Matt. 11:28!  Warren talked about how our hurts and disappointments become a heavy burden to carry around.  He encouraged people to bring their hurts to Jesus and leave them with Him, so we can become all God has created us to be.

I took all this information into the Garden of my heart spending quiet time in meditation.  I spoke to Jesus about the hurts I was carrying around.  Hurts from others and some just perceived by me.  I immediately saw a pile of big rocks and as I questioned in my mind what they were, Jesus asked me, "Do you want to keep carrying around this heavy load"?  I knew I did not, so I spent time praying over releasing the hurts stored in my heavy "backpack" one more time.

Yesterday this verse popped up once again so I decided to look up as many translations as possible to gather more insight into God's persistent message.  I went to the online site Bible Gateway where you can look up many different translations quickly.  The Amplified Bible version spoke to me. 

"Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened
and I will cause you to rest.  (I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls."

Matthew 11:28

Carrying heavy burdens and weary from the endless task of doing so on your own?  I tend to think I need to do things on my own.  Independently, pushing forward on my own time schedule.  Does that sound familiar?

Today I went back into the garden to ask Jesus about this verse that keeps coming back to get my attention.  It had been a tough week for me and I was tired physically and emotionally.....in the garden Jesus led me over to the pile of rocks but this time I noticed a cross in the ground behind the pile.  A cross....HIS cross.  I realized Jesus already suffered for my hurts...for all our hurts.  When I looked down at the rocks,  I noticed the rock that represented the sexual abuse was in the pile. Yes, Jesus died on the cross for that time in my life too.  Thank you Lord.  Thank you, thank you.  

It amazes me how heavy negative memories and emotions can become. Time to let them go.  One at a time...over time....at this time.  We are promised rest and relief for my soul. That's a pretty good promise!!!

Jesus wants us to release the burdens we carry.  He already paid the price.  For our sins, our diseases, our pain, our hurts.  He loves us that much.  There is no need for us to carry around the heavy loads that make us weary.  Take them to the cross and let Jesus refresh your soul.