Cast Your Burdens on the One Who Loves You!

Hi Friends~

Well, did you have a good laugh since Monday?  Maybe a few?  How did it feel?  Was it contagious?  Did others join in the laughter without even meaning to do so?  Did you feel stress leave you?  Did you feel a glow on your face?  Did you accept the challenge to laugh?  Let us know how it went for you.  We'd love to know!

Today I read a couple pages of Daily Encouragement for Women:  Whispers of Promise.  It is published by Barbour. I hope that they will mean something special to you, as they did to me.  I was really quite moved by this first one..and I didn't even remember it being in the Bible. 

How Much You Mean to Him

"I am God, your personal God,

The Holy of Israel, your Savior,

I paid a huge price for you...

That's how much you mean to me!

That's how much I love you!  I'd

sell off the whole world to get you

back, trade the creation just for

you.  So don't be afraid:

I'm with you."

Isaiah 43:3-5 MSG

The beginning of this just gave me chills.  He DID pay a HUGE price for us!

We just celebrated His victory over death!  But to celebrate that victory, we need to remember everything He went through for us on Good Friday.  The mocking, the spit on Him, the tearing of His clothes, a wreath painfully pushed into His head, the whip slashing His back...The Cross.  What more would we make Him go through to be His?  I love the end..."So don't be afraid:  I'm with you."  How simply said.  How beautifully said.  "So don't be afraid:  I'm with you." 

What are you afraid of right now?  What are you concerned may happen?  Tell Him.  Run to Him.  Share with Him.  That is what He wants from us.  A relationship.  Is yours a mutually beneficial relationship?  Do you ask, ask, ask?  Or do you tell Him why you love and honor Him?  Do you thank Him through out the day for every BIG thing and every little thing?  Do you thank Him for His Word, His having Saved you?!  Share with Him.  Don't be afraid.  Confess your sins.  He knows anyway.  He wants you to confess for your own benefit.  How is your relationship with Him...in good shape?  Or does it need a little bit of effort on your part?

Warning:  This next writing makes a STRONG point!  You may be caught off guard! Here it is:

God Bears Our Burdens

God will share our burdens, but

if we don't want to give them to

Him, He will let us struggle along

on our own for a while. He won't

insist we do things His way but will

let us learn how heavy the burdens

really are. When our backs are

tired and we can't take another

step, He'll remind us that He was

always willing to carry them for

us.  Is He reminding you of that

today?

STOP!  Don't read for a full minute or two if you can...and answer that question to yourself...and then to Him!

Welcome back. What thoughts went through your mind?  Do you have any anxieties?  Any worries?  Is your house up for foreclosure and you don't know where you will stay?  Is your son or daughter joining the military, and you are scared to death?  That's how I feel.  I've shared how Josh has joined the Air Force. This writing really yelled "Wake Up!" to me.  It made me stop and catch my breath. A friend pointed out that I worry a lot.  (I've been aware of that for my entire life, and have actually improved! lol)  I worry because Joshua doesn't know the Lord. I worry because he will be around dangerous items...and situations.  I pray.  I pray a lot.  I thought that was enough to turn it over.  However, I think if I still carry anxiety or worry, I really haven't completely turned it over to Him. I am doing a pretty good job...I worry only during the night time now... I'm getting there.  Tired, but I am getting there.

Matthew 6:31-34 reads:  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

So, use your thoughts as your barometer as to what things you haven't asked Him to take over for you.  You can trust Him.  Do you know that?  Have you trusted your life to Him?  Do you know Jesus the Christ as your Lord and your Savior?  Do you believe that He died on that cross for your sins?  He paid the wages for sin...and that wage is death!  He has Saved you. He died and He rose on the third day--just as He told them. We all sin.  We do our best not to..but we do.  Fortunately, we can go to Him, and ask for forgiveness. You will live eternally in Heaven with Him when your time on earth is done. 

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Romans 3:22-25 NIV

Contact me via email with a way to reach you, and I will pray with you...and you will be able to trust completely in Jesus your Messiah!  You will be a child of the King of Kings. You will be able to give Him your burdens...and you will learn and become aware of how much He loves you.  It is an amazing thing!  Email me.  Call a Christian friend, and ask them to pray for you.  Go to a church and ask them to pray with you.  It is a great thing!  It is a life-freeing decision!

I hope we will all search our thoughts and see if there are any burdens we haven't given to Jesus.  And then, give it to Him right away!  I am sure we will feel so much better!  And, think about the first writing from Isaiah.  Do you know He loves you that much?  How about telling Him how much you love Him?  Do you do that?  Don't all mothers and fathers want to hear that from their children?  He is your Heavenly Father.  Tell Him how special He is to you!  It will deepen your relationship with Him...that is for certain.  Praise God!

The Winner of the "Card of the Week" is...

For the second week in a row...Congratulations,
 peggy applSEEDS!

So, Peggy, just send me that address, and I will make sure both cards are sent out to you!  (I need an address here in the continental US to mail them.)  You will enjoy Joan's Eagle card.  It is wonderful! I love it!  Here is your comment that was randomly chosen:

peggy aplSEEDS said...

hi, Traci, that eagle link is amazing. thanks for sharing it. you can find out more about it here - http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles
thank you also for the card of the week!
May 2, 2011 8:05 PM

So, everyone, please leave a comment before 8pm on Tuesday, and you will be entered in our random drawing for a "Mystery Card of the Week!"  I will ask Dave to please try to get my camera to talk to my computer and then talk to my blog.  I can't post any photos anywhere!  Please be patient with me.  I apologize for this problem.  Have a blessed week!
 
He IS Able!
Traci S.