I just spent some time with a friend of mine who has just started grad school and is having a hard time managing her time. She seems stressed beyond belief trying to keep up with school, her waitressing job, and volunteering with Young Life. I could see tears in her eyes as she looked at me and said "I just don't know what to do."
Spending time with this young woman made me think about how often this is the case for so many of us - especially those of us with young kids. We are often tired, over-worked, over-committed and feel just plain burnt out at the end of the day, week, month, etc. I reminded her today that God never wants us to feel so stressed that we are throwing up our hands and saying "I can't handle this, I just don't know what to do." If that's how we are feeling, it's because we are trying to control too much ourselves and be too many places we probably don't belong in the first place. I have totally been there, believe me.
Sometimes I think we need to take a step back and remember that God will never give us more than we can handle. ALSO, God doesn't want us to be at a perpetual breaking point, barely able to survive the stress of one more day. He says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:27-30).
God's burden is light - and also, it's HIS. If we ever feel like ministry, work, school, or life in general is just to stressful to manage, maybe we need to give our burden to God, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7) and He is willing and able to show us where we belong and how we spend our time.
Just some spiritual food for thought. I know I'll be taking it to heart! And for those of you who know me well, keep me honest!! :)
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