Lay Your Burdens Down

 By Angeline Duran Santiago

I've often wondered why so many of us do not receive healing in the deepest parts of our lives. I mean, we know the scriptures are full of promises for those who have chosen to believe. If believing was enough, then we would walk around completely whole, mentally, physically, and emotionally. But, as I speak to enough people, hurting people, I see what might be the underlying cause so many of them, so many of us, are not experiencing that walk of freedom promised by the Lord.

As I listen to people share, there is always a tendency to return to the past. The past is full of painful memories. We say we choose to forget the past. I think, and correct me if I am wrong in my assumption, that many of us hold on to that past that has caused the pain, the trauma, and the unease deep in our heart. Let me give you an example of what I see. Mind you, this is just my way of seeing it. I might be wrong. Or, perhaps, I can help you a little.

Most women and some men carry a bag of their choice. Perhaps a designer bag, a school bag, lunch bag, or a bag that carries their medical supplies. Others carry their weapons, their tools, of whatever they use for work or daily living inside that bag, on their shoulder, pulled by hand, on their back, or in the car. So many ways to pull that bag, or briefcase, computer bag, or whatever it is that we haul around. Every time I listen to someone share about their hurts, in my mind, I see their bag. For many, I see multiple bags. Light bags or super heavy ones that are difficult to pull. Still, even the smallest and weakest of the people I listen to, carry the burden in some form. 

Life is full of disappointments, heartaches, let downs and hurts. We have a tendency to return to those memories that remind us of our loss and what has hurt us the most. Hurting people hold on to what was done to them, what was taken away, and how they were abused and traumatized. Pain seems to be a living organism that grows right alongside our heart, feeding off our lifeline. 

What if? What if we could take that bag, that purse or backpack that weighs so powerfully on our minds and our emotions, and just dump it? What if we could take scripture literally and take every burden and just decide to lay it as the feet of Jesus? This way, each time life reminds you and me of what happened, we can remember that this pain, this load, and this devastating weight is not our to carry because God promised us that through the victory of the cross, Jesus has carried it all for you and me.

I am not making light of what you have gone through. So many have courageously lived through all kinds of assaults, abuse, and horrific events in their life. I would never imagine of belittling what you have experienced. Your pain is real. Your experience has sunk deep roots into your memories. And, you have placed all those excruciating moments into this bag you carry around with you wherever you go. It has gone with you, at times growing and becoming heavier, from childhood into your adult life. These bags have followed you from preschool into college. You have put them down and picked them up again from the early years of your adult life or marriage, and even in your golden years, as you comb your gray hairs, you look to your side and that bag lays on your bed or sits in your closet. That closet of your mind, those memories that refuse to be quiet and fight you back when you try to move on.

Today, I believe God invites us to give up these things we carry and bring them to Him. He is our rest. The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33:14 NIV

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 NIV

There's a song that takes me that place where I see myself giving the Lord every care, every pain, and all of my burdens. They are many and I get tired of going back to them because they do not bless me but only weigh me down.

Feet of Jesus by Steven Curtis Chapman

Each time I listen to this song, I rise to imagine myself in a dance of surrendering everything that holds me back and giving it to God. I see myself understanding and accepting that God's love for me is greater than the fears that keep my thinking I cannot lay my heavy past down. God's acceptance of my broken heart is more powerful that the past I hold on to, greater than my pain and those memories of feeling I have wasted so much of my life and nothing matters. You and I matter so much to God and He sent Jesus to carry all of our burdens and pains on that cross who we do not have to log it around our remaining years. We can be free to know His love and his peace. We can feel light again in the knowledge that He sets us free. The Lord makes all things new. All things. New.

Will you lay your burdens down? Will you trust the Lord to carry you and hold you when you feel like you cannot make it another day because you are remembering again, reliving the pain and the betrayal again? Will you try to let God hold your heart when it hurts so much that it becomes hard to breathe. You feel like you cannot take another breath or another step and you crash to the ground because the weight of this load, this pain, these memories are so hard to let go of and they push you down hard. But, will you try to lay your burden, your pain, at the feet of Jesus? Will you see the hands of God stretch out and wait for you and me to take all these bags and just put them in his loving hands?

Lord, Tonight I recognize that I am tired and I can boldly say, "Life hurts." I feel all these horrible feelings and have all these crazy thoughts inside of me, like a war that fights against my peace and my joy. I know I cannot do this on my own. So, I bring it all to you. This is so hard because I just struggle to forget, to forgive, to move forward and believe that You are able to heal me and make me whole. God, this all hurts so bad at times. Be my healer, my deliverer, and my strength.

Lord, I need you and truth is that I just am not able to do this alone. I need the assurance of who your Word says you are to come and rescue me. Pull me out of this darkness, out of these haunting memories that do not allow me to live, to live the life you promise me. Bring me out of this pain and into your love. Fill me. Flood me with your love. Saturate my life and my heart and all I am with all of your love for you are love, you are peace and you are hope. You are all I need and I know this but sometimes it is so hard to hold on to you and experience the fulness of life and joy in you. 

Lord, make a way where my heart says that there is no way. Make a way and open the sea that pushes me forth out of the Egypt of my pain and my past and into the promises of your love. Lord, change me to believe and to walk in freedom. Let me see and understand what Jesus has done for me. Help me to see that His death has given me life. Help me to accept the restoration your life in me brings. Heal me. Free me. Forgive me. Help me walk according to your will.

In Jesus Name. I lay my bags down. I place all these burden down. 

Amen.

 

It would be awesome to hear your thoughts regarding what I have shared.