This morning in fellowship with my Lord, I thanked Him for how He took upon Himself the whole world’s sins to the cross. All the mockery and torturous beatings Jesus received was a foretaste of all the rejection and hatred He would continually receive after He was dead and gone, or so they thought. As Christ’s body, the Church that He founded, continued His life and words on, and Satan through people, has not let up one bit from trying to do-in the Son of God, and from taking the Lord’s place on earth. That HEAVY load, to say the least, that Jesus carried was so heavy that he collapsed under it as they made Him carry it on His way to the hill. A man was assigned by the soldier to help him. This to me, was to remind us of what Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you….and learn from Me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)
I’m continually being reminded to stay under the yoke with Him whenever I feel a heaviness upon me. Some things that I try to get done are not necessarily the things that HE WANTS ME TO DO WITH HIM, under HIS yoke. So I’m pretty much on my own there, carrying a heavy workload. I’ve learned from this that with life so short and my body growing weaker with age, that I’m better off discerning what is the Lord’s work, and what is not.
We can have a worldly job to do that brings an income to live on, and this is necessary and right to do. But in that day to day job/career, if I don’t see and understand that the Lord has a greater purpose for me being there, then that job can become burdensome. If I’m in it for the fulfillment of money or status, or even for its great benefits, that will eventually wear on me with fear of losing that job and always trying to please people.
I thank God that I never had to work out in the world after I married Mike. I got my child-hood heart’s desire to be a wife and mother. As I learned from the Lord and from a Proverbs 31 woman (Mike’s mother), many years later the Lord led me to teach on the Proverbs 31 Woman to other young wives and mothers. I thoroughly enjoyed those days!
Then came the book that He called me to write years later (as a first time author by His motivation and inspiration) when our four kids were on their own getting married and having their own children, our grandchildren. The Lord even told me the name of the book: THE STANDARD – The Woman God Crowns – A Look into the Life of the Proverbs 31 Woman.
Now at the age of 70, I look back and ponder those days as a stay-home wife and mother, serving in the church in various ways. I NEVER EVER felt a heavy burden from any of that work I was called by the Lord to do. I looked forward to it each day, after I had my time alone in fellowship with the Lord each morning.
The only time I can remember crying out to the Lord with a heavy heart, was when I was trying to do ‘works’ in a new church Mike and I had been led by the Lord to attend; works that the good Pastor and his wife wanted us to do - using our gifts, and other works that I had done before and was trying to fit in to this new church. I got to the end of myself! THAT was when the Lord personally visited me one 2001 October morning at 3:30. I cried: “What DO YOU want me to do Lord?!” To my surprise, He replied AUDIBLY to me: “Carol, I love you.” Then He showed me a vision of His back as He was walking a narrow path, and with His right hand reaching back to take my hand, HIS AUDIBLY VOICE again, said: “Just walk with Me.” He knew what was happening to me by trying to please people, while thinking I was serving the Lord. He saved me again! I wrote a book about it all in detail, many years later, when I had understood more about His visitation. It’s called “Just Walk With Me.”
I see how the Lord has taught me to be wise, and to discern when the enemy is using someone (even a loved one unsuspecting) to get to the ‘old me’ and make life hard on me. I’ve learned that walking with the Lord keeps my work light and easy. And in those times when I get worried about a loved one that I’m caring for, I’m reminded that He’s with me all the way to the end. He will answer my prayer for them. What a Savior! What a Friend! What a Wonder He Is!