You Are Not A Burden

          A dear sweet friend of mine, she’s like a second mother to me, lost her husband in November.  They were weeks away from their 48^th anniversary.  This woman is one of the strongest and godliest woman I’ve ever known.  We were talking the other day and she said that she didn’t want to be a burden on her family.  My first though was, how could anyone think of this dear, sweet women as a burden?  I know all of her children and the thought of her being a burden to them would never even enter their minds.

       
  However, I have the same thought.  I don’t want to be a burden on my husband and children! 

Dictionary.com describes burden as a load which is carried, one which borne out of hardship. 

          
Uhm, not looking good for burdens.

 Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29-30 New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

       
We know we are called to hand our burdens over to God, but what do we do when we feel like the burden?

    
I love the verse Hebrews 13:2 

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

         

 Many people believe that this is referring to the person that is being served, but can’t it also refer to the person that is doing the serving.  Yes, we are called by God to serve others.  We teach our children the motto that it’s better to give than it is to receive.  I do believe this to be true, but we all have points in our lives where we need help; where we need to be served.

People have to be allowed to serve God.  If we have the attitude where we say  “I’m supposed to serve others, not to  be served.”;  then we are not only keeping them from doing what God has commanded them to do but we are also keeping them from the blessing that come along with serving someone.  Not to mention that we will miss out on blessing too by not being serve by them.

Now, please note, I am not advocating that you become a burden just to be served.  If you can server others, you are called to so.  The fact is that, it is possible (and probably likely) that while most people are serving others, they are also themselves being served by someone else

My Call to Prayer

Prayer…It’s very passionate on my heart right now and has been for a while.  I’ve always prayed, but lately I’ve feel like I’m being called to be a true prayer warrior.  In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul talks about the different spiritual gifts a person can have.  I do believe prayer is a prayer is a direct remint of several of the spiritual gifts.  Yes, everyone; ever Christian is called to pray.  Yet I think some people are equipped with the words, patience and longer to communicate with God.

        I think my prayer life can become a bit routine.  A bit too safe; who can go wrong with “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or “Lord bless this food.” Not that these prayer are bad or invalid, because there not.  I just feel that I need to dig deeper.  I have to expand my horizon and reach to where to where I      have not reach before.  There is a place I can reach in my prayers that I can never reach on my own.  A place that only is accessible by God granting me entrance. 

        This is a place I long to be.  But not only that, I feel like it’s a place God’s calling me to be.  Maybe’s it’s why I have so much alone time on my hands.    My goal in life is that I want to be as close to God as I can get. 

        But I can’t just get close to God by wanting it.  It’s gonna take work.  I have to work at it.  Prayer is like anything else      , the more I do it, the better I’ll be at it, and the closer I’ll get to God.  It may take my entire life to get to where God wants me to be and that’s OK.  I pray each and every that I become closer and closer to God.  I pray that when I leave this world and meet God face to face, He says “Well done good and faithful servant!’

  

The Safety Net of Prayer

Prayer is my connection to God.  This is not a new concept to me.  I’ve been a Christian for the majority of my life.  I must admit that my prayer life goes through phases, or seasons if I may.    I don’t tend to pray as much when I’m on the mountain top than when I’m in the valley.  There’s an invisible safety net around us that we tend to trust when things are going our way.  The longer we go without prayer and trusting in ourselves the more holes starts to form in our safety net.  Then the invertible happens, and we fall through the net.

        Most of us are totally shocked when this happens.  Things were going so good.  Why did I fall?

        I am a natural faller.  I’ve done it all my life and I perfected it.  I’m the person who can say I’ve fallen up the stairs – literality.  I’ve fallen sideways and backward; anyway you can imagine.  I’ve even falling when I’m sitting down – now that’s takes true talent, let me tell you. 

        The thing about falling is that the older you get, the harder you fall.  This may be a cliché, but it’s true!  When I was younger, I would fall several times a day: my scraped knees and elbows ware tokens that I had survived       another day.  However, now my token for falling is groaning and gnashing of teeth for days on in.

        What happened?  Why did the results of my falling change?  Because I’m not as young as I used to be, my body doesn’t bounce back as it once did.

        OK, so how does this relate to prayer?

        Most of us when we became Christian, we were super excited; we had that fire in our bellies?  Where did that fire go?  It’s still there but for many of us it’s been dimmed out by the realities of life – we get complacent in are praying and when we fall through the safety net we wonder why it hurts so much more than it used to.

        Perhaps it’s because as we age and grow in our faith, we are supposed to be praying more, but we get comfortable and we just think we are OK where we are.  The safety net will always be there.  Right?

        I am, for the most part, wheel chair bound.  This really doesn’t bother me.  I am comfortable riding my little red scooter around to do what I need to do.  It’s empowering, actually.   However, my doctor, my husband, my mom, my kids, my brothers and sisters,    my friends; everyone I know wants me to walk more.  Why?  Not because they want me to run a 5k, but because it is what’s best for me.  It’s importain for me to stay active and to maintain what function of my body that I can to ensure that I can stay as healthy as I can for as long as I can.

        But it’s not comfortable.  Walking makes me tired, plus that fear of falling is always front and center…I’m not too keen on getting hurt.  IT HURTS.

But I’ve got to start doing it.

        Prayer works kind of in the same way.

        It can be uncomfortable at times, especially if you haven’t done it in a while.  You may be wanting to dig deeper in your prayer, but you don’t know how.  You may be in a rut; saying the same prayer over and over and, well you get the idea.

        God wants us to go deeper.  He wants us to step out of our comfort zone and to keep expanding our safety net.  He longs for us to have a more intimate relationship with Him.  And there our times life where we need the safety net.  It does serve a purpose; because there will be rough patches in your life.  There may be time where you’re lying face up on the safety net just wondering why is happening God and where do I go from here?

        That safety net will become you haven.  It will allow you the grace to trust God and to know that he will meet your needs right where are.  It will be like a welcoming bed at the end of an exhausting day where you can just lay all your burdens down and rest.

        They safety net will allow you to do just; REST!  It will give you the peace and grace that you will need to get through those valley days.  If the net it preserved correctly; it will have no holes.  Why?  Because you mended it while you were on the mountain top.

        How is your safety net holding up?

On the Edge of Grace

I think grace is a beautiful thing.  Its even a beautiful word to stay; it roles of the tongue. But what is grace?  Grace is an undeserving accepting love giving to us by God.  Its God Righteousness At Christ Expense.   When I think of grace I think of love and acceptance;  of giving people the benefit.  But I also think of someone who has a gentle spirit; a women who has a quiet voice, has the touch of a feather and the peace of a dove.  

I am not, according to the latter idea, a gentle person.  I am more like a bull in a china shop.  I am loud and clumsy.

But I long to be a graceful woman.

Thankfully, grace from God and not from myself.  I am in God's grace because I have been cover by the blood of His only son, Jesus.  I can grow in grace by studding His word and following ways.

You see, my being a graceful women is not based on who I am physically, but is based on who I am in Christ.

When I choose love over hate; I'm graceful.
When I choose peace over chaos; I'm graceful.
When I choose to serve others over demanding that my needs be met;  I'm graceful.

The list could go on and on and on.

I've entitle the blog A woman on the Edge of Grace because that's where I want to live.  I want grace to overtake me.  I want everyone I meet to feel like a there is a peace and a love for that can only come from me.

I long to be A Woman on the Edge of Grace because that's who God's calling me to be.