Burden carriers
First things first, HAPPY NEW YEAR church girl family! We made it! We got through one of the toughest years that some of us have ever gone through. People who had never experienced depression, anxiety or any other mental illness, experienced it last year. Because of that, it opened the door and heightened sensitivity and understanding of things that were once judged and/or dismissed. Since that door is open, let’s walk through it. I am a strong person and being strong comes with a lot of responsibility and sometimes unrealistic expectations from self and others. You’re expected to be strong all of the time, no matter what. People don’t expect nor comprehend weakness from you. It unknowingly takes away your right and sometimes your ability to be vulnerable. Because if everyone else expects only strength from you, you start to only expect strength from yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve led worship, preached or served in ministry while carrying heavy things because that “strength” I put on for everyone else, I put on with myself and God. I though that God expected me to be strong because everyone, including myself, expected strength from me all of the time. If you’re not careful, being strong will have you carrying your own burdens and that will drive you CRAZY! There’s nothing wrong with being strong but true strength lies in your ability to be vulnerable with God and others(in the right,SAFE spaces) and allow God to carry your burdens. So I’m challenging all my fellow “strong” friends to stop carrying burdens. You don’t have to carry them, no matter how much being the strong one tells you that you have too. You can go to God with your burdens and you can leave them with Him. If you get up from praying about a thing and you’re still carrying the weight of it, you just vented, you didn’t truly give it to God. So please, whatever you do, don’t allow being strong to make you a burden carrier. Give your burdens to God for real.
“Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].” 1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)
