TOSSING & TURNING

     Sheets were wrapped and wrinkled about my legs.

     Pillows had been tucked, fluffed and puffed.

     Positions were shifted a hundred different ways.

     It was no use -- sleep wouldn't come.  My mind was filled with the "must-do's" and the "how will I do's"; the clock mocked me as the minutes ticked on and sleep remained unattainable, and the tossing and turning continued.

     The truth that rested in my head, couldn't seem to find it's way to my heart -- God is sufficient.   

     We're promised rest, true rest, in God's Word.  Not just in the sense of sleep, but pure and perfect rest as when our hearts lay calm despite the tornado that swirls in our world.

     How do we grip hold of that rest?  What do we do when rest eludes us?

     There's only one place to find escape from tossing and turning.  It's in the One who created rest.  Of Him, David, the psalmist of old, said, "My soul finds rest in God alone...my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken....Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." (Psalm 62)

     Do you hear those truths?  Do they resonate in your deepest being?  Do they bring peace to your heart?

     God shows us through David's life three key things in this passage:

1. The only place where rest is found is in God alone
2. The only way we will avoid being shaken is in Him
3. The only way to receive that rest is by CHOICE

    

     We must lay at God's feet what is heavy and burdensome to us this Christmas; but then we have to leave it there!

     We are to pour out our hearts to God, but then we must choose to leave the things we've poured out to Him, in His capable hands -- don't pick them up again . . . "God, I don't know how we are going to deal with ______, but I trust You have the answers and I'm choosing rest.  God I don't know where time will come from to accomplish ______, but I trust You to provide for what really needs to be done and I'm choosing rest."


     Missionary, Amy Carmichael, was quoted saying, "God is willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; willing as water is willing to flow into an emptied channel."  May He flood over us today!

     My prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we find true rest; not because our circumstances fully resolve themselves, but because we find rest from the Source of all rest -- God alone.

"Come to me, all you who

are weary and burdened,

and I WILL give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

A Song for Today -- "Blessings"

(click this link to hear an awesome song)

Dark Bundles

I have noticed, as I walk this path of life, that when things are going well, I feel light and free; but when the times of challenge come, a heaviness can settle over me and the darkness can feel so close.  I have learned that mountains (light) and valleys (dark) are not an unusual part of life; both are necessary for healthy growth.  But what is not healthy, is when we are in the dark trying to find our own way out; instead of allowing God to help us, and if need be, carry us.

I recently came across a beautiful retelling of a dream that radically changed one woman's view of her life - it lifted her out of the darkness and placed her into the light.  This happened because she realized the heavy burdens, or as the dream says - dark bundles, were not what God ever intended for her to carry.  Let me share it here, in its original form - taken from Streams in the Desert, written in 1925...

An eminent Christian worker tells of his mother who was a very anxious and troubled Christian. He would talk with her by the hour trying to convince her of the sinfulness of fretting, but to no avail.  But one morning the mother came down to breakfast wreathed in smiles. He asked her what had happened, and she told him that in the night she had a dream.
She was walking along a highway with a great crowd of people who seemed so tired and burdened. They were nearly all carrying little black bundles, and she noticed that there were numerous repulsive looking beings which she thought were demons dropping these black bundles for the people to pick up and carry. Like the rest, she too had her needless load, and was weighed down with the devil’s bundles. Looking up, after a while, she saw a Man with a bright and loving face, passing hither and thither through the crowd, and comforting the people.
At last He came near her, and she saw that it was her Saviour. She looked up and told Him how tired she was, and He smiled sadly and said: “My dear child, I did not give you these loads; you have no need of them. They are the devil’s burdens and they are wearing out your life. Just drop them; refuse to touch them with one of your fingers and you will find the path easy and you will be as if borne on eagle’s wings.”
He touched her hand, and look, peace and joy thrilled her frame and, flinging down her burden, she was about to throw herself at His feet in joyful thanksgiving, when suddenly she awoke and found that all her cares were gone. From that day to the close of her life she was the most cheerful and happy member of the household.

What a witness to the reality of where many of our burdens, or dark bundles, come from - but a far more important reality is portrayed by showing us where our lightness and freedom can and should be coming from in our lives.  The enemy wants us to be so burdened down with "life" that we fail to see what God has made available to us - the freedom to truly soar, as on eagle's wings. 

If we would see that we do not need to take up those bundles, but instead cast our cares on our God who cares for us, we could rise above the places where the darkness tries to overcome us and be set free!

Psalm 81:6 "I removed the burden from their shoulders;

 their hands were set free."