To tell it true, I’ve kinda had it up to here with all this sadness and disappointment. How about you? Ever feel like someone keeps sneaking along behind you, adding chunks of granite to your backpack?
For me, it’s been one burden after another carried for my closest people… divorce, chronic pain, cancer. Saying my final goodbyes to two. Mourning the miles that stand between me and my kids/grandkids. Letdowns along my journey to publication.
Once upon a time, I stuffed. I stiff-armed the grief process, denied my hurts, and marched on in what I thought was joyful defiance but turned out to be unhealthy ignorance. Now I know to name my sorrows and sit with my big feelings—as Jesus himself demonstrated. And so I do.
But.
Comes a time when we are meant to surrender what unsettles us and strike out anew. We are meant to rest then rise!
Up ahead there’s a new leg of the race set out for me. For you. And as we head to the starting blocks, it won’t serve us to carry a backpack full of heavy stones we’ve already dealt with. Time to lay it down. Time to resume a starting position.
It’s time to rise strong.
As the Lord said to Paul on the road to Damascus,
Rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you.”
All through the Bible, we see God exhorting his servants to “rise up,” “arise,” or “get up.” To a man paralyzed all his life, Jesus said, “Rise.” And guess what? He did.
Jesus himself rose—from death!
What, then, is it to a risen Jesus, for me to say, “Lord, I’m ready to resume my race. To again bear witness to your light, to all the things in which I have seen you. Pick me up. Help me rise”?
“Rejoice not over me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall rise.” Micah 7:8
Kit, thank you for this encouragement and for reminding me of Micah 7:8. I am so grateful that for each leg of the race, He gives new strength to continue on. Blessings!
So honored to serve in this way, Joanne. Thanks for stopping by!
“It won’t serve us to carry a backpack full of heavy stones we’ve already dealt with”… this is such a timely word, Kit! I am most definitely prone to looking in my rear view mirror when I should be looking ahead. Regret, shame and sorrow from my past are the stones that all too often weigh me down and prevent me from running the race with all my might. Thanks for sharing from your journey: for the encouragement and the redirect. In His Love ~ Tabitha
“Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Tabitha, yes. I’d like to think once we lay it down, that’s the end of it. But the weight of past hurts and regrets is a sneaky interloper. I love the promise contained in Hebrews 12:1… Laying aside every weight and running with endurance is attainable! I suppose it just requires tenacity.
Yes! HIS strength makes it possible. <3
Kit, thank you for the reminder that just as Jesus rose from the grave, with His strength, we can rise from the brokenness of our lives. Great encouragement!