Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens
And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you,
Because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke fits perfectly and the burden I give you is light.
Words of Jesus from
Matthew 11:28-30
Those words were such a comfort to me this week. I have felt weary of wrestling with God as I have tried to figure out why He does or says what He says, and then in another passage of scripture, he seems to do otherwise. How does one figure all this out? Such questions have been, “God, you and I have an intimate relationship, yet, you are such a mystery!” “You call me to keep your commandments of loving You and others as I love myself, yet, so often I fall short.” “How good is good enough?” Sometimes I even resort to the false notion that I can be like other “good saints,” yet, trying to “be like them” doesn’t fit! All these questions and strivings to understand swirl around me until they actually become a burden to me as they sap my freedom and joy.
Then, God lovingly gave me the scripture in Matthew. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” I know how weary and burdened many of you are; I have heard your stories and they are heart-wrenching!
“Take my yoke upon you and let me teach you.” Picture the oxen yoked together. Together they share the load or task. God was telling me that I needed to stay yoked with Him and so we could do life together. He will teach me (not others) what I need to know.
“I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.” He doesn’t get tired of my questions. He loves to be in dialogue with me regardless of the questions I throw Him. He is humble and gentle. He reaches down to where I am and He lovingly offers me rest.
“For my yoke fits perfectly and the burden I give you is light.” I love this one! The yoke is tailor made for the two of us. Just Jesus and me. No one else. That is what makes the burden light. It does not work when I am trying to be like someone else. That is a painful burden because the yoke doesn’t fit!
For me, the past few days have been a wrestling with God over understanding how I can walk with Him. For some of you, the burden and load has been dealing with all the mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical pain you are experiencing. I hope this passage from Matthews gives you insight into how God wants to give you rest and healing on your life-journey. Please take the yoke He shares with you. Just Jesus and you!
I pray you find rest for your weary souls!
Jan
Hope
Are you feeling like you are living in darkness? Are you wondering if you will ever see the light again? Please don’t despair! While it might be hard to believe, there is hope. All of us who have passed through the night of despair and have found the light of day can say to our fellow sojourners, “There is Hope! Don’t give up!”
You are not alone in this journey. There are other brave women walking this journey of healing every day. They are on a journey that leads to their healing. It is one they do not enjoy; it seems ominous and overwhelming but they know in order to find wholeness, it is necessary. They know if they do not go on this journey, they will stay stuck in shame, guilt, loneliness and isolation, depression, and even despair.
We have the privilege to go with some women from the point where they enter their journey to find healing to their final lap of victory. We have the privilege of traveling this journey with women who started with no hope and who now share that hope with others.
One survivor contacted us through this website. She wasn’t sure we were real or trust-worthy. She conjured up enough nerve to cross half a state to come see if we were real. When she got to our house, she circled our street six times before she got up enough nerve to knock on our door. We have walked with her on her journey of healing. She has had times when she wanted to give up; times when it hurt more than she thought she could handle; times when growing seems impossible. But she has persevered. She has found hope! She is becoming a new person. Where she lacked confidence and felt shame and isolation, she is becoming the woman God created her to be. She is learning how to develop healthy personal relationships. She is learning how to have personal boundaries and make healthy choices. She is taking courageous risks to trust again. She has even taken a risk and connected with a church again. She is discovering a Heavenly Father who is completely different than her earthly father and completely different than the pastor who abused her. This growth has not happened without a great struggle for she had many lies programmed into her by her family and her abuser. She has journeyed to a point where her abuser takes up very little space in her head and she is leaving his fate in God’s hands. We still cheer her onward as she is a woman walking with hope!
Another survivor also came to Tamar’s Voice with fear and trembling. She almost bolted when she and her husband got to our door, but she mustered enough courage to knock on the door. She was determined that she was going to strive to walk in freedom and with hope. It has been a tenacious struggle, but she has made personal growth as she has realized that she no longer had to walk in shadows. She risked telling her story to the church. Her story traveled all the way to the top leaders of that denomination. This is a miraculous story of triumph, as the top authorities validated her with honor and compassion as they dealt justly with her abuser. Now, she walks in personal freedom, with wholeness, and with hope. Now, because of her courage, others in future generations have hope of being protected by her denomination from pastors who are abusers.
Striving to reach the prize of healing is not easy. It is arduous, painstaking, and fills us with doubt that we will ever finish the journey to healing. We want to encourage anyone who is weary of the difficult struggle. As with running a marathon or hiking up a difficult mountain, the journey is possible and we are rooting for you!
There is hope!
