My heart has been incredibly burdened lately as I've noticed what other women around me are walking through. So many people are in the midst of life-altering circumstances… the kind you never think you'll actually have to deal with. But they are face-to-face with them, it is their current reality. I sat with a good friend of mine who talked about her niece, a sweet unborn baby whose future is unknown. The Lord has woven that precious little girl together exactly the way she is, with a great purpose. He knows everything about her, including the number of hairs on her head. He also knows the number of her days. But her parents don't. They face a lot of unknowns and have no solid answers to any of their questions. All they can do today is to trust the Lord with their little girl. As I listened to this woman's story over coffee, tears fell from my eyes. I was so embarrassed. I've never met this woman and I was crying. It wasn’t my baby or my family. But as I heard more about her and more about the test results, my heart began to hurt. I don't have to meet her to know how heartbroken she must be because I know the way a mother's heart loves.
And I know the way a mother's heart hurts.
And so my heart broke for hers.
There are so many other stories that I could share here about friends facing loss, rare sickness, infertility….. But you know them too. They are your friends. We are all surrounded by hurting people. This season has left my heavy heart longing for Heaven. I've felt helpless as I've watch countless women face some of their hardest circumstances. The Lord has clearly given me these four words over and over as I've wrestled with how to process other peoples suffering… Bear one another's burdens.
I am not carrying a baby with an unknown future. I don't have a rare cancer. I'm not struggling to conceive a child of my own. But what if their stories became our stories? Their burden, our burden? Because as we come alongside them and carry the burden we lighten their load. That’s what a friend does, right?
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
It doesn't get much clearer than that.
It doesn't get much clearer than that.
We can't write out a connect-the-dots process of bearing someones burdens. It will always look different. It can range from huge financial sacrifices to dropping off a meal. But the one thing bearing another's burden should always include is praying for them. God always hears us. I'm guilty of forgetting the power or prayer and trying to only use my hands to "solve" someone else's problem. My prayer life needs work and I feel like this has been one area that God has challenged me lately. I'm praying for friends in a way I never have before and I'm praying for women I've never met.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. Psalm 116:2
So friends as we memorize this verse let's live it out. Pick another women this week that is 'enduring it'. You know what I mean. Maybe she's in a tough marriage. Maybe she struggles to feel like she's enough. Maybe she can't pay her bills. Maybe she is battling cancer. Maybe she's losing a child. Or maybe she just feels like she is alone.
Carry her burden. Don't make her do it alone. Take her to the Lord and watch what He does.
No comments