God teaches us in his word to carry one another’s burdens. In Galatians 6:2 it says, "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Think of how many burdens we carry on a daily basis…minute-by-minute basis, even. Tasks that need accomplished, bills that need paid, not to mention just living day-to-day, in the little things. As mothers and wives, we are like pillars in a building, holding it up. It’s as if we are responsible for the emotional climate in our home. As Dr. Phil says, “If Mom isn’t happy, nobody is happy.” Can you relate to that quote? I know that I can. Often when I am stressed, my husband and children become stressed.
This week, I was praying for someone over the phone, as they told me about situations beyond their control causing them to be in a great deal of stress. Bills they could not pay, and accumulating, like a slap face month after month. This is a terrible burden, and thankfully, this person shared with me their stress so that I could carry the burden with them to God. As I prayed, I began to believe in my heart that God really does not want us to be stressed, and I said it out loud. Stress is a joy killer, and God says in Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” How do we obtain the fruit of the Spirit? I believe the answer lies in just a few chapters before, in Galatians 3:17-19, it says, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
As Christians, we have asked Jesus to dwell in our hearts. With his very presence abiding in us, we have the availability to receive what the word of God promises us. I pray that you are able to grasp these truths and begin to walk in such joy that our homes are filled with the fruits of the spirit more and more each day, each moment.
I believe this is a season that we can learn to cast our cares, and all of our burdens on the Lord…in Psalm 55:22 it says, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
- Jennifer G.
