Recently, I saw a statue at the corner of a nearby cemetery and I walked over to have a closer look. It was a statue of Jesus with outstretched arms and the words inscribed were Jesus’ invitation from Matthew 11:28, “COME TO ME ALL YOU WHO ARE BURDENED WITH LIFE AND I WILL REFRESH YOU.” Each of us has burdens that we are carrying. We can receive this invitation from Jesus in a very personal way. We can know that Jesus is intently aware of what is happening in our lives right now. There are many reasons that we may feel burdened with life. There are circumstances for our families and with friends that trouble us. Health issues that are beyond our control can seem an overwhelming burden that weighs us down. The weight of our unstable world and the longing for peace is also a heavy burden to bear. Our heartfelt prayers that we have not yet seen answers for can seem an unbearable burden. I found that these words of Jesus touched my heart and I felt my burdens lifted and my soul refreshed. How is it that we know that Jesus is available to care, to help us and to refresh us, yet often we do not reach out to Him for what he is ready and willing to provide? Today we can be reminded of the compassion that He has for us. We can know that Jesus understands in ways that no one else can what we are carrying and how it is affecting us. This week’s WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow March 30th at 1 pm can be our time to choose to bring our burdens to our Lord and to receive a deep refreshment that Jesus wants to give us.
Longing for each of us to come to Jesus for refreshment, Pastor Lola
Thank You God for the intensity of Your love and care for us expressed by Your Son Jesus. Thank You for ways that You arrange to remind us of what we already know to be true. We do know that we can come freely to You when we are burdened with life. The fact that You recognize our burdens and invite us to come to You with them affirms that You are One Whom we can trust completely. Sometimes others grow tired of hearing about our problems, but You do not. We do not have to pretend to be okay with You God. We can openly admit that life has become too much for us. We can come close to You to tell You exactly how we feel. When we wonder how we will go on, You are there to reassure and to help us. We do not want to delay for another moment. Here we are coming to You with all the things that have overwhelmed and burdened us. We had not realized just how much we were carrying until we came to set it down at Your feet. We do not want to pick this up to keep on carrying it. Our prayer is that this can be a decisive time of handing over to You every fear, every need, every responsibility. When You have refreshed us before, we have been given strength for the day and we seek that again. Your gift of refreshment comes to us as a huge relief. We rest in Your abiding Presence that promises to maintain the refreshment of our souls and not have it just be a temporary answer. No One else can be the answer that You are Lord. We cannot trust anyone else the way that we can trust You. And our God, even as we realize how much we need to be able to depend on You and to find refreshment with You, we do want Your gift of refreshment to be received by others. We name before You now people whom we are praying for at this time and pray that they will come to you with their burdens and find their rest and refreshment with You. Our thoughts turn now to those who are young and are wondering what will happen next in our world. Many of these young individuals are wondering how to handle all the uncertainty. Our prayer is that people of all ages will come to You and receive Your refreshment. May we be examples of those Who know that we do not have to shoulder our burdens by ourselves. Our LORD, there continue to be many reasons that we need to turn to You. We are grateful that as many times as we come, the invitation is still open. We want to be aware in days to come that You never tire of having us come to You for the loving refreshment that You willingly provide. We will continue to look to You for refreshment for our souls as we pray in Jesus’ Name. AMEN