Tag Archives: burdens

What’s Your Cross to Bear?

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I am convinced that each of us has a cross to bear in this life. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Jesus told the people of his day that if they didn’t pick up their cross and follow him, they couldn’t be one of his disciples.

And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27

What’s Our Cross?

It’s sometimes hard to know what he was talking about. It’s kind of confusing. How do we know what cross it is we’re supposed to bear? This thought is so familiar to us as Christians, and yet I’ve never really fully grasped what Jesus meant.

But the longer I’ve been a Christian and the longer I live this life, I have come to believe that each of us is given a cross to bear. Our crosses all look different, but I believe that God gives each of us something difficult in this life that we have to choose to pick up and carry every single day.

Something Different for Each of Us

For my daughter Macey, it’s type 1 diabetes. There is no cure, and she will have that disease for the rest of her life. For my mom, it’s a lifelong debilitating disease. For my husband and I, it’s been financial burden and the weight of a small church. My friend’s cross is being single for so many years and wanting so desperately to be married. For another friend of mine, it’s being stuck in a bad marriage. Another friend of mine faces debilitating mental health. I could go on and on. 

For each of us, it’s something different. But it’s our “thorn in the flesh,” just like Paul had. It’s something God gives us to keep us humble and keep us trusting in him. 

Jesus taught us that we have to pick up our cross every day to be a follower of him. How does that work? Why would he say that? Does he not love us?

The Answer to Why?

On the contrary, God knows if he gives us something that’s “our cross to bear” in this life, it will drive us to our knees every single day. We will have to depend on him. There’s no chance of making it through this life without him. 

There are so many questions we don’t have answers to this side of Heaven. Kay Warren says we should write those questions down and save them for Heaven one day. Your cross to bear—loss, a bad marriage, divorce, singleness, infertility, poverty, health problems, a wayward child, a blended family, being wronged…is one of those questions to ask God one day. I don’t have the answers. 

Encouragement from the Psalms

I think of the verses that the Psalmist writes in Psalm 77.

When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted.

And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

Psalm 77: 2, 11

From Hopelessness to Hopeful

You can feel the hopelessness, the sense that God doesn’t care, that he’s turned against us. But thankfully he doesn’t stop there.

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

Psalm 77:12

What was the answer to his desperation? To remember the things God has done in the past. That’s the same answer for us today. How do you pick up your cross every single day? How do you deal with whatever it is God has given you as your cross in this life? You remember what he did for you in the past. You focus on the fact that God got you through yesterday, and he will get you through today.

So you choose each day to pick up whatever it is God has given you to deal with in this life, and you choose to carry it, while following Jesus. And just maybe, lead some others to Jesus along the way.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, Handling Trials, or check out my book, The Hidden Pain.

When You Feel Like Quitting

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The Burden No One Sees

Do you ever feel like just quitting? I just wanted to write a quick note of encouragement to you as we head into the weekend. Most of us are going to wake up tomorrow, go to church, serve in various ministries, and be busy doing the work of the Lord. We all put on our game faces. We work hard on Sundays. We serve, we love on people, we give, we do our best to serve God to the best of our abilities.  But how many of us, beneath that exterior of smiling and serving, are carrying a huge burden? It’s a burden that not many people know about. It’s not something you talk about all the time, but it’s there. You have begged God to hear your prayer, but it just feels as if He doesn’t hear you. He certainly isn’t answering.

When You Feel Like Quitting

I feel your pain. I have been there; I am there. Sometimes it feels like it’s time to give up on that prayer. Maybe you feel like it’s time to walk away from it all- God, the church, your spouse, your dream, your job… I don’t know what your situation is, but I do know that it is too soon to quit. I don’t know your heartbreak, but I know the One Who does. You may feel like quitting, but I’m here to tell you- it’s too soon to quit! You have no idea how close you could be to God breaking through in your life and changing everything.

Don’t Quit

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit-

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a fellow turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man;

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor’s cup;

And he learned too late when the night came down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It might be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

~Anonymous

girl with her hands on her head

photo credit:
Pavel L.