Good morning…
Weakened by her two falls, two breaks in her femur, and her recent stroke, my 84-year-old mom is now struggling with COVID – congestion in her chest, fogginess in her mind, loss of taste and appetite. Today is Day #4 since she tested positive, and we hope to see a turn around soon. Today is also an important day in my mom’s recovery as she is scheduled for an x-ray to see if her second break has healed enough for her to return to weight-bearing physical therapy, which would allow insurance to kick in again, which would lighten the heavy financial burden my parents are now carrying for her extended stay in the skilled nursing care center.
The pressing needs of my mom and dad are not the only concerns on my personal prayer list today. Friends are also facing very challenging situations.
- One husband is hospitalized for a life-threatening infection.
- Others are enduring cancer treatment, scans, waiting with hope for positive results.
- An ER visit for excruciating pain reveals the progressive effects of dementia with the increased need for hospice care.
- A close friend is processing the frightening highway pile up from which she walked away, while a 57 year old woman died in the car behind her.
- A few friends are supporting the dying process of pets they love so dearly.
- One family is planning a wedding in the minefield of greed, resentment, estrangement.
- A handful of friends are negotiating the obstacle course of divorce.
- Several friends are continuing to grieve the painful loss of loved ones, children, spouses, parents.
- Lifting our eyes from our individual lives, we see the devastation of war, poverty, injustice, gun violence, natural disasters, political polarization.
- The list goes on. God, our list goes on.
Lord, how do our private prayers do anything to soften the impact of all this suffering?
“It’s too much,” one friend texted yesterday. “It’s just too much.”
Jesus calmly offers a two step answer in Matthew 11:28-30 (AMPC).
- Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
- Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
We come. We learn. We share our pain and our prayers. Yoking ourselves to the living Lord, releasing our burdens, sharing our load, we allow God to do the heavy lifting as our souls find rest, step-by-Step, shoulder-to-Shoulder.
…Sue…
P.S. Just before I pushed “send” on this morning message, my friend reached out from the hospital.
“On the elevator doors on the first floor,” she texted the empowering image below.
Intimately connected to our risen Lord, God’s mysterious mercy lifts us up when we feel weighed down.
