Three Burdens You Can Lay Down Today

burdens

 

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Hi, busy moms!

I’m in the book of Romans today—Romans 6:14, and I want to encourage you think with me about three burdens, three things that would be good for you to lay down.  First, let’s consider what the Apostle Paul had to say to the Roman people about sin that they carried:

Romans 6:14

New International Version (NIV)

14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

I’ve been noticing that I carry a few burdens with me that I don’t need to carry. There are three burdens that I have been thinking about lately … burdens that I don’t want to continue to carry with me.  The first one is the burden of being right.  This is a heavy one, isn’t it?  We want to be right.  It’s in our nature.

Have you ever been around someone who always has to be right?  It’s burdensome to keep up that appearance of knowing everything, and it’s habit-forming, too.  As moms, it’s easy to feel like we have to have all the right parenting advice or the best home-making skills—but here’s the thing: we don’t.  No one has all the answers, and a “know it all” soon finds herself carrying around a heavy burden.  It’s freeing to realize that we don’t have to have all the answers.

The next burden that we moms carry around is the burden of looking good. This is a tough one.  As moms, we want to look like we’ve got it all together—and the culture backs us up!  When was the last time you saw a mom in her yoga pants on the cover of a magazine when she wasn’t the object of ridicule?

I’ve been saying this for years to moms and I’ll keep saying it:  No one is encouraged when we appear to have it all together.  Why?  Because that’s not real!  No one has it all together.  Everyone struggles. We can encourage each other by being transparent enough to let His strength be seen.  And God’s strength, the Bible tells us, is made perfect in weakness.

If you feel weak, congratulations! You’re right where God can use you.  He wants to show you that as you rely on Him, you can overcome your weaknesses.  Don’t carry around the burden of looking good, busy mom!  Lay it down.

The last burden that we can lay down, thanks to the grace of God, is the burden of doing more. I wrote about this at length in my first book, The Busy Mom’s Guide to Romance.  As moms, we can easily take on too much.  Mothers are “pleasers” by nature.  Our role as caretakers quite often has us taking care of everyone around us and working hard to meet everyone else’s expectations—except God’s.

God wants wants us to take on His yoke.  He says in Matthew that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

We’ve glorified being busy.  Now I know that sounds funny coming from “The Busy Mom,” so let me tell you how I came to calling this blog “The Busy Mom.”  When I was a younger mom with all seven children at home and people would ask me “how are you?”, my first response was usually to say, “oh, you know, I’m busy!”

Being a mom is a busy occupation, isn’t it? And it’s not wrong to be busy.  Being busy is wrong when we’re busy doing the things we’re not supposed to be doing: in other words, busyness becomes a burden when we carry the wrong yoke.  Carrying the wrong yoke eventually leads to failure because we find ourselves burned out and often angry and tired.

Sometimes, fear of failure drives us to be too busy.  We say “yes” to that extra responsibility at the co-op when we know we can’t take anything else on, or we don’t get involved because we’re too comfortable, when God would have us serve.  The key is to be listening to God’s “still small voice” so that we make our decisions with His direction.

You don’t need to have all the answers, busy mom.  Something wonderful happens when learn to live our lives and teach our children out of the joy of imperfection! Isn’t that awesome!  We can express joy and grace out of imperfection! Thank God that He sees our weaknesses and wants us to find victory from our burdens by leaning into Him and trusting Him.

Because of God’s grace, sin does not have power over us.  Amazing things happen when lay down our burdens and ask the Lord to lift us up.

Lay down your burdens and find rest,
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Heidi St John Firmly Planted Family Devotional For All Ages

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About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

One thought on “Three Burdens You Can Lay Down Today

  1. Karen

    Thank you so much for writing this!! God is teaching me new ways each day to grow closer to Him. I have had lots of struggles lately and it is in those struggles that God has been calling me to reach out to Him and let Him help me. I am not one to ask for help so this was a big one for me. Reaching out to our Blessed Mother has also been a blessing. Asking for her protection and guidance throughout my day has not only brought me peace, but peace to our home. His love is AMAZING!!!

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