He Carries

For as long as I can remember, fear has been a part of my life. Fear and Worry. For me, those two words just blend into one another. I'm always worried, and in general, always afraid. I don't know why. I tend to think it's just the way I'm wired. But dang, don't you wish some days that you could change your wiring?

I'm a "What if..." kind of girl. I think everything through. I over-analyze. My brain categorizes what amount of fear to assign. Weird, but true. I lay in bed at night and re-work the worry again. Fear has been around me so long, it's now become my sidekick. I wear it like an accessory.

We all have that thing, that one thing (or two, or four), that's always with us. That thing we keep hidden from everyone else. We often try not to even acknowledge it, because we're afraid of giving it a voice. It may be fear, or it could be complacency. What if a lack of fear is equivalent to having too much of it? What if your thing is never feeling good enough? Or even thinking that no amount of you will ever measure up?

We are all carrying something. Aren't we? We all are plowing through despite what tries to hold us back. Big or small, heavy or light. We all carry. No one is immune. And just because the load you hold doesn't look like mine, doesn't make it any easier. We all carry.

But just this morning I had a thought. It's Christ centered. And I had this fear, because that's what I do. "What if I offend someone because I talked about Jesus?" But then my heart immediately responded, "What if you offend Jesus because you don't talk about Him enough?" Well said.

So, here's the thought-- the Lord carries with us. He takes that thing, that one, or four, we are carrying, and He holds it with us. He stands beside and lifts the heavy end of it. The fear, the worry, the hardness of our way does not dissipate, it does not disappear. It simple becomes easier to hold.

What if I looked at fear and worry not as something that owns me and surrounds me like a second skin? What if I looked at it through the Lord's eyes? Maybe He would whisper, "You are good enough. Now. Today. Just as you are, flaws and all. I will help you carry your burdens." If He can whisper that to me, then He definitely will whisper it to you. We just have to be still enough to hear it.

Whatever you carry. Let Him hold it with you. It just may make all the difference.