Cast Your Cares

I went to my bi-weekly Mom's Group meeting this morning where our Pastor's wife was speaking. She was sharing about not being easily offended by things other people say and do. She explained how she would sometimes get offended about things that didn't even happen to her, but to her daughters. When the girls would come home upset about an offense, they would cry & unload it on her, and then they would go about their business and be fine, while she would remain bothered.

Although her point was on not being offended, I was hearing the Lord speak to my spirit about something altogether different. As I listened, I was getting a picture in my mind of how we are to lay our burdens on the Lord.

Just like her daughter's who would feel better after they'd expressed their feelings & discussed their problems with their mother and then felt released, this is what Jesus wants us to do with Him - talk to Him about the things that are bothering us, and then leave our cares & burdens at His feet. After spending time in prayer with our Savior, we should walk away feeling lighter & free. If we pray and still feel anxious, it's usually a pretty good sign that we have just spent time "venting" to the Lord, but not really praying & believing that He is willing and able to hear and answer our prayer...we haven't left our request at His feet, but instead, we've carried it with us.

Next, I was thinking how this same scenario doesn't work as well when we as adults share with one another, like it does when a child talks to their parent. I think one reason why is because we come across as complaining to one another, not really believing that the person we're sharing with has any authority or ability to help us in our circumstances. It's merely a "misery loves company" type encounter. Whereas the child trusts that the parent can help, by either giving advice, comfort, or handling the situation outright, depending on what the case might be.


I am learning that I should go straight to my Heavenly Father, the only one with the power to do something about my problem. If I go to my friends & family first, all I'm able to gain is sympathy as I focus on the circumstance, and not keeping my eyes on Jesus.

The Bible says in Psalm 121:1-2 "I will lift my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth".

Our help comes from the same one who made us, and the only one who can handle anything we give Him!

Don't get me wrong - I'm thankful for my friends & family who I often share my burdens with, but usually so they can pray for me. I know that many times God will use someone in your life to speak into your circumstances and give you wisdom, or will be used to bring healing to an area of brokenness. But such times are ordained by God Himself, not orchestrated by us trying to lay our burdens on people in and of ourselves.

The next time you have a burden, don't automatically pick up the phone, or go to your email, or to that next "church meeting" with the purpose of laying it down with your friends & family...take it to the Lord in prayer, and leave it with Him.

Here are a couple of (well known or "reminder") Bible verses to reflect on:

1 Peter 5:7 "cast all your cares upon him, for He cares for you."

Matt. 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Who's Telling the Truth?

Hello Blogging friends,

I have been a busy bee lately, Spring cleaning my house in the Fall. While going through my desk drawer, I ran across this poem I wrote in June 1999 and wanted to it share it with you.

Who's Telling the Truth?

The world says, "Get ahead, no matter what the cost"
Jesus says "become a servant, as an example to the lost"

The world says "any religion is basically okay"
Jesus says "beware of false teachers, for I am the only way"

The world says, "live life to the full, it's all about having fun"
Jesus says "we're just passing through, meanwhile, there's work to be done"

The world says "no matter what you do wrong, surely you're not to blame"

Jesus says "confess that sin and I'll forgive and take away your shame"

I say "weigh the truth for yourself before anymore time goes by,
for eternity is way to long to take a chance on a lie."

Remove The Stone by Tony Evans

A friend of mine sent this to me this morning & it blessed me so much, I thought I'd share it with you all.



Have you ever been in a situation where things fell apart after you went to Jesus? Have you ever experienced a death? Not just a physical death, because death is essentially a loss. Have you ever experienced a deep loss of any kind? Stuff started to get sick, and then it just died. You have this plan for your life. You had a hope. You thought that things were going to fall right into place. But not only did they not fall into place, they died.

If you have ever been in a situation like that, then you know exactly what Martha and Mary were experiencing when they got caught between a rock and a hard place in John 11. Lazarus was sick. Martha and Mary reach out to Jesus for help. Jesus sends back hope. Lazarus dies.

Martha had told Jesus that she believed He was the resurrection and the life (v. 27). She had then run to tell Mary that Jesus had come.

Now Mary, seeing Jesus, falls at His feet and says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 32). John reports that when Jesus “saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see’” (vv. 33-34).

Then, John writes, “Jesus wept” (11:35).

The next part of the passage contains potentially the most revolutionary spiritual truth you could ever learn for your daily living. It can sustain you when you’re caught between a rock and a hard place. We read: “So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Remove the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days’” (vv. 38-39).

Jesus makes a simple request, “Remove the stone.” Martha interrupts to let Jesus know that what He is asking isn’t practical. She lets Jesus know that what He is asking isn’t logical. It makes no biological sense.

When God puts you or me between a rock and a hard place, He will often make a request that makes absolutely no sense. His request to the mourners is not logical. Lazarus is literally between a rock and a hard place. Lazarus is literally behind a stone. Jesus asks the mourners to remove the stone without giving them any more information.

Here’s the spiritual truth you can apply to your daily life: When God is getting ready to do something significant in your life that involves a deliverance from a situation gone bad, or a resurrection of a situation that has died, it will often include an illogical request. And I want to encourage you, when that happens, don’t go logical on God. What we often do with God in situations like that is debate the instruction. Just like Martha did. Jesus’ instruction to her was pretty simple, “Remove the stone.”

With God it’s not about logic. It’s about doing what He says to do in faith. Once you add human logic to the Word of God, you ignore the power of the Word of God in your situation.

Jesus doesn’t want to have a discussion about the stone He has told us to remove. He doesn’t want to know how big the stone is. He doesn’t want to know how long the stone has been there. He doesn’t even want to know how dead the dead is behind the stone. All Jesus wants you to do is remove the stone.

To experience the living Christ in your dead situation, belief must precede sight, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith precedes sight. One of the great verses in the Bible describes this situation. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). In other words, belief requires no empirical evidence to validate what you are doing. There is nothing to taste, smell, touch, hear, or see in order for you to believe. There is nothing that the five senses can grab because if there is, then that is no longer faith. You don’t have to see something to know that it’s real. But what you do have to do is act in faith.

God says the righteous “shall live by faith” (10:38). So how do you know when you have faith? You only know that you have faith when you remove the stone – when you do the thing that God has asked you to do. If you’re not doing the thing that He told you to do, then you’re not having faith. If you’re discussing it, you’re not at the point of faith yet; you’re at the point of discussion. If you’re thinking about it, you’re not at the point of faith yet; you’re at the point of thought.

You’re not at the point of faith until God sees that stone move.

What can you expect to happen when you remove the stone? Jesus told Martha that if she will believe, she will see the “glory of God.” The glory of God is seeing God manifest Himself in your situation.

God wants to make some dead scenarios come forth. He wants to make dead careers come alive once more. He wants to resurrect dead marriages.

Martha and Mary didn’t make life come forth. All they did was remove the stone at His word. Then He created a miracle.

Someone reading this needs a miracle. Something in your life has died, and you need God to call it back to life. Someone is trapped in an addiction. You’ve tried everything that you know to get out of it but it doesn’t seem to work. What you need is a resurrection.

God can take your dead and dying scenario and call forth a resurrection. He can take what looks like a rotting situation and give it new life. He’s just waiting for you to remove the stone. When we do what God says to do in faith, God is free to bring forth life.


(Adapted from Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Tony Evans. © 2010 by Anthony Evans, Moody Publishers.)