Days feel heavy at the moment- the weight of the COVID pandemic has wrapped itself around our globe. Daily life remains altered as summer fades into autumn.Anxiety weighs us down. So do old regrets, failures & mistakes.
There’s an old song entitled ‘I am a new creation’ that talks of standing in God’s grace & having ‘a lightness in my spirit’:
‘A joy that knows no limit,
a lightness in my spirit
here in the grace of God I stand.’
(Dave Bilborough)
The lightness begins with our relationship with God through faith:
‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.’
(Rom 5:1-2)
How can lightness dispel heaviness?
We need to ‘Preach the Gospel to yourself’ We can leave the heaviness of sin with God for ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’
(Psalms 103:12 NIV)
‘God’s faithfulness is greater than your worst mistake, greatest regret or biggest blunder’
(Jennifer Rothschild)
We can look beyond our problems to God-He is Majestic & Magnificent -Lord over all yet Abba Father.
And God doesn’t want us to carry heavy burdens. We’ll feel lighter if we leave them with Him:
‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.’
(Psalms 55:22 NIV)
We can feel lighter by turning worries into prayers:
‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.’
(Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)
We can choose joy -This is much more than thinking happy thoughts
We can switch fear for trust
For,’perfect love drives out fear’
(1John 4:18 NIV)
When we trust God, we know this truth:
‘The truest thing about you is that you are the one whom Jesus truly loves.‘
(Sam Allberry)
And this brings lightness in our spirit.
Blessings,
Ruth x
Blessed! 