They will soar on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31)

This is one of my favorite bible verses. Burdens can be so difficult. And a burden for one may not be a burden for another.  In the last few years my primary burden has been worry for my children.  Watching their lives unfold in less than favorable ways has been so painful.  I want to make everything better and easy for them, but know that God has plans for their life just as He has for mine.  It's not always easy.  I continually strive to love them like Christ, but to let Him carry them and not let worry burden me.  Admittedly, I've done a poor job a lot of the time.  I continually hand them over to Him and then take them back just to turn around and hand them back again.  In the end, I know that Jesus loves them both so much more than I could ever.  I know that as each one turns his/her life over to Him their troubles may not disappear, but He will give them wings like eagles so they may soar.

Many days the burden of worry I feel for my children, especially my son as addiction has tried to take his life more than once, is completely debilitating.  I feel as though its going to kill me.  It takes every ounce of strength I have to get through the day.  I cling to verses such as...

Matthew 18:12-14  What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Philippians 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 56:8  You keep track of all my sorrows.  You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book.

Job 16:21  On behalf of a man, He pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

There is a fable about the way birds first got their wings. The story goes that initially they were made without them. Then God made the wings, set them down before the wingless birds, and said to them,"Take up these burdens and carry them."

The birds had sweet voices for singing, and lovely feathers that glistened in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. When asked to pick up the burdens that lay at their feet, they hesitated at first. Yet soon they obeyed, picked up the wings with their beaks, and set them on their shoulders to carry them.

For a short time the load seemed heavy and difficult to bear, but soon, as they continued to carry the burden and to fold the wings over their hearts, the wings grew attached to their little bodies. They quickly discovered how to use them and were lifted by the wings high into the air. The weights had become wings.

This is a parable for us. We are the wingless birds, and our duties and tasks are the wings God uses to lift us up and carry us heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and try to run from them, but if we will carry them and tie them to our hearts, they will become wings. And on them we can then rise and soar toward God.

There is no burden so heavy that when lifted cheerfully with love in our hearts will not become a blessing to us. God intends for our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to carry a load is to miss a new opportunity for growth. J. R. Miller

No matter how overwhelming, any burden God has lovingly placed with His own hands on our shoulders is a blessing. 

Taken from the Streams in the Desert Devotional.

In the past few months God has allowed me a new burden.  The burden of Stage 4 Lung Cancer with metastases.  Funny, as I face this ‘burden’ I seem to carry it easier than I do the worry about my family and children.  I think its because I have no fear of death.  My faith is so completely secure in Christ and the fact that I will spend eternity worshiping him.  I am reminded that it is that same faith that gives me so many promises for my children and loved ones.  I work each day to perfect my faith in the one who loves like no other. Well, I guess no one is perfect (only Christ), right?  I’ll keep working on this - what are you working on?

p.s. holding steady on the cancer front.  spent last week in hatteras with Rich, Lilli and some friends and we all came home with our limbs attached - no shark bites for us!