Life Wearing a Weighted Vest (written 4/23- Phillipines)
Lately I’ve been feeling like my mind, body and spirit have been wearing a weighted vest. Like a vest I can’t take off, I can’t get it off, I can’t shake it off. I feel the weight of all that holds me down. It’s so heavy. I want to be free of this burden so that I can walk in the freedom the way God my Father intended when He made me. But all the weight of my fears and insecurities feel impossibly heavy. It’s like I can’t get the weight off of me.
Lord, I surrender this burden to You. You’re the only one who’s “yoke is light”. You can hold all I carry and more. Keep taking this weight off of me.
It’s even been showing in my physical body. My back has been hurting, I have no energy to get up, stand up even. I know my body needs activity- an object at rest stays at rest while an object in motion stays in motion.
But I feel as though my shoes are full of concrete and I’m trudging through sand. My lungs are in constant need of more air. The pressure of the weight holds me down in all ways.
But I’m ready to break free. Put a stick of dynamite under me. Break my chains, Jesus.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Hebrews 12:1
Then I had this thought: maybe the weighted vest I feel is similar to how I’ve felt doing workouts at home. Plyo box jumps to the 12 inch box with the vest on makes box jumps to the 18 inch without the vest on a breeze.
Lord, if You’re training me while this weight is on me, give me strength and vision to push through. I want to gain the wisdom and stamina to race well. Hold me up as I build my mental, physical and spiritual muscles. Help me to find joy in the journey, especially during difficult times.
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
1 Cor. 9:25
“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Tim. 3:16
“The Lord sets prisoners free.”
Psalm 146:7b
“Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
John 8:32
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:18
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”
Romans 6:22
“To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father- to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 1:5b-6
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Romans 8:20-21
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Cor. 3:17
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1
THROW OFF AND BE FREE!!
