The other day I woke up feeling restless and decided to go on a morning walk with one of my teammates. For the past couple of days my mood had been off – things that I would typically shrug off felt heavy…a cloud looming over me as I went through the day. While walking down the road I saw a little girl carrying a large bag full of cabbage behind her grandmother. The grandmother was carrying her own load in a wheelbarrow at a quick pace. As they walked, the grandaughter started to fall behind. She continued to slip further and further behind as she struggled to carry the weight. When she was about 40 yards behind her grandmother, I caught up to her. I felt compassion for her and troubled as she continued to drop the bag, pick it up, and keep pressing on. Once I was alongside her, I asked if she’d like me to carry the load for a little while to give her a break, and to help her catch up. She nodded yes and handed it to me. We walked together for a bit and then ran to catch up to her grandmother. When we reached her grandmother, I handed the bag back to her and they continued on. Such a simple encounter, but as I watched them walk away I couldn’t help but relate this experience to my relationship with God.
When I’m struggling to carry a burden of my own, the Lord does not delight in my suffering. He sometimes even removes it for a little while to give me rest, but then gives it back so I can persevere—He allows me to continue carrying it so I can grow stronger in areas where I am weak. Although He doesn’t completely remove the burden from me, He gives me His strength to press on. He is my refuge. He walks behind, before, and alongside me rooting me on. In time, hardships becomes easier to bear as I learn how to carry the weight and my endurance increases.
God doesn’t leave us on our own during hard times. He loves us deeply, and just as I felt compassion and pity for the little girl, so He feels for us…but He allows us to deal with difficulties because He knows that in the end they are good for us. Personally, I don’t usually like when God won’t remove my problems from me! But I can’t argue that the hardest moments in my life have produced the greatest amount of personal growth within me.
On the World Race I’m learning that the Lord often speaks to me when I’m observing the interactions of those around me. The empathy I’ve felt for the people of Lesotho and Swaziland has been overwhelming. These simple encounters refresh my soul. My prayer is that God would continue to enable me to see through His eyes as I walk through the rest of this journey.
“…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3
