Did you know that at training camp I have to hike 3 miles in 50 minutes with my 65 liter backpack?
Did you know that I will also be living out of that same 65 liter backpack for the next year on the race?
It will hold all my belongings for the next 11 months. It will hold my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping liner, sleeping pad, all of my clothes, and anything else I can fit that’s needed for the trip.
I’ve started training for the 3 mile hike a few weeks ago, and let me just say… It’s harder than I thought. Sometimes I feel as though I will never pass the 3 miles in 50 minutes hike with my pack, and then I won’t be able to go on the race. This fear has consumed my mind for the past two weeks.
While I was walking with my pack two weeks ago, I began thinking about how much stuff I have to carry in this bag, and how heavy this bag will be. I then began to think about how heavy and hard things have been on my heart these past two months. I could pull aimless things out of the bag that I’ve been experienced these past two months:
- I didn’t get hired for a job because of the Worldrace.
- I’ve struggled with honoring God in all I say and do.
- I’ve struggled with depressive thoughts.
- I’ve struggled handling the stresses of family burdens.
- It’s been hard balancing rest, family time, friend time, God time, and work time.
- I’ve had a hard time with anxiety and getting all that I need to get done before training camp.
- I’ve worried that I won’t make any friends at training camp & that I won’t pass the 3 miles in 50 minutes hike.
I would consider these things to be the weight that I am carrying; the Baggage I have. We all have baggage in our lives. Baggage can be considered any of the following: past hurts, emotional pain, worry/stress, financial worries, family problems, comparison, grudges, burdens, medical concerns. It’s the things that we are carrying and that we put in our bags. We live in baggage, not realizing the weight it has on our life. Not realizing that we can give that weight over to God.
Growing up, I used to be a swimmer, and as a swimmer, we were constantly practicing to get better. Each week we would practice our dives. When we would practice our dives, our goal was to work on our breathing. We were asked to hold our breath until we came to the red line on the lane lines. Struggling with athletic induced asthma all my life, this task was difficult for me. But one of the keys to becoming a good or “better” swimmer was being able to manage your breathing. The least amount of breaths you took, the quicker your speed usually was. When I think about my races as a swimmer, I think about how out of breath I would be when I was done. The first breath I took when I came up out of the water after a race, was so refreshing. I could breathe again!
I truly believe that my swimming days can relate to the baggage I was talking about before. When a person goes under water to see how long they can hold their breath, they usually come up because they can’t breathe. When they come up to the surface of the water, the lungs get oxygen and become relieved. This sort of how I felt after swimming a race. I like to picture God with our baggage/weight in the same way. When we are overwhelmed by the weight in our lives, we can give all that weight that we have put in our” backpacks over to God, and find relief. When we do that, the weight is lifted off our shoulders.
Give it all to God and find peace and rest knowing he has you and will help you through that weight. Giving things over to God doesn’t mean that things will instantly become easier. We might have to work through some of our baggage from the past. And that can be painful. But when you give those past hurts over to God, you can have the reassurance that God is walking with you through it. Sometimes the weight of life’s problems can be too heavy for us to handle on our own. But when we give that weight over to him, there is this overwhelming sense of peace that can consume you.
Matthew 11:28-30 says:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”.
A yoke is a heavy wooden hardness that fits over the shoulder of an ox or an oxen. It is attached to a piece of equipment that oxen use to pull. Just like the ox pulls the equipment, we all have “weight” and burdens that we carry. But Jesus frees us from all of these burdens. We can have complete rest in him knowing that God has us even in the responsibilities that weight us down. Mathew 28 reminds us that when life’s burdens seem too heavy, we are to go to God. And in Him we can find rest amidst the heavy burdens that we carry.
In just 6 short days I will meet my entire team at training camp, and to be honest I’m REALLY nervous. But I’ve been learning that I can’t carry all this weight on my own. The stress, my mess: I have to learn to give it to God. Telling him my fears, praying for help, and allowing him to hold my hand all the way. Because If I’m being honest, I can’t do this alone. It’s too hard, the weight is too heavy. Life is unbearable with Christ. He is my strength when I don’t feel I can move forward. And when I feel life’s burdens, I can find rest by bringing by burdens to him.
There’s a lot I still have to give over to God. I’m learning that over and over again in this season of life. But I’m learning to give things over to God, and allow him to walk through the highs and the lows of life with me. I encourage you, my brothers and sisters, to do the same.
Don’t do it on your own.
The weight you are feeling, give it over to God.
Because without God, the burdens is too heavy.
