Carry One Another’s Burdens
“I thought I would have this figured out by now,” my shame-filled thoughts told me.
I struggled with it over a decade ago, and it has been subtly trying to rear it’s ugly head back up in my life. I tried to wrestle with my thoughts alone.
Think logically about this, Magen. Honestly, it’s ridiculous that you are struggling with this again.
But logic wasn’t helping.
The Holy Spirit was nudging me to bring someone into the struggle with me.
No, that’s embarrassing. I’ll just try harder to focus on Scripture and pray. I’ll use sheer willpower to get out of this head space.
Again the Spirit nudged to bring it to the light.
After an hour of ignoring these promptings, I finally wrote out a text to my mom and my sister.
“I’m being brave to text y’all because
I don’t want to fight alone…
Will you pray for me?”
I told them the lies I was believing and the thoughts racing through my head, and they began to pray. They entered into the space and fought beside me.
Bring it to the light
Relief rushed over me after bringing it to the light, along with a bolder strength to speak truth over the lies.
Galatians 6:2 came to life in a new way for me in those moments. It says,
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
My family came alongside me to help me shoulder the weight of the struggle I was facing.
That is the power of bringing others into our difficulties. We suddenly don’t feel alone in it, and it strengthens us to walk in victory.
Even science research confirms what this Scripture reveals.
“Social support serves to physically unburden people”
The University of Virginia did a study on the power of having people with you.
They found that when looking at a steep hill, those with a friend considered it far less steep than those who were alone.
The longer participants had known their friends, the less steep they perceived the hill to be.
“Social support serves to physically unburden people…in sum, social support appears to ‘lighten the load’ that individuals physically incite when facing challenging situations.”
Lighten the Load
Where might you need to bring others in to a struggle you are facing?
Will you be the friend that stands by someone’s side to help lighten their load?
We need people to walk with us through the hurt, the pain, the suffering and the temptations of life. We weren’t meant to do this life alone.
Lord, in your perfect design, you made us for
beautiful community to lighten our load.
We need your help to feel brave enough to
carry one another’s burdens. Would you grant us
the courage to build the type of friendships
where we can walk with each other in the difficulties,
remind each other of the truth of
your word, and build one another up?
Amen
