Do you
ever get trapped on repeat when it comes to miserable emotions or obsessive
thoughts? How do you break free? Jesus!
Isn’t He the only answer? Yet
sometimes it is hard to find the path to the freedom He promises.
Matthew
11:28-30 says: “Come to
me, all 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. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.” Rest for your soul
is an inviting place to be. Like the
constant scratch in the grove of a broken record your thoughts or emotions keep
you from experiencing rest in your soul.
There is no music.
Yet it is
your soul that will set you free. You
can find rest for your soul when you invite your soul to show you what you need
to keep and what you need to leave behind.
What is keeping you from rest for your soul? Is it an emotion like anger, hurt, betrayal? Is it a thought that nothing will ever get
better?
Ask
yourself: “What good and hard lesson can I discover from this unwanted emotion
or thought?” Ask Jesus to show you why
you won’t let go of the negative thought or emotion. Why are you so afraid to let go of something so
destructive? Invite Him to guide, direct
and heal you. Jesus knows that our lives
are full of legitimate and harsh realities that create chaotic emotions and
negative thoughts. He knows that we are
weary and burdened. It doesn’t matter
what burdens or wearies us; the solution is the same. Jesus asks us to take His yoke and learn from
Him in order to find rest for our souls.
What do we learn? We learn that
this life is wearying and burdensome.
Most of us find a way to overcome that reality with our own thoughts and
emotional control. But there are times
when we get to the end of ourselves and Jesus is there. He was there all along, but He never abandons
us when our burdens and weariness overwhelm us.
Rest for our souls is available.
Rest is
found in the soul that come to Jesus. A
focus on Jesus helps us release the power the emotions and thoughts have to entrap
and disturb us. I’ve been reading the
book Boundaries for Your Soul by Cook and Miller in which these two
therapists guide readers through the process of finding rest for our
souls. The back cover says: “Boundaries
for Your Soul shows you how to calm the chaos within. This groundbreaking approach will help you know
what to do when you feel overwhelmed, understand your guilt, anxiety, sadness,
and fear, welcome God into the troubling parts of your soul, and move from
doubt and conflict to confidence and peace.”
I
never thought that my soul needed boundaries, but reading the book does makes
sense. It reminded me of Jesus’
invitation to find rest for my soul. “When my heart is
overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2).”
Copyright © 2018.
Deborah R. Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com
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