Time when normal life is challenged by allergies.  As I sit here and type this one of my sole reasons is to distract myself from the intense attack that I am in right now.  My eyes are so inflamed.  And what set them off?  Not the outdoor allergies, but rather peeling a jicama and then inadvertently touching my eyes.  Now, since by body was already overloaded and taxed this extra allergen has triggered a full-fledge breakdown.  If I hadn't been in a state of allergy overload already my body simply would have dealt with the allergen in the jicama,, had a mild flare-up, and been done.  The jicama was the last straw.

Isn't that how life is?  It is so easy to allow burdens to accumulate over time.  When we keep adding them slowly we can become immune to the strain they are causing on ourselves.  In fact, it is easy to overlook that we are adding burdens to our lives.  And then, something out of the blue, something that isn't a huge burden or crisis comes around and it sends us into a tailspin.  It unleashes all the emotions that were stuffed down. Ignored.

Our Savior tells us to cast our cares on Him.  In the beginning, it can seem all to easy to ignore the anxiety in our hearts.  We hide it with humor, food, avoidance, and disbelief.  Time and time again, burdens that wear us are ignored and not brought to the Savior's feet.  And then what?  Then comes the jicama moment...when a seemingly small incident is the catalyst for a breakdown.  Jesus wants us to sit at His feet daily.  He desires relationship with us.  If daily I pray and release my anxiety, worries, and fears to Him then, in essence, I am releasing some of the load to Him.

Sitting in anxiety, anger, fear, bitterness, worry, and despair divert our lives from being lives of abundance and purpose.  Each of those emotions wears away at our time and frame of mind.  Each brings us closer to a breakdown, a melting point moment.  Each shades our views, and blinds us from the truth. It is like dwelling in the pit just as Beth Moore describes in "Get Out of That Pit."   Life is not about living in distress, it is about living.  Living alive, living aware, living for Christ.  He tells us in the Psalms, "The Lord is near to all who call on him." (Psalm 145:18)  He is near, He is there.  Hope and life comes from Him.  The same Jesus who wants all of my negativity, all of my emotion.  "My hope comes from Him." (Psalm 62.:5)   Giving up the burdens, the worries, and the emotions is a tough choice.  So many times, I believe, there is fear in letting go.  Fear in being forgotten, in change, in no change, fear in being hurt.  Letting go and moving forward is a choice.  We can choose to live trapped in our worries or we can choose to walk this life with Jesus helping to carry them.

Maybe in the beginning, it's best to let go of them bit by bit.  Releasing worries to Jesus is a discipline.  It isn't a one time statement, "I give it all to you Jesus."  Rather, it is a daily, and hourly, and sometimes a statement that is continuously uttered.  "Jesus, help me have faith now, " or "Jesus, take this burden, this fear from me.  Replace it with the peace and hope that can only be found in you, " or "Jesus, I need you now.  I need you to step in, to redeem this situation."  The list could go on and on.  But, the point is that there is an active recoginition that we need to release those fears and burdens to Him.

As I finish typing this (and need to get back to teaching History) my eyes are feeling a bit better.  Not great, but better.  I am praying that your journey is just a little bit lighter today, and that your mind is filled with hope and peace. And that if you were weighed down with worries that you, too, are feeling a bit better.

Rachel