This is my story - part 3

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

This is the last part of "This Is My Story." It started sharing my first call to ministry when I was a child and how Jesus Christ has always his hands wide open to receive your children to bless them and pray for them here through his church. In part 2, we learned about the story of Josiah, that teaches us that no matter our age, God can call us to be an example to others, commit to our faith in God, and help others follow God's ways.

Jesus was in Capernaum, calling all those who were weary, those who thought that they couldn't continue anymore, that they were exhausted. Jesus also calls those who were carrying heavy burdens. These people felt tired, tired of having on their soul and their minds all their worries, problems, and decisions.

Can you imagine what worries and difficulties those people could have at that time? It could be suffering from the exhaustion of work, maybe trying to find a job that can provide food for their families, it also could be worried because their son or daughter was sick, and they don't know what to do anymore.I could imagine all those people experiencing a heavy burden that leads them to feel that they can’t do anything, that they are all alone, and nobody could help them take that heavy burden. We don't know the details of why they were weary and why they were carrying the burdens alone, but what we know is that Jesus saw them being under this condition.

Now, if you are one of them, carrying a heavy burden, and you have been under this condition alone. Can you feel the loneliness of dealing with these burdens on your own? Nobody knows nobody can help you, how would you feel about dealing with this alone?

When we talk about burdens, we talk about something that we have experience somehow; at some point in our lives, we have felt like those people as if we were carrying something on top of us everywhere we go.

The burdens can arrive when we least expected. It could come from others. Maybe someone put a burden on us, and even though we want to avoid it, it is there, and it doesn't go away. The burdens can also come as a consequence of our decisions. We make decisions every day, some can be resolved, and some end up on our shoulders.

These burdens may come because of struggles, exhaustion, health issues, decisions that could affect the future of our own family or others, finding a job that can provide for the family, the anxiety of living in a pandemic, and the uncertainty this could bring into our future. These burdens may also come by dealing with our families' problems. That has led to a separation of a marriage, sons that don't speak to us anymore. We can be struggling with the death of a family member. Forgiveness, our spiritual maturity, we can be having so many struggles in our daily lives.

Throughout my life, I have experience heavy burdens. When I was doing my undergrad degree, everything was doing well in my life when suddenly, a heavy burden came. I received a call from the doctor, giving me not good news. I felt like a heavy load came to my body that did not let me walk, breathe. The whole process was around six months, and in the last two months, I was so tired of dealing with this. During those months, even though I had the support of my family and my husband, Luis, my boyfriend at that time, I felt alone, more alone than ever.

And all those struggles, all those heavy burdens, all that exhaustion, weary, can lead us to feel alone. To feel that anything you do is not working, you are still alone and experiencing all those burdens alone and facing all those problems alone, going through a family separation alone, going through a health problem alone, facing everything alone.

After Jesus called those who were weary and carrying heavy burdens, he said: "I will give you rest." Jesus has offered them rest, rest of heavy burdens they were experiencing. Jesus was offering them to join his yoke. The most common yoke is built to be carried in pairs. They place one of the animals with more experience than the other, so the new animal does not have to take all the load by himself. In other words, Jesus is saying, let me go next to you and help you with your heavy stuff.

Jesus is saying that he has the experience of carrying the burdens. Because we aren't meant to take our yoke by ourselves, is with Jesus. Jesus is helping us to move forward, allowing us to walk. Now, if you are one of them, you are weary, carrying a heavy burden, and you have been under this condition alone. Suddenly, a man named Jesus appeared in front of you and said, "I will give you rest."

Can you imagine all those people feeling their burden lighter? Maybe feeling less weary? That feeling of relief can you feel it? Can you believe them saying, "I'm not alone anymore, Jesus is with me!" Sometimes we are loading our minds and souls with problems, eating our insides, and we can accumulate those burdens for so many years, but Jesus is offering them relief of those burdens, not to feel that heavy load, but a lighter one. Jesus offers them his yoke, to carry those burdens with them, so they face their struggles, but now not alone, and that is what gives them rest.

We see Jesus as the one that has the experience to carry our burdens. He is not only taking our burdens, but he helps us to move forward, he allows us to walk in our journey not alone, but with him. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7 says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."

Where are you leaving your burdens? Are you going to the wrong places to throw your burdens there? Jesus is present; he is already here; why don't we go to him? When I was facing my struggle, I felt alone even though I had the support of my family, so what I did was leaving Jesus my battle and letting him be with me with the whole health problem that I was facing. I have experienced many burdens since, but I felt relieved knowing that Jesus was with me and will continue to be with me carrying all the burdens that I may encounter in the future.

Sharing the heavy load, we could now feel lighter by sharing the weary. Jesus is offering us to leave every problem, every struggle, every burden to him. Jesus is offering us to come to him, not to face alone our burdens, but to carry them with him. And yes, it is in life that we will continue to find burdens, but also, it is in life where we find Jesus.

We have two options: we could be facing all this alone or with Jesus. I want to invite you to pray to that amazing God, take this moment to share all those struggles, all those burdens which are facing today. Tell him that you don't want to face all of those alone anymore, but with him.