Devotional & Scripture Card: Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

While meditating on this verse, I decided to do a quick word study on the words, "labor" and "laden." Let's take a look...

Labor: work hard; make great effort

Laden: burdened, weighed down, encumbered, overloaded, piled high, fully charged

Do these two words resonate with you? As a mother, I can recall many times where these words were a reality within my life, both in pregnancy and now as a mom.

Let's be honest, pregnancy, labor, and motherhood are not always easy. Motherhood is an incredible gift and full of endless joy, love, and purpose; however, it is not without its exhausting days and hard moments. Pregnancy can be tough. Some days you may be "glowing" and feeling like carrying this baby is so easy and natural and other days you may feel exhausted and overwhelmed. Labor is also difficult (it is called labor, after all). Labor can be long and exhausting and at times it can also be overwhelming. Then you reach the early days of motherhood. Sleep deprivation, a body that is still healing, hormone swings, and a total change of pace make for some difficult moments during this time.

So, what should we do when we are feeling weighed down, tired, and at our end? Jesus tells us to come to Him and HE will give you rest. What a promise! However, isn't it our nature to look at that promise and think, "Yeah, okay that sounds nice and poetic and all, but there is no way that it will actually happen. Not with what I am going through." We forget who is making this promise; it is not a caregiver, a family member, or your best friend, it is GOD! When God makes a promise, He upholds it. But, there is another side to this coin...you. This verse calls for personal action. In this verse, the Lord tells us to come to Him. This act takes intention and it is not always easy. To come to Christ requires you to humble yourself before your Creator, trusting Him more than your own intellect, reasoning, or doubt. To come to Christ requires you to drop everything and be still and quiet before your Father.

So, how do you do this? First of all, get in prayer. Talk to the Lord and pour yourself out before Him. Listen. Open your Bible and ask the Lord to speak to you through His Word. Quiet your soul and listen. Memorize scripture so that it is on your heart and in your mind for you to turn to during those tough moments.

It is important to remember that the rest that the Lord speaks of doesn’t always lead to physical rest. Resting in the Lord does not mean that your life will be free of physical difficulty or pain, but there will be a peace in your soul when you are fully resting in the Lord. No matter how hard or strenuous your life may be, when you are in a relationship with Christ there is a rest that we as His children experience from Him. Even when there is outer turmoil, there can be inner rest from and through the Lord.

So, lets talk about how this applies to you right now. Resting in the Lord does not mean that your pregnancy is going to go 100% smoothly, but it does mean that your soul and mind can turn from anxiety and doubt and rest in peace in the Lord knowing that He is in control. Resting in the Lord does not mean that your labor is going to be quick, easy, and painless, but when you rest in the Lord the fear of childbirth can disappear and be replaced with a confidence in the Lord’s provision and a sense of peace and joy knowing that your Father is watching over you and with you in that moment. Resting in the Lord does not mean that your newborn will miraculously stop crying and sleep peacefully for hours on end, but when you rest in the Lord your soul will be refreshed and you can approach parenting in this time of difficulty with patience, purpose, and love.

Your Father loves you so much and He wants to lead you more and more into that rest which He has promised His children. Strive to enter that rest. Put all distractions, doubts, and excuses aside and turn to Him. He will provide you rest. Even if that rest does not look like what you had envisioned, it is so much greater than any “rest” that we could ever achieve on our own. Find rest in your soul by coming to the Lord.

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