I don't know about you, but as a mother of two, I’ve become really good at carrying around a lot of guilt. Do you feel responsible for every little thing that goes wrong in the lives of your family? As if maybe, if you believed a little harder, were together a little more yourself, you just might circumvent some of the struggles you’re dealing with?

Yeah, me, too. I’ve bought into that bag of lies for a long time. But God’s showing me a new direction lately. As I’ve shared earlier, my father’s death earlier this year put me on a path of “no fear.” God’s done some pretty amazing things in me on this journey. My confidence level has grown, and I take absolutely no credit for it. I surprise myself even.

Another area that I’ve struggled with is feeling responsible in some way for my youngest daughter’s struggle with school. She’s had a long history of school avoidance. Then add to that her ordeal and recovery with cancer last year, and the guilt just piles on.

We can listen to someone tell us logically that we’re not responsible for someone else’s struggle, but when it comes to your own child, that’s a hard truth to accept.

Unless it comes from God.

This issue is something I was praying about a few days ago, feeling again responsible and wondering if my own “hang ups” could be the cause of what this precious child is struggling with, too. Fear is such an ugly companion, stealing our strength and potential.

And in the quiet moments of this prayer time, I heard God say, “You didn’t cause this.”

I tell you the weight of this burden that flew off my shoulders was almost measurable and visible. God knew exactly what I needed to hear, knew the freedom I desperately sought. I’m learning that freedom and guild cannot co-exist.

Sometimes we take on burdens God never intended for us to carry. The salvation of our spouses is one of them. This is a burden God specifically sent his Son to carry. Completely.

Yes, we play a part in the process. And maybe that’s what’s so difficult for us. We want to relieve our loved ones of some of those pains in life, because we hate to see them struggle. We just want them to know God.

But what if those very struggles are there because God intended to use them to bring our loved one to the feet of Christ?

Right now I am watching my dear hubby in his own struggle to persevere in an area of his life that he wants to succeed in so very much. I can pray, but I can’t do this for him. Whatever comes of it all, the struggle is his and one he has to walk through on his own.

I ache for him, but in the same gasp for breath to find relief, I see how Jesus is standing there, bringing down the walls of unbelief, piece by piece. In the midst of those barriers stands my husband with is back to Jesus, yet I see him peeking over his shoulder, not ready to turn but starting to wonder. I cling to this image in my prayers.

Look closely at the burdens you are clinging to. Ask God to show you if the ones you are carrying are meant to be yours. Christ came so that we could be free.

Let’s walk boldly and claim the freedom that Jesus sacrificed everything to give us. 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

Praying and believing,
Dineen