Hope for the Weary Heart

I have talked to many people recently who are experiencing weariness from living in this confused and chaotic world. I hear comments like, "I just want to go Home (to Heaven)," and "I'm so tired of all the difficulties and drama." I can totally relate!

As is often the case, the Lord provided a Word, fitly spoken, to address this weariness that feels heavy and dark. Sunday morning, at church, one of our associate pastors delivered a very timely sermon about Hebrews 12:1-4.

This is what it says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;"

In a nutshell, the writer of Hebrews is telling his audience (the Hebrew Christians) and us (readers of the Bible), that when we feel weary we can remember all the great examples of people of faith that came before us. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham, and many others discussed in Hebrews chapter 11 are models that we can recall when we need to be reminded that it IS possible to continue to run our race of faith in God, even when we feel like we are losing heart and strength.

How do we run this very difficult race of faith? By laying aside every encumbrance and sin. Not only does sin stumble us, but even burdens, hobbies, business goals, and challenging relationships can create additional weight. When we think of a marathon runner, we know that they will do best when they have only lightweight shorts and a shirt to "carry". If they are carrying anything that weighs them down, it will slow them down and encumber them.

Like the successful runner, we can lay aside (set aside) encumbrances and sin so that we can continue to run our race of faith. HOW?!! How do we lay these aside? As we read on through these verses in Hebrews 12, we see that we are instructed to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We are reminded that Jesus carried all the weight and burdens of our sin and sinful nature when he resisted sin to the point of shedding blood when He was crucified.

As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I learned and utilized a cognitive therapy tool known as thought replacement. Whenever a negative thought pops up, we become aware of it, call out the lies or distortions in our negative thought, and then we replace it with a more truthful and positive thought. This is similar to the instructions to "fix our eyes on Jesus". Instead of allowing the weariness, the hopelessness, and the fatigue to run our thoughts, we take each thought captive and align our thinking with God's truths.

We can boil it down to something even more simple than cognitive therapy. It comes down to being aware and intentional to realign our thoughts with and place our focus on Jesus Christ. Whenever we catch ourselves focusing on the problems, we simply call out to Jesus and ask Him to help us focus on Him, His strength, His power, His perfect plan that will one day be revealed to us when we are with Him in Heaven.

Here is my challenge to you, a little "homework" if you will. Start a new habit by checking in on your thoughts and your focus four times a day. In the morning when you first arise - realign your thoughts and focus on Jesus. At lunch, do it again. At dinner, refocus on Jesus. Finally, do it again before you drift off to sleep. This new habit will make a difference over the days, weeks, and months to come. It will become easier and easier for you to work through really difficult emotions more quickly.

If you are really struggling with some burdens and obstacles that you would like to talk through and come up with a personalized strategy for overcoming soul-weariness, I do have a couple of Faith-Based Life Coaching openings in my schedule. Don't struggle alone, reach out and request a free 15 minute consultation to talk through your needs to see if my coaching sessions might be a good fit for you. The link for this consultation is here: https://sherryjoycollier.com/pages/coaching-services