I’ve been collecting quotes, thoughts, poems, comments and such for years. When I find something that speaks to me, I keep it. Unfortunately, I didn’t always write down the source of the information. That is the case with the item I want to share today, so my apologies in advance for not being able to give appropriate credit to the woman who wrote this. I found this somewhere several years ago and think it fits well with my sabbatical blogging (is that an oxymoron?).

A woman called me a few weeks ago for council and was crying and heart broken…. her exact words were “Jeanette, I had to put my baby in disposable diapers!” I was taken back for a moment and then tried to comfort her. After talking with her for some time she and I realized that she had “collected boulders” (ideas) from others. I saw her as this hs mom under a ton of rocks laying on a dirt path. Gathering ideas (boulders)from others and not really making sure they are God’s ideas (for His burden is easy and his yoke is light) We become weakened spiritually and physically when we do this. She shared many other non salvation issues (dresses was one of them) that she had collected and just couldn’t carry any longer. I felt so bad for her.. to think that perhaps even I had passed boulders to people! Oh, this caused me to weep!

We have to be so very careful and remind others that what we do is simply what He is leading us in, at this moment in our lives. It is not to get to heaven with any better rank, in fact when I responded to this woman’s statement on the phone she was surprised. I said… “you know you’ll still go to heaven using disposable diapers don’t you?” She knew this with her head but somewhere she had forgotten it with her heart.

It is HIS grace that saved us ladies.. all the other details are simply us, individually, working our are salvation with fear and trembling. I praise God that He is a God of individuality, and has a plan to give us a future and a hope… but the specifics may be different in my home than they are yours.

It is also good for us to extend this grace to others who we “think” may be doing it wrong…this woman I spoke with felt very condemned by others and that she didn’t fit in with anyone if she didn’t do things like they did. She said things I disagreed with, personally, but I choose to love her not condemn her. She made a comment about my reactions to her and I gave her John 3:16-17.

It was love that brought salvation not rules.. rules showed us our need for a Savior!

A few weeks ago my husband put up a shed in our backyard. Within just a few days we had a skunk who had decided to take up residence there! So the past couple of weeks we have been dealing with getting rid of it/them. We’ve had two live traps out there and have caught all kinds of animals – raccoons, squirrels, birds, opossums and one skunk (so far!). We’ve let all of them go except the skunk who was relocated to a new home (very far away!) by the critter guy.

This morning there was an opossum in one of the cages. He looked very unhappy. My husband went out to free him, but he would not leave. He was angry and snarled at David, but even when David opened the trap door and walked away, he didn’t leave. He just sat there, staring at the back wall of the trap while the whole world was available to him through the open door just behind him.

As I stood watching that opossum from my office window, I thought – this is a profound example God is giving me from nature (as He so often does). How often do the Lord’s dear children continue to stare at the back wall of a trap they have been freed from rather than hightailing it to freedom through the door provided? Or, like the woman in the story above, how often do God’s dear FREE children pick up pebbles, stones, and boulders to shoulder that God never intended them to carry?

There are a lot of people who come to this blog who have never left a comment or emailed me so I can’t even begin to know all of the people behind the hit counter. I don’t know who you are, but someone out there today needs to hear anew of the freedom that comes in Christ. I didn’t intend to blog today, but felt compelled to do so because someone needs to hear this today. As a fellow believer who has taken up way too many boulders in the past and is learning to toss them away, my heart goes out to you. I am praying for you even though I don’t know who you are. May God bless you today with great freedom and peace.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)