Carry each other’s burdens

This Blog was orginally posted on Round Farmhouse Ministries

Galatians 6:2  

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

I recently rearranged my house.  I switched two rooms… the dining room and the living room. I had everything in place.  All that was left was to move a loveseat from our family room to the old dining room and I would have a new sitting area with a sunroom feel!

Being an “I need to do this now” kinda girl, I decided I could move this loveseat all by myself. I moved the loveseat through the family room, the kitchen, and almost to its new home.  I was 5 feet away, and all I needed was one more push, and I’d be done. 

The problem was, I didn’t know the loveseat was too wide to fit through the door between the rooms.  I tried and tried. I turned it.  I flipped it.  I pushed it.  I tried everything to make it work, but I knew it in my heart… it was stuck.  I was now going to need to call for some help or give up and put the loveseat back.  It made me sad because I wanted to do this on my own, but I knew I needed to swallow my pride and ask for help.  Once I asked for help, the job was finished in minutes.  All that was needed was to bring the loveseat through a different door. 

If I am honest, it can be like this in my prayer life, too.  I pray and pray for the things I need God to answer.  I become so weary.  I feel stuck and can’t get through to the answer I need.   What can I do?  Do I give up, quit praying, and forget about how I need God to move in my situation? 

No, I ask for help. God never intended for us to live life alone.  He wants us to live in a community, carrying each other’s burdens. Satan likes to whisper you are alone and you can’t share your problems with one another. That my friends, is a lie.
We need friends to help us.   I like to call my close friends my “mat carriers”.   I have always loved the story of the friends that lowered their brother through the ceiling to get in front of Jesus. The need was great for the paralytic and he couldn’t get his need to Jesus alone.  He needed mat carriers that would lower him to the Lord.

Friends, we need that too. What problem are you lowering through the ceiling to get in front of Jesus?  Who can you ask to partner with you to make it happen?  We all need “mat carriers”… friends that will stop at nothing to help you .  

Make a list today.  Call those on your list and ask them if they will be your mat carriers.  Start a text chain where you share daily concerns.  Have a weekly meeting time where you can get together and pray for one another. 

I was thankful that day that I had people to call on to get me unstuck in my furniture moving, but I am ever so grateful that I have mat carriers that I can call on to push my prayers through when I don’t have the strength to do it alone.