March 2, 2010 Worries and Burdens

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and as I look out my window this morning I see a red sky in the East. Is more snow coming? Today is Tuesday and that means it is schools day on the line, also today we need to pray for "Baby Allie". You do remember this dear sweet baby we prayed so hard for a couple of years back. Baby Allie is a beautiful special needs child with very loving parents. Today Baby Allie will be having eye surgery. I am going to see if we can get a new picture of this dear child to post online for all who pray for her to see. Also Allie's grandfather "Paul" needs prayers for cancer to be cured. Also on that cancer list is Ronald who has stage four cancer and is fully trusting God as we all are to have him healed and of course left here with us. Pray for his wife Donna also.

Yesterday as I wrote I asked people if they wished they could share some of their burdens so that we might go together this week and give them over to the Lord and try not to pick them up. For this, my friends, I am only using first names due to some of the sensitive nature of the burdens.

First to the Bridges where I pastor and Dolores leads the music... Since the turn of the year, just sixty days, we have lost 12, one dozen of our folks who reside there. There are two more that seem to be waiting to be called home. Please pray for God's will with Hilda and Ruth. Also pray for Ruth's husband William who fell and broke his hip... He is in the hospital.

We have several who had shared their burdens about weight... Martha, Barbara and this old man named Dan. It is also a burden... Also the guy named Dan got a bad report on his liver.

Also I was surprised at just how many people who have gone through or are presently going through the tough love of children some who are near fifty. One lady tells of her 47 year old son going through this since he was 16, and several came to me at the Bridges and told me of their kids. Still others have responded with similar burdens. I have withheld those names. I am sure you understand why. I know of others who have not responded this time but have shared the burden in the past.

Then we have those who are burdened right now because they really want to go to work and the jobs are just not there at this time, or at least not in the field. Brothers and sisters, please join me this week as I search out some scriptures that will give us comfort and hope, and please, we will try our hardest to by Friday give the burdens over to the Lord and let Him Carry them.

Worries and Burdens:
Psalm 68:19 - Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. (NIV)
Psalm 65:5 - You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. (NIV)
Psalm 68:6 - He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. 7 In your distress you called and I RESCUED YOU. I answered you out of a thundercloud!" (NIV)
Isaiah 10:27 - In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders. (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, God is good and God the Father sent His Son Jesus to the earth to save us from our sins, but it goes deeper and deeper than that. Jesus carried more than just our sins to the cross, and folks, when it comes to taking our sins and burdens the blood is still flowing this day... and folks, this is not a one time offering. First today let me address something near and dear to my heart that so many of you have talked to me about, talked meaning either by phone, in person or by email...

For our fallen children, those who have problems, some with health, some of those problems leading to drugs and booze. Our Lord has not walked away from them, they have walked away, for God for if they stay in the presence of God, although it might be tough, God will carry them through, in fact dare I say that the only way the burden will be lifted from them is if they stay with God. So while a lot of us must practice tough love, we don't want to walk away from them, we need to stay hand in hand with God letting God carry our kids, and we trusting God to help us with it (thus turning our burdens to the Lord). God has given all of us free will, and that means we all have choices to make in life and all of us in life have made some that were not good at all. Each and every one of us has done something we would not like the world to know about. But those who have kids who are really destroying themselves with this junk, must learn to walk with God, for you see God also gave them free will. It is very hard for God to help anyone who just does not want to or has not been low enough to stay with God's programs. And folks, there is plenty of help out there of those who have gone astray and most of those programs work through the hands of God.

The hardest part is while we pray and pray for our kids, this might be one time we just cannot put those feet on the prayers again and again. So today, brothers and sisters, I want all of you who might not have the problem in a family and it might not be a child, it might be a parent or a spouse... Let us give this problem over to God while we love our loved ones right under God. We must keep that number one spot for God. There is hope in the name of our Lord, and tomorrow I will be bringing more and more scriptures where we can find this help. And as we give this over to God we must try and stop beating ourselves up over this. We need to give it over to God and then really keep in touch with God and trust God to take care of it. And brothers and sisters, there is nothing wrong with keeping your children in prayer daily, and not just the ones with the problems I am addressing now, for let's face it, life is not easy right now. Tomorrow we will talk more, and about the most important thing that we must do for our kids... Let's pray:

Lord, today we pray for our schools and for all that go through the doors. Lord, so often these drug and booze problems start in our schools and we pray today that it stops, and we pray for all those who have addiction problems and that they might learn to walk with you. I pray that not just our children but all those will be in your loving arms and learn to stay there and for us, we give them over to you this day and ask that You take control of our children, all of them, each one. Lord, I pray today for baby Allie that You bless her eyes this day and for those having cancer I pray you will heal them as you have healed me of this thing we call cancer. Lord, I pray for the staff and families at the Bridges as they suffer so much loss. Lord, we love You and pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Go forth now sharing your blessings and sharing with each other and with Jesus. Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
Phones Home 717 691 8200 Cell 717 991 0754
icarrythelight4God@msn.com