Do Joy and Burden Blend?

As I pour out my heart to God for my friends and family hurting, needing healing, my heart hangs heavy with burden. I thank my God for the many blessings in the lives of my friends and family and joy envelops me.

I find there is a weariness in my heart that lingers though, for the ones suffering. I feel so helpless. I cannot get release, and yet I know that our God is mighty to heal and deliver and save. I wear the burden as a mantle of prayer. For if the burden were removed, the Source that can and does heal may remain untapped.

Dear God...El Elyon~Great and Mighty One. El Shaddai~Merciful Provider Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals. Please heal my friends. The ones who have non-treatable, ongoing illness weighing them down. Unable to function in the daily things. Waiting on you Lord. Heal them please. Give them grace to hope in your Sovereignty. My friends enduring chemo, Lord, give them grace to endure the tumultuous waves of anguish. Loss of appetite, loss of hair, loss of energy and clarity of mind. Bless them Lord to endure the wait. To praise you in the storm. I know Lord God in Heaven, that you are Good, Loving, Faithful, Powerful, Gracious, Kind, and able to lift the burden and heal the body. Bless them Lord, give them awareness of your love and peace as they trust you to provide...

So yes, joy and burdens do indeed blend, for all the while I have the heaviness of Burden, I have the weightlessness of Joy. The dance in my heart for the blessings too numerous to name. I sit before the Lord listing my thanks for His giving.

I marvel at the gift of family framed on walls and plastering my refrigerator; at prayers already answered, miracles witnessed. I thank Him for knowledge that I will have enough for groceries today; and grateful that I can throw this day's soiled garments in an agitating machine to come out clean. For there are many who don't have those things. Many whose burdens far outweigh mine. May the Lord meet their needs today I pray. Lord, you are strong enough to carry all the burdens.

In that knowledge, in the knowing that God can handle it all, I find that Joy wins. Yes, through the drone and the dance, in the hope and in prayer, I find that the drone dies, but the dancing endures. For God meets needs, God heals, God lifts the burden and with HIM all is good in the end. It's all part of life's song...

I recall the chorus:

For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28