The Weight of What-Ifs
Read The Daily:
“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” – John 16:12
Post by Taitlyn Dutey
Anxiety doesn’t shout—it stacks. One worry? Manageable. A hundred? Unbearable. It’s like carrying a backpack that gets heavier each day. Finances, relationships, health, the future, the past—it all piles on until you can barely stand. And yet, so many of us have been carrying anxiety for so long that we think it’s just part of life.
I used to consider myself to be a person that didn’t struggle with anxiety (lol). In reality, I always have, I just learned to ignore it well enough until I would buckle under the weight of it and then start the process of stacking all over again. Psalm 119:105 says that “God’s word is a lamp to guide my feet and light for my path.” When anxiety starts creeping in I remind myself of this truth. God didn’t promise me a flood light so I could see everything that surrounds me and know exactly what was coming and when. He said I had a light to guide my feet, my next step, and if I would trust him enough with that next step he would light the next one. But the scary part is I have to trust him enough to take the step.
Jesus didn’t come to help you cope with anxiety—He came to carry it.
Jesus told His disciples something very similar to what the Psalmist said: “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” He knew they were already weighed down. He wasn’t just speaking to them—He was speaking to us. Some of us have been carrying things we were never meant to carry. We think pushing through is the answer, but Jesus never asked us to carry it alone. It could seem like God is withholding from us by not showing us every little thing that might come our way, but I think it’s actually his kindness on display.
Today, take a moment to reflect: What weight have you been carrying that Jesus is asking you to surrender? Maybe you’ve convinced yourself this is just how life is. But remember, Jesus didn’t come to make you cope with anxiety—He came to carry it.
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
4 x 6 Plan | Read: John 20:24-31 & 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. John 20:24-31
You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Read More – Bible Project Overviews: John, 1 Corinthians