His Yoke is Easy

Whew! What a busy week! Ministry opportunities abound and there are hurting hearts everywhere we look. Easter is fast approaching, as is our children’s Easter egg hunt, one of our biggest outreach programs of the year. Our church held a special baptism service on Sunday night with our largest group ever in attendance. (How exciting is that?) Our precious Amariah (who is six, I think, and is the daughter of our Children’s Ministry Coordinators), broke her tiny elbow on Sunday afternoon while our families were moving church storage locations. Our annual church business meeting is just 2 weeks away and I am having technical issues with some of the information files that must be distributed this week (please pray!). Our women’s ministry team met in preparation for our mother-daughter tea and this month’s fellowship event. Our income tax returns are filed thanks to the extremely generous help of a sister in Christ! In addition, I found myself the victim of identity theft this morning.


I was close to tears for most of the week, truth be told. Part of the reason was stress related, I won’t lie about that! Mostly, though, they were tears of gratitude for the blessing our Lord is pouring into my life. This week I saw specific prayers answered in mighty ways. I had the opportunity to wrap my arms around a struggling sister, I witnessed 7 people affirm their faith through baptism, shared coffee and laughter with an amazing group of women and, tax related, saw first-hand how God has woven the last few years together to guard our family. I can’t express to you the generosity of our friend who tirelessly researched some complicated tax issues. Thankfully, Mike noticed the identity theft within a few hours of the first fraudulent transaction and our credit union handled the situation beautifully.

I was running crazily behind schedule. Before church on Sunday morning, I had just a small slice of homework to complete and also had to find an important tax related document to discuss after service. As my alarm went off, I prayed, “Lord, should I look for the paper first?” He whispered to my spirit, “Just sit with me a while and I’ll show you where the document is.” You would understand the significance if you could see our lack of a filing system at home. Sure enough, after quiet time and homework I literally went straight to the exact box I needed and found the document within 30 seconds.

As I have grown in my faith and learned to lean on the Lord for my strength, trials and stress are much easier! The Lord tells us to take His yoke upon us for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I have never truly grasped this encouragement, but this week, it came to life. I suddenly understood that the yoke is fitted for two! Honestly, I feel a bit foolish for not figuring this out earlier! I finally envisioned a yoke that a team of oxen might wear. Jesus is wearing half of the yoke and inviting me to share His yoke with Him. As we are strapped together and moving as God the Father leads, Jesus carries the bulk of the load. Wow, did this ever mean something to me this week!

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30 (NASB)