Weariness

[foundationguy]

I don't know about you, but I would rather experience physical illness or weariness than experience the weariness that sometimes fills my soul. Physical weariness is easier to deal with, we know we just need to rest. Soul weariness is harder to deal with, it seems there is just no escape, no relief, no comfort.

There are many places in the Bible where God tells us what to think or how to think about certain things. It's important we pay attention to those. Just like medicine can help relieve symptoms of a physical illness, those things we are told to think about relieve spiritual illness. One such verse is particularly appropriate for this week as we remember the passion of the Christ.

The verse is found in Hebrews 12, verse 3. It reads "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls". The word "consider" carries the meaning of an accountant comparing balance sheets. In other words, God is saying line up your trials and struggles on one side and compare them to what Jesus experienced. Not just during the crucifixion but throughout his earthly ministry. The rejection, the sadness of seeing people turn away, etc.

I don't know how, but God says that will keep us from becoming weary and discouraged in our souls. So as you find yourself facing the weariness of the soul, do what God prescribes ... consider Christ and what he endured for you.

Copyright © 2006 Greg Holl. All rights reserved.​

 

[Catherineanne]

So as you find yourself facing the weariness of the soul, do what God prescribes ... consider Christ and what he endured for you.

Copyright © 2006 Greg Holl. All rights reserved.​

Thanks for the words. I am now going to sound very irreverent, but this is my honest response, and may even sound contrary to some Christian tenets.

If Christ endured for me, then I have certainly endured for him in return.

The only thing that tips the balance in his favour is his holy status, but on a human level I think a lifetime of devotion, with a final 9 years of real challenge and seeing elements of my life taken away one by one, just as happened to Job, more than matches even the 3 years of his ministry.

And if anyone says he died for me, then all I can say is that I am staying alive for him, and that is a darned sight harder to do than any death.

I don't expect anyone to understand, but the relationship I have with Our Lord is not dependent on my feeling obliged to him in any way. That is not what love is about. I don't count, and neither does he. We just walk beside one another, and share fellowship.

And in case anyone wants to leap in with the sin card, that one doesn't work either. The worst I have ever done is get angry with people, and he has done that one too. Hardly worth anyone getting a ticking off for, let alone being killed. Imo, this is not about sin, nor about him dying for me (NB I don't deny the truth of these, just their relevance to me at this point of my life). It is about him living a human life, and showing me how to live mine, however it turns out. It is the 'how' that I follow, and he walks beside me all the way.

I hope nobody is offended by my honesty on this one. I am certain it doesn't bother God.

 

[bfly]

I don't pretend to know the valleys you have crawled through but they must have made you a strong person. Just like Job, I think sometimes God knows the ones that will grow stronger and for whatever reason He allows their strength to be tested. Sounds like yours has been tested almost to the limit. Like you said, Jesus walks beside you and for that reason, you draw strength to carry on. God, our Father, I pray to lighten this lady's load. She is tired and needs to rest awhile. Let the joy of the Lord lift her spirit and bring her some peace that passeth all understanding. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

 

[Catherineanne]

Sounds like yours has been tested almost to the limit.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Thanks, bfly. I really appreciate your love.

Yes. I am strong. Strong like a cork floating in the sea; because that is the only thing it knows what to do. There is no question about limits here. The limits were passed years ago, but a mother has to forget limits and carry on and on. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Abusive childhood. Alcoholic husband. Divorce. Complex post traumatic stress disorder since 1997, diagnosed 2000. Treatable condition, but not in the UK, where mental health provision is appalling. Spent savings on private treatment, then forced onto NHS. Was actually shouted at by a doctor last year, and when I made a formal complaint he made a counter allegation of verbal abuse against me, and wrote a defamatory letter to my GP. I have had a verbal apology from the NHS Trust, but am still waiting for a written one, six months later. Which means I am going to have to take that one further, somehow.

Abandoned by church. Turned down for ministry because 'not healed enough'. Now almost total recluse, with three friends left. Abusive brother reported by daughter's therapist last year for hitting his kids, now taking anger out on me and my daughter, while forbidding me ever to see my nephews again. Meanwhile he and his wife are exonerated by social services due to lack of evidence.

Alcoholic ex now dying very slowly from cirrhosis, but also making up false diagnoses along the way to get attention from our daughter (now 13). Told her last year he had brian tumour. This year it was gangrene. Neither true. My Dad ill with heart condition. Daughter with chronic illness, now being home schooled because the schools couldn't cope with her, and were failing to provide an education.

No treatment whatever for my cptsd, because there is none available in this area of the UK, and therefore little prospect of recovery. One of the primary symptoms of cptsd is suicidal ideation. Rather grim, that one. But you get used to it, in time, and realise that it is just a feeling; it means nothing. Eventually, cptsd leads to agoraphobia and being complete recluse. Which is where I am, but fighting against it to take my daughter out of the house.

And did I mention I used to have a career? That has gone too, along the way. Husband, marriage, job, health, brother, friends, church, savings, eroded bit by bit until nothing remains ... It sounds so much like I am complaining, but I am not really. This is just how it is.

Apart from that, however, all is well.

You really do have to laugh. And count your blessings. The greatest blessing of my life is that the three remaining friends are worth their weight in gold, and more. And I have the best daughter in the world.

This had better mean something to someone somewhere. But as I said, to think about Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane doesn't really help a great deal. It means he understands, but it doesn't make it any easier. Except perhaps that there was another dimension, which he could see and we can't. Maybe that thought would help.

As for being tired; yes. Just a bit.

 

[bfly]

Thanks, bfly. I really appreciate your love.

Yes. I am strong. Strong like a cork floating in the sea; because that is the only thing it knows what to do. There is no question about limits here. The limits were passed years ago, but a mother has to forget limits and carry on and on. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Abusive childhood. Alcoholic husband. Divorce. Complex post traumatic stress disorder since 1997, diagnosed 2000. Treatable condition, but not in the UK, where mental health provision is appalling. Spent savings on private treatment, then forced onto NHS. Was actually shouted at by a doctor last year, and when I made a formal complaint he made a counter allegation of verbal abuse against me, and wrote a defamatory letter to my GP. I have had a verbal apology from the NHS Trust, but am still waiting for a written one, six months later. Which means I am going to have to take that one further, somehow.

Abandoned by church. Turned down for ministry because 'not healed enough'. Now almost total recluse, with three friends left. Abusive brother reported by daughter's therapist last year for hitting his kids, now taking anger out on me and my daughter, while forbidding me ever to see my nephews again. Meanwhile he and his wife are exonerated by social services due to lack of evidence.

Alcoholic ex now dying very slowly from cirrhosis, but also making up false diagnoses along the way to get attention from our daughter (now 13). Told her last year he had brian tumour. This year it was gangrene. Neither true. My Dad ill with heart condition. Daughter with chronic illness, now being home schooled because the schools couldn't cope with her, and were failing to provide an education.

No treatment whatever for my cptsd, because there is none available in this area of the UK, and therefore little prospect of recovery. One of the primary symptoms of cptsd is suicidal ideation. Rather grim, that one. But you get used to it, in time, and realise that it is just a feeling; it means nothing. Eventually, cptsd leads to agoraphobia and being complete recluse. Which is where I am, but fighting against it to take my daughter out of the house.

And did I mention I used to have a career? That has gone too, along the way. Husband, marriage, job, health, brother, friends, church, savings, eroded bit by bit until nothing remains ... It sounds so much like I am complaining, but I am not really. This is just how it is.

Apart from that, however, all is well.

You really do have to laugh. And count your blessings. The greatest blessing of my life is that the three remaining friends are worth their weight in gold, and more. And I have the best daughter in the world.

This had better mean something to someone somewhere. But as I said, to think about Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane doesn't really help a great deal. It means he understands, but it doesn't make it any easier. Except perhaps that there was another dimension, which he could see and we can't. Maybe that thought would help.

As for being tired; yes. Just a bit.

Except perhaps that there was another dimension, which he could see and we can't. Maybe that thought would help.

Yes, I think that other dimension is what it is all about. How would we continue without Him in this world. When I think of all the believers and prayers being taken away from this dimension, Oh, what wholly terror it would be.

 

[Catherineanne]

Except perhaps that there was another dimension, which he could see and we can't. Maybe that thought would help.

Yes, I think that other dimension is what it is all about. How would we continue without Him in this world. When I think of all the believers and prayers being taken away from this dimension, Oh, what wholly terror it would be.

The saints and angels in heaven continue to pray for this world constantly, and that will never cease, as long as this world continues. Not to mention other believers on earth.

 

[JPPT1974]

When we are weary and tired
We can turn to Jesus!