LEARNING TO CAST MY CARES AND RELEASE MY BURDENS

1 Peter 5:7  casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Can you imagine what our lives would look like and feel like if we ever truly learned to cast our cares and release our burdens to God?  Listen, this world is a mess.  People all over are broken, wounded and hurting.  Whether the hurts are physical, emotional or mental, the pain is real.  Walk into any store or even amusement parks and we can see the pain in people's eyes.  On the outside they may be smiling and laughing, but inside their heart is ripping open with the pain of the hurt.

It's real.  The pain is real.  The wound is real.  The scar is there buried deep for some and extremely evident for others.  Some of us hide our wounds easily, others cannot hide them.  They are obvious.  A black and blue eye, a broken arm, a scar from surgery, stitches to heal the cut.  These we see, these make the wound clear as day.  But it is the internal wounds, the internal battle scars that hide just beneath the surface hidden for no one to discover, that is until we look into their eyes and sees the tears they try to hide.

Some of us live heavily burdened for those who are hurting.  We have a list of people who need prayers and the list is just those we are aware of.  There are so many others we don't know yet we see their struggle and can imagine the wounds they're hiding.  We struggle and feel so overwhelmed with this burden to pray and heal the broken that we lose sight of that fact that sometimes, there is nothing we can physically do to help the situation.  Sometimes all we can do is pray.

Now really doesn't that sound absolutely silly?  "All we can do is pray" is one of those statements that we sort of use as a last resort.  After we have burdened our hearts and overwhelmed our souls  and caused our mind to work overtime to find a solution, then and only then do we decide all we can do is pray.  Seriously?  Why isn't this a first resort?  Why do we think we shouldn't overwhelm God, maybe we can handle it, after all He's so busy with important stuff?   Why do we take these burdens on ourselves and overwhelm ourselves to a point of depression?

Cast your care upon God. In my simple mind and in my heart I feel that if I even try to take on the burdens of  my little world let alone the burdens of this world, that means I don't need God.  In reality I'm saying, "Hey God, listen I know you're God Almighty, but hey you're so busy dealing with this evil infested world, let me take these burdens off of you.  I got this God, I can handle it, I really don't need you, but hey if I get in a crunch, I'll call on you.  Ok?"  Now be 100% honest, isn't that what we're saying when we become so overburdened with all the hurting, wounded people we meet?  Okay what cares is Peter talking about in this verse.  Well I love the Amplified Bibles version of this verse.  It explains it to a tee.

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)   Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

I know for me personally I have made it my mission in life to do my best not to worry.  I used to watch my mom worry about everything and everyone.  She would pace the floor reciting the rosary over and over again.  The burden she carried was heavy for her family.  She handled it for her entire life, in fact she still does.  I became determined at a very young age not to live that way.  I remember when I was little hearing the verses about God caring for the sparrows and that made me realize that God has my back.  He has me in the palm of His hand, so I won't even try to worry.

Cast your care upon God! God has the ability to see and know things we do not.  He knows what the future holds, we do not.  He has the power to heal, we do not.  He may use us to heal someone physically or emotionally, but that's up to Him.  Cast your cares upon God!  Cast your burdens upon God!  Give God all your worries, all your anxieties!  Let go of the struggle and stop burdening yourself with things you cannot change and may not be able to do anything about. Trust in God and know that He has the broad shoulders to be able to carry the burdens of your little world and this big world, we do not and cannot.

Pray for your burdens, your worries and your anxieties, then let them go.  Release them to God and allow Him to do what we cannot.

Lord, forgive me for taking on the burdens of this world.  Today I cast all my cares, all my worries, all my anxieties and all my burdens to you.  They are no longer wearing me down.  I trust in you, I rely on you and believe that you are the only one capable of carrying my troubles.  Give me a peace that surpasses all understanding in knowing you are the only one who can carry all my burdens, in Jesus name I pray, amen.