By: Lorraine Eastman, Legacy Pastor
This past week, I had the unique experience of wearing electrodes on my head while carrying around a backpack filled with equipment and a camera monitoring my brain waves for four days. I fully expected it to not be comfortable, but I didn’t realize just how exhausting and burdensome it would be.
When I returned the equipment on Thursday morning, I assumed they would remove everything for me. Instead, they simply cut the wires, took back the equipment, and left me to remove the tangled mess of mesh, tape, glue, and electrodes still attached to my head. After an hour of warm water, Dawn dish soap, and coconut oil, I was finally free — minus some hair and with a few wounds where the electrodes rubbed into my head.
As I worked through that messy cleanup process, I began thinking about how often we carry burdens God has already told us He will gladly carry for us. Out of fear, pride, or a desire to stay in control, we hold on tightly until those burdens become a tangled mess deep within our lives. Eventually we recognize the mess but just aren’t sure how to begin untangling it. Thankfully, God’s Word walks us through the unburdening process.
Identify the Mess. The unburdening process begins with recognizing the mess we are carrying.
Jesus’ words say it best in Matthew 11:28-29 (TPT): “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me.”
When we carry something long enough, we adapt to the weight and forget it’s even there. We become numb to the toll it takes on our hearts, souls, and even relationships. Yet Jesus invites us to come to Him so He can refresh and restore us.
Reflection: Take a few quiet moments and ask yourself: What burdens am I carrying? If you’re unsure, ask Jesus to reveal them to you.
Release the mess. Once we identify the burden, we need to release it into Jesus’ care.
Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT): “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
Jesus already sees the worry, fear, anxiety, loneliness, regret, loss, insecurity, pain, and sin we carry. He sees it all. Nothing is hidden from Him. He isn’t waiting to condemn us; He’s waiting with open arms.
Reflection: Take a moment to name the burden you’ve been carrying and intentionally place it into His hands.
Trust Jesus to untangle our mess. Releasing our burdens also means resisting the urge to constantly take them back. When we put our trust in Jesus’ ability to untangle our mess, we begin with surrender.
He tells us in Isaiah 41:10 (NLT), “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
When we truly lean into Jesus, and trust Him, He provides the strength we don’t have on our own.
Reflection: Take a few moments and simply tell Him: Jesus, I trust you to carry what I cannot. Surrender everything to Him.
Forgiveness for the mess. Sometimes our burdens are tangled up with hurt, disappointment, anger, or unmet expectations. Healing begins with forgiveness.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:32 (NLT), “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Let go of bitterness, regret, perfectionism, or resentment toward others — and toward yourself. Receive the forgiveness Jesus freely offers and allow His grace to fill your heart.
Reflection: Take a few moments and ask Jesus to remind you of his forgiveness. As you do, release everything you have been holding onto. Let it go and be untangled and refreshed by his grace.
Help others with their mess. Once we have experienced freedom ourselves, we can point people to Jesus in helping carry their burdens. That’s why community and church matter so deeply.
Paul tells us in Galatians 6:2 (TPT), “Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles.”
Reflection: Take a few moments and ask God to place someone in your path who needs encouragement, support, or simply someone willing to walk beside them. When we help others, we are reminded that we were never meant to be alone.
We don’t need to walk through life weighed down by the mess and exhausted by burdens we were never meant to carry. Jesus invites us to lay down the crushing weight of self-sufficiency, fear, and striving for perfection, and instead partner with him and walk in the freedom of being fully loved as His adopted children. Covered by His grace and secure in our identity in Christ, we discover what He promised all along: freedom, rest, and refreshment for our souls. What a blessing it is to be untangled by grace!