Burden of Love

I have always been so grateful for everything my mom ever was and did for our family. I have been so impressed with how she would sacrifice everything she wanted or needed to make sure everyone else, even outside the family, had what they desired. I have always hoped that I would eventually be the same kind of mom mine has been.

The past few days I have become even more thankful for all my mom did because God is giving me the grace to understand and experience what it feels like to have a sort of "motherly" burden for those I love. A lot of people hear that and say, "Oh, so you're that overbearing friend who always makes sure people are following the rules and put a damper on the fun." No. That was never how my mom was, and that's not how I am either.

Look at it from the perspective of a parent for a second. God, as our Heavenly Father, loves us so extremely much that He does literally everything He can to be sure that we are more than taken care of. Because He loves us this way, we never have to feel like we don't have enough; but He also, then, wants us to be able to experience what is best for us, even if in the process there's a little pain or hardship along the way.

That is the sort of burden He is allowing me to experience for certain people in my life right now. I love them so much and just want everything in their lives to be perfect, according to God's will. He wants us to live abundantly (with way more than enough love, joy, peace, money, food, etc.). As a part of this desire to see people living to their utmost, God is beginning to remind me what it is like to have a burden of prayer for others again - something I haven't experienced really since my days at MCA. Every moment of the day I want to just be in His presence and praying for these people that I know haven't experienced Him to the extent that they could. It's called intercession, where your spirit literally cries out to God for that of another person whom you deeply love. I am seriously craving this constantly right now, and I thank God that He is allowing me to be that person for these friends and classmates of mine.

While I know that I can only do so much in helping them make the right choices and keep themselves healthy in mind, body, and spirit, I know that the Lord can do mighty things when even one or two people have just a small amount of faith. In the same way, then, I am believing and excited to see what God does through this new experience He is allowing me to have. While it's a slow and painful process, and I often wish I could just make people listen and do what God says is best, I know that's not how God intends it to be and I just have to wait on His timing to perfect what is broken or stained.