”Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30 ESV
What is a yoke?
For those who don’t know, in this passage (and many others in the Bible) the “yoke” that they are referring to is a harness that is worn by oxen or donkeys to ease the work of hauling a load… a yoke makes it easier for animals to pull loads.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. This is one of the things the Lord taught me during my time in Guatemala. It was head knowledge that turned to heart knowledge for myself. Praise the Lord! What a revelation this was for me personally. It’s one thing to know what this means but a completely different thing to actually live it out daily. This truly changes everything for me!
The story behind how this became heart knowledge is a little bit lengthy but if you’d like to hear it, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. I’d love to share it! For the blog’s sake I’m not going to type it out. But I will tell y’all what this means for me and my life now. 🙂
Here are some of my takeaways:
If I ever feel under intense pressure or stress, that is NOT the Lord. His yoke is EASY. The pressure or stress I’ve experienced in my life is usually put on by myself or I’m allowing others to put it on me.
If I’m trying to do things on my own strength instead of the Lord’s strength, it will only lead to tension, stress, obligations, pressure, anxieties, etc. When I truly allow the Lord to lead me and I rely on His strength and not my own, the weight that’s on my shoulders lifts. Like literally…. Once I realized this truth and this scripture became heart knowledge for myself, I physically felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.
“Take my yoke upon you”. There is so much rest, ease and the Lord’s gentleness to be found in taking the Lord’s yoke upon yourself.
“and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart”. I feel like I have learned so many new things about the Lord’s character through this scripture. Specifically about his gentleness and lowliness. What He’s been showing me through these characteristics of himself is that things aren’t really that big or serious. Not that there aren’t serious things in this life because there are. But that things that cause you to feel overwhelmed or under a lot of stress or anxiety are not actually that big or serious and the Lord’s heart for us is to not dwell in those feelings. We are usually putting ourselves under those feelings or allowing other people to put those feelings on us. We often times agree to these feelings out of shame, guilt, fear or insecurity… which is not our portion/inheritance from the Lord.
“His yoke is easy and His burden is light”. This becoming a truth in my own life has allowed me to surrender to Him in a new way. He is in control and all I need to do in this life is seek Him. I get to just look into His eyes, allow Him to teach me and speak to me and trust that He will lead me in all things. There is so much peace and a more soundmind that this has come with! I feel more free and I feel lighter. What a gift it is to come under the Lord’s yoke.
There is a stillness and slowness that I’ve experienced in taking on the Lord’s yoke. I don’t have to rush or “get things done” on my own. But I get to do all things with the Lord, as He leads. It’s a heart posture change for myself. My heart and mind was in a place of trying to do things on my own in the attempt to control… but again, that was on my own strength and not the Lord’s strength. If I wait on the Lord and listen, I don’t have to “do” anything or “figure out” anything on my own. Which is so GREAT! Like what a pressure lifted off.
WHAT A GIFT it is to allow the Lord to lead us! He’s bigger and better and stronger than we will ever be so why would we try to do it on our own anyways? His way is always better.
If y’all have any insight, revelations or lessons the Lord has taught you on this topic, I would LOVE if you left them in the comments below! Hearing testimonies and different perspectives on topics from others is one of my favorite things. We have so much to learn from each other as the body! I’d really love to hear what y’all have to share, if you’re willing to. 🙂
Fundraising update:
I’m still fundraising! Right now I’m 42% fundraised! Praise the Lord! Thank you to everyone who has financially supported me and also to everyone who has supported me through prayer!
If you’d like to/feel led to support me financially you can through the link below.
If you’d like to support me/F squad through prayer here are some things you could pray for:
Personal prayers:
Wisdom and discernment
Good physical rest (sleep hasn’t been great) Financial support
For me to stay present
Squad prayers:
For unity
Peace
For the teams to choose into each other
For fun and joy filled moments
Friendship
Here are some final pictures from Guatemala…
Thanks for everything and for reading my blogs 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Love y’all,
Brianne
