Hey, you!  You, hiding under the covers!  Yes, you!  You have pulled the covers up over your head, begging Jesus to take you home.  You are pleading with Jesus to just put an end to your misery.   Sadly, you may wondering if there was a way that YOU could just put an end to your misery.  You are at the end of your rope, and there is just nothing left to hold on to.

I know the feeling.  Recently, in the midst of pain and confusion, I was literally in my bed with the covers pulled up over my head.  I wanted to block out the world and all of its hurting people and continual conflict and vast uncertainty.  I wanted to make my problems go away and just be with Jesus in heaven.  For a split second, I just wanted to end it all.

We’ve all been there at one time or another.  We live in the midst of difficult circumstances and we can’t see how God will work it out.  In our despair, we lay hold of dread and fear and lose the fragile measure of hope that we carry.

Why can’t we be stronger?  Why can’t we face into our problems and struggles with great faith, claiming the promises?    Why can’t we just stand on God’s Word and see the mountains move? Why can’t we be strong and stress-less like the great women of faith around us?  We compare our faith to others and we end up in hopelessness.  We just want to lay down on the floor in the fetal position and quit being an adult.  I’ve wanted to do it in Harris Teeter on the peanut butter aisle just this week.  I wish that I were emotionally stronger.

Here is some good news:  Your weak and fragile emotional state is the very reason that Jesus came.  He laid aside power, worship, and being in control and chose to come to the earth as a human so He knows what a weak and fragile emotional state feels like.    He knows the pain of hurtful words and rejection by family and friends.  He knows what it feels like to be misunderstood and his motives maligned.  He knows the disappointment and confusion of praying for a miracle but accepting God’s will.

Since Jesus knows and fully understands all of our earthly pain, He is able to say in Matthew 11:28:

Come to me, all you who are weak and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus did not come for the strong and stress-less.  He came for the weak and heavy-laden.  

That’s you and me, girlfriend.

Jesus came for the young mom who has nothing left to give.  He came for the working woman who doesn’t want to get out of bed when her alarm goes off.   He came for the pastor’s wife who can’t live up to everyone’s standards.  He came for the mother agonizing over her prodigal son.  He came for the older woman living alone.  He came for the fragile woman who takes Valium for panic attacks.  He came for the woman who can’t hold down a job.

Your weak and fragile emotional state does not repel Jesus.  In fact, He is drawn to your weakness.  He sees your humility and your great need for Him and He rejoices in feeling wanted, even needed.  When Jesus is your only hope, you are perfectly positioned to encounter Him in power.

In your weak state, Jesus is asking you to come to Him.  With the covers over your face, push away the darkness, and pray. Instead of partnering with hopelessness and dread that things will never change, invite Jesus into your situation.  Breath in and breath out, and ask Him to comfort and strengthen your heart.  Find peace at His feet and receive the strength to get out of the bed to face a new day.

We can do this.  We can lower the sheets now, and face life again.  Armed with Jesus’ love, acceptance, and supernatural strength, we can do the hard things that are still waiting for us.  Let’s face into them together, knowing that Jesus is on our side, even in our weakness.  It does not repel Him, but attracts Him.

Jesus came for us.

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