LACED WITH GRACE...digging it up

I have shared a devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE today. Laced With Grace is another great place for you to receive encouragement as a team of awesome Christian ladies share from their hearts Monday thru Friday. Come check it out! Here is today's devo:

Several years ago, we had a family pet that we had for several years. "Stormy" was a German Shepherd/black lab mix that weighed in at 100 pounds. She was one of the greatest dogs we ever had. Stormy developed a tumor that became large enough that it slowed her down. She was an older dog, so we decided it best to put her to sleep. It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make, as we all loved her dearly

When the vet asked my husband and I what we wanted to do with her body, we decided that we would bring her back to the house and bury her on our property. The children would be arriving home from school soon, and we could have a family burial for our beloved pet of many years. So we wrapped that 100 pound dog up in a sheet and brought her home.

While my husband and my two older sons began to dig the hole on our property, I instructed them to keep digging and I would go pick up our young daughter from daycare and when we returned we could have our final good-bye. But before I could return with my daughter, my husband and sons finished digging the hole and went ahead and buried Stormy. Upon arrival back home, my daughter and I were horrified that they had gone ahead and buried our precious pet without us!

My oldest son stood, with his foot still on the shovel and looked over at us blubbering females and said to my husband, "We have to dig her up, don't we?" My husband replied, "uh-huh!"

We have had alot of pets since Stormy, but I can guarantee you that she was the only dog that died and got buried twice!

I was thinking about Stormy today and that burial story and it dawned on me that we are just like the dog who got buried twice. Many times, when we come to the altar with our sins, our problems and our struggles we give it all to God. We bury our burdens and walk away. But walking away just isn't enough. We tend to turn around and pick up the shovel and dig back up all those burdens once again.

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

I can only imagine how weary and tiring it must have been for my son to dig and dig and dig that grave for our pet,  not once - but twice. How tiring it is keep shoveling and digging dirt, without resting.

The problems that we carry around on our shoulders can become so heavy that it is difficult for us to escape or find rest. Giving it all to God will ease the load. Once we do that, God buries it, never to be reminded of it again! The problem is that we tend to take the shovel from God's hand and we dig back up those burdens and place them back on our shoulders.

So who has control of the shovel - you or God? Isn't it time to bury those burdens for once and for all? Today is the day, give the shovel back to God!