WEARING A "LOP-SIDED" YOKE

Have you ever felt as if you were:

WEARING A "LOP-SIDED " YOKE

I have spent some of my time doing so. But, at the time I was doing it. I thought I had all of God in my life that He had to give me.

I learned there was MORE, MUCH, MUCH, MORE!

And I guess that would be my first over-all statement, that through all I have been through I have first and foremost come to know my MAKER in a much deeper way.
I have learned that He is more than I ever dreamed or imagined He could be to me. I have been taught how to forgive, and how to live with joy and peace even in the midst of great pain. I thought this was so wonderful -it put a song in my heart that I had not even experienced before. To hurt worse than you ever thought you could, and to come out of it with more joy and more peace than all that pain -what could be better than having "peace that passes all understanding" that you actually can take your worst nightmare and "count it all joy." When I got there, I found I could do nothing else but give my life to tell others about HIM.

Well, my dear and precious ones to me, I found out what could be better. He taught me that He was able to take away all that great pain of the past. "By His stripes we are healed!" -that means all kinds and types of healing. "With God nothing is impossible!" "Is My arm too short?" -The Creator asks to prove His point. He really is our "Great Physician" in every respect! Oh, when I was released of the pain of the past, I could hardly believe it! He really does "give beauty for ashes!" I thought to myself: "This must be the pinacle of faith and trust and closeness to the Father!"

But there was MORE...

I had fears, mostly I had a deep abiding fear of the future. It scared me sick -literally. I had a growth on my right ovary that they thought was cancerous. And the day that God showed me how to trust Him with the future -I sighed in the worship service a great release!

But there was STILL MORE...

As my sigh went up, a supernatural hand went into my abdomen and began to pull and just so I would know what and WHO it was there were three distinct tugs from the same exact angle. I could literally feel the tumor being pulled free from my right ovary. First I felt a grab and a deep tug loosen the top of the tumor from my ovary. Then the second tug almost pulled it free, but there was a deep root and also a sheaf on the left side still attached. The third and final tug pulled the sheaf free and pulled out the root of the tumor. I knew right there that I was healed both emotionally and physically because I had trusted HIM spiritually -which was the key.
Still the restoration, though promised had not come. The promise verse given to me was:

COME, LET US RETURN TO THE LORD,

FOR HE HAS TORN US,
BUT HE WILL HEAL US;

HE HAS WOUNDED US,
BUT HE WILL BANDAGE US.

HE WILL REVIVE US
AFTER TWO DAYS;

HE WILL RAISE US UP
ON THE THIRD DAY
THAT WE MIGHT LIVE BEFORE HIM.

SO, LET US KONW,
LET US PRESS ON TO KNOW THE LORD.

HIS GOING FORTH
IS AS CERTAIN AS
THE DAWN;

-HOSEA 6:1-3b NASB

Therefore, despite the facts:

I waited... and I believed!

And I waited... and I believed!

And I waited... and I believed!

I may the the subbornest person in nine counties, I don't know, but all I can say is:

"I KNOW THAT I KNOW
WHEN MY MASTER IS SPEAKING TO ME."

Now, I may take what HE is saying and "dress it up" the way I want it to go. But, the basics of what GOD has said remain the same -I don't loose them. He doesn't let me.

While Dan was still with me, I had a strong relationship with our LORD. Well, when Dan left, it grew closer -GOD became "the husband to the husbandless" -just like He promised in the Scripture.

What I mean by this is: when both husband and wife are strong believers, then you know which way the LORD is showing you to go, by the simple fact that you both are shown (through the Spirit) the same path at the same time.

Well, when Dan left me, I did not have that strong confirmation of a husband being led the same way, because my husband decided to "run away" from the marriage relationship. So, when I realized that, I cried out to my Heavenly Father with all that was within me. And this was my heart's cry:

"You have alowed my husband to leave me just at a time when now, more than ever, I need to know Your will. Therefore, YOU be my husband! Like You said in Your Word! Make me know what it is You are saying to me, like a husband, so that I can understand Your will. And no matter what You say to me, I will do it!"

So, GOD became my husband. Maybe that sounds simple, but it is true. And if I did not understand clearly, I kept on asking:

-RESPECTFULLY

like: Abraham dealing with GOD over the potential distruction of SODOM and asking lives to be spared. Daring to approach again and again, but always in deference to WHOM he was speaking.

-PRESISTENTLY

like: The man who knocked and knocked at his friends door until the man got up out of his bed and gave him what he needed.
and like: The widow woman who kept on coming to the ungodly judge, who finally gave in to her demands "lest she keep coming and wear me out!"

-FERVENTLY

like: Jacob who wrestled with the angel of God and would not let go until he was blessed!

and remembering: "The fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much."

-EXPECTANTLY

remebering: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

HIS WILL FOR MY LIFE

And I kept on praying for things in my life to square up with what the Word said and promised. I tired my best to pray in GOD's will -not just my own. I set my face like flint to this, because I firmly decided:

"If ANY disobeidence on my part has caused us to get into this kind of a mess; I may not could change anyone elses choices, but I could surely do HIS WILL FOR MY LIFE from now on!"

Now, did I do HIS "perfect" will from then on? NO. But, I most honestly tell you, God judging my heart, my heart has heard HIS will, and He set my face like flint. And although I may stumble a bit, and fall down at times, He has caused me to get right back up, He dusts the dirt off. And He sets going again, back down that same path.

Is the path easy, well, He said: "My yoke is easy, My burden is light." I have found it only gets heavy when I try to carry it "lop-sided! "

WEARING A "LOP-SIDED " YOKE

What I mean by this is better understood if you know what a "yoke" is. A yoke is a two wooden peices placed over and under the necks of two animals that are going to pull a load together. Everybody that has ever used yokes knows that if you put a yoke on unequal partners, the bigger, stronger one will wind up carrying all the load.

Well, our Father wants to partner with us in our lives so closely, He refered to it as "taking His yoke upon us." If we are willing to do so; He, being infinitely bigger and infinitely stronger, will carry the full weight of the load. But, you know what the crazy thing is that I do, I forget about that sometimes when the load seems insirmoutnable, and can you believe it, I take the yoke off, or let it ride on me "lop-sided " making it heavier on my end because of my choice to do so -not HIS.
This causes me to carry around much more of a burden than than I was created to carry. And I call it:

WEARING A "LOP-SIDED " YOKE

Well, can you believe it. After all these years of praying and trusting and believing in HIM. GOD answered one of my biggest most fervent prayers. He brought my husband back to me! And not only did GOD bring Dan back to me, HE even went so far as to tell me the month and the day He would do so. And not only that, but God was faithful to that promise. So, on September 24, 2004 sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. Dan physically came and got me and took me to his home -where I have remained to this day!

But, this is real life not a Cinderella story. There are real and very live issues to be worked through. And really in my heart of hearts I was rebelling in a way, and dis-trusting God because everything was not automatically totally restored unto me in the manner in which I always believed they would be.
You see, it was that hope that kept me going on. And now things, in reality, were not like I had planned they would be. So, I became discoraged because I was ready for my times of struggling to be over and done with.
But God wasn't done with my refining yet. He wanted me to learn to trust Him even more, in a situation not as I thought, not as I wanted, not as I dreamed. It was like a half-way answer to my prayers of years and years. So, I started...

WEARING A "LOP-SIDED " YOKE

That's not a happy way to live you know, carrying around much more of a burden than you need to. Then I reread the promise to me, and He is answering it, just like he said. He promised me that He would "REVIVE US," first. Then later "RESTORE US" more fully. And just like trusted Him thus far, He will give me all I need to go on trusting Him further.

The LORD replied,
"My Presence will go with you,
and I will give you
rest."

-TORAH: Shemot or Exodus 33:14

And so, I have decided that I need to
"REST."

Therefore, I decided to STOP:
WEARING A "LOP-SIDED " YOKE

and instead:
cast ALL of my cares upon HIM!

-Trusting More Fully In Him

-Sandy Lynn

COPYRIGHT: WWJD MEDIA
AUTHOR: Sandy Lynn Patton
DATE: February 23, 2005/15 ADAR I 5765
RIGHTS RESERVED: May be reprinted and distributed for NON-PROFIT use
only with credit given
ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED