I grew up in a home that didn’t watch much TV. We’d sometimes watch Homeward Bound or The Beverly Hillbillies, but it was the 90s, and we spent most afternoons outside. My mom would also go to the library and find random Christian stuff for us to watch. One of those gems was a VHS of Psalty the Singing Songbook. And so, we entered our Psalty era. 

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If you’ve never heard of Psalty, he’s worth a google. My husband got a good laugh the first time he put a picture with my description. 

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This strange blue singing songbook left me with a mix of lyrical theology that still lives rent free in my head. One of my favorite Psalty songs is based on 1 Peter 5:7 and goes like this: 

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I cast all my cares upon You, 

I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet. 

And anytime I don’t know what to do, 

I will cast all my cares upon You. 

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It’s amazing how often those four little lines play through my mind, and despite the oddity of the blue painted man in a songbook costume who taught them to me, I’m so grateful they’re forever etched into my long-term memory. 

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God desperately longs for us to cast our cares on Him, and that’s good news, because life is full of cares.

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As I write this, many in our community are facing the impact of the government shutdown. We’re waiting to see what happens next…wondering about the next paycheck. God wants to hear from you when these things weigh on your heart and mind. Maybe this is a burden God is asking you to lay at His feet.

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Sometimes, though, the burdens we are carrying are much bigger. Maybe you're someone who’s walking through hard suffering right now, and you’re wondering what would happen if you brought that burden to Jesus. Maybe you’re wondering if God hears, sees, or cares. 

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A few years ago, I was in a hospital room – yet again – with my daughter. I was pleading with God and mad at Him all at once. Because how? How was this happening again? I was begging Him to show me He saw her. 

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And there, in that moment, my little girl said, “Mommy, look! The nurse’s computer screen has my favorite verse. God is showing us He’s here with us.” 

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The verse was Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 

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She then asked everyone in the room to pray with her. So, we did. My husband and I sat on her bed while her nurse, the med-tech, the child life specialist, and the helicopter transport woman all gathered around us. 

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And we prayed. I don’t know if the rest of them were used to praying, but they stopped that night to pray for a brave little girl who was fighting for her life.     

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A few minutes later, as I squeezed in next to her on the helicopter life-flighting her to what would be her second of three emergency surgeries, I was overwhelmed by the grace of God. Somehow, while attached to IVs and faced with too many unknowns, she fell asleep holding her stuffed bear, and the peace on her face was more than morphine – it was supernatural. While I was begging God to see her and take away her pain, she was noticing the miracles that proved He already had. In her childlike faith, she was comforted by the One she trusted most.

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I lifted my eyes from her face to see the sunset over Payne’s Prairie. It was one of the few pictures I took during the years of her suffering, but it still brings me to tears. Suffering was abundant, yes. 

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But God. 

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He still causes the sun to rise and to set. He is still in control. He still brings beauty to things that seem unredeemable. Weeping may last for a night (or a year or a lifetime), but joy comes in the morning. 

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Things didn’t get better overnight. That surgery didn’t heal her. It helped in that moment, but it wasn’t the end. 

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Sometimes, though, that’s just the way it is this side of Heaven. Until the time when God wipes every tear, and takes away all pain, and crying, and suffering, there will be hard things to face. 

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I really like the NJKV version of today’s verse. It says, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Pet. 5:10). 

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Settle you. I love that. 

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God is waiting to settle us. He can restore what is broken. He can take hard things and renew them. He can transform your life and settle you. 

What burden are you carrying around that you need to lay down at the feet of Jesus? Can you let Him into your suffering? God can take your hard things. Even if He doesn’t choose to fix them right away, He can still transform you in the process.  

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I don’t know what piece of God’s restoration you most need to transform your life today, but I do know that if you lift your eyes, you will see God, and He is where our help comes from (Psalm 121:1-2).

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In the next few minutes, spend time talking to God about whatever it is you’re walking through right now. Visualize taking it and laying it down at His feet. Ask Him to do a transforming work within you to restore what is broken. God loves to hear from you. He is big enough to handle your biggest failures, your deepest fears, and your most genuine questions. Trust Him with your burdens and lay them down at His feet this morning.  

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In the words of Psalty…anytime I don’t know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon You. 

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Join us for R.E.S.T.O.R.E., this week's 7-Day Prayer Movement, as we prepare to fast and worship on Sunday!