Remember in my last post how I encouraged you to shrug off your anxieties and lay them at Jesus’ feet? I hope you didn’t picture me all cute and put together as I do that. 

I’m not showing up to Jesus with my latte in one hand and my cute little purse of anxieties. There is nothing cute about it. 

Maybe it’s best to picture me crawling through a dark valley with a backpack, some muddy suitcases and a few garbage bags for good measure. The anxieties are heavy. And the trek is so hard. And I am seriously weary. 

But the Bible tells me to cast all of that on to Jesus (1 Peter 5:7). We are told to hurl all our bags of worries and anxieties onto Jesus. 

Why? Because he cares about us. He doesn’t want us to bear the load alone. And because he’s strong enough to carry it for us. 

The word cast literally means to throw, hurl, vomit, expel. We are to throw our anxieties with force. 

Casting our cares is an act of humility (1 Peter 5:5-6). It shows the world (and our own hearts) that God is God. He is strong and able. It also shows the world (and our own hearts) that we are not God. We are not strong. We are not able to carry it all. 

It is an act of humble worship to cast our anxieties on the Lord. It is good and right and so freeing. The Lord gets glory. We get rest. What good news. 

Friends, if you’re dragging a load of stress and worry behind you as you trudge through the valley, may I encourage you today to cast all those cares onto Jesus? You don’t have to clean yourself up first. You don’t have to squash it all down into a cute and manageable box. 

All you have to do is throw all of those cares onto Jesus. Literally, hurl them onto his shoulders. And then maybe just sit down and stay awhile. Take a deep breath and lean yourself upon him. He is a safe place to land. Remember, he alone is our True Rest.