February is sometimes referred to as the month of love.  We celebrate Valentine’s Day and there are many reminders to spend time with our loved ones.   As an Inheritance of Hope volunteer, I recently saw an amazing amount of love at the January Legacy Retreat®.  The families were able to have fun and enjoy time together.  The volunteers loved by joining the fun and serving the families, walking with them through the difficulties of their illnesses.

Each of us needs someone to walk beside us in every circumstance in our life – to love us in the good times and in the hard times.  Jesus promises to be with us through every circumstance of our life.   In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

We don’t use yokes much anymore, but they were wooden bars that joined two oxen together while plowing a field.  Often a stronger ox would be yoked with a weaker ox, thus making the shared burden easier for the weaker one to carry.  Jesus is telling us that He will be beside us sharing the burden, helping us when we are too tired and the load is too heavy.

I love this image of Jesus walking beside us, helping carry our burdens.  I often needlessly carry my own burdens – not just physical burdens, but emotional burdens as well.  Jesus promises rest for our souls, and often that is the rest I need the most.  This is one way that Jesus spends time with His loved ones.

 Dana (right) serving at a Legacy Retreat® in Orlando.