How Well is Your Soul?

God has been whispering to me lately about the message that the famous old hymn talks about.  You know the old song I’m talking about, It is well with my soul.  And as he has whispered the question, asking of the condition of my soul, I’ve had to look deeper than surface to find an answer.  To be truthful, my answer has been “not so well, Lord.”  I have let the stresses of life take a toll on my soul and put me in a place where I only wanted to deal with the surface of life.

I can tell when my soul is not in a great place because I tend to go numb to my feeling and emotions.  I live off the surface of life and avoid my feelings.  Are you with me?  Avoiding the way things make you feel and just going through the motions to get to the next day.  I can let myself do this for a very long time.  And when I do, I avoid spending time with God because I know that he will go there.  He doesn’t let me avoid for very long.  I have even tried to just skate by and avoid going there by trying to stay on surface level with God.  Lets just say…. That doesn’t work.  He is a deep and caring God that doesn’t allow us to enter his presence and never feel anything.  I guess I don’t know what he does with other people but for me, he doesn’t let me do it for long.  Eventually, he makes me look at the state of my soul and face where I am.

This has been happening to me lately.  Questions about my soul.  He asks, “Is all that is happening in your life well with your soul?”  Not that I have any horrible things happening in my life at the moment.  I just have the every day stresses that everyone else deals with.  Concerns that we all experience.  Concerns about the future of my teenage son.  Concerns about adult children.  Concerns about finances and how to plan for the future.  Concerns about aging parents. Concerns about the next chapter of life. Concerns about family.  Concerns about the conflicts that happen in marriage.  They are all normal life issues.  The same things that other people deal with.

But I have let them build up and burden my soul.  I have let them build up and instead of taking them to the throne of God and leaving them at the feet of Jesus, I have been carrying them around in an invisible back pack. While I numbed my emotions, I have thrown each problem over my shoulder and let my invisible back pack get heavier and heavier until I’m dragging my feet under the weight.

I have been letting life live me instead of living my life.  What I mean is I have spent way to much time letting the struggles of life be the director of my souls wellness.  You see, I believe what God means in Matthew 11:28-30 is be well in your soul.   Jesus said “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burdens is light.”

What he has been telling me is stop avoiding me because I am the answer to the burden you feel so heavy on you all the time.  So I am once again learning to lean in.  To lean in longer in my quiet time with him.  To lean in more often through out my day.  To let him take my burdens as they happen and trust him for the result what ever it might be.  Letting it be… what ever may come… well with my soul.

How well is your soul today?  Is it well?  Or have you been like me, carrying an invisible back pack full of burdens?  If you are, I urge you to give them to Jesus, he has a large enough yoke to carry yours too.  Lean in my friend, lean in longer and more often.