Matthew 11:28-30,

 "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 burden is light."

This last week one of the things that we have been learning about and teaching students is this idea of solitude.  What does that mean?  Well, solitude simply is a state of mind and heart, finding that secret place with the Lord (kinda like a portable sanctuary).  Jesus multiple times in the Gospels goes off to be by Himself to pray.  He goes off to find that secret place to commune with God.  He goes off to hear and see God.  He gets away from all distraction to hear from the Lord.

Everyone longs for that inner silence that only comes with solitude; we ache to find that hiding/secret place to be with Jesus.  Our heart cries for it but how do we get there?  How do we find it and what do we have to do to get there?  So often I get caught up in the doing and trying that I miss the whole point.  I miss the simple command in Matthew to just come.  The word doesn't say that we have to do something to get there, it doesn't say that we have to be a certain way, it just says come.  Sometimes I view just coming as a hard thing but Jesus says that His burden is light and His yoke is easy.  The Yoke of Coming to Jesus should be a natural thing and not something that should be feared or even hard to do. 

So many times Satan tries to rob us of this right and command of coming to the Lord.  He tries to tell us that we are not worthy of coming to Jesus because of this or that.  He tries to get us so caught up in agenda and life that we miss this simple idea of just coming to the Lord.  That is the idea of solitude, forsaking all other distractions and just sitting before Jesus.  Without an agenda and list of what we need from Him, just simply coming and being in His presence and letting Him Speak and reveal Himself in the way that He desires.  And as we sit in His presence and let his words speak to our heart the cares of the world and the worries just fall off and all that matters at that moment is being with Jesus and hearing His heart beat for you His child.

When I was praying about this last week the Lord kept bringing a picture to my mind of this child.  This little girl that had dirty cloths on and tattoos all over her body and in the distance she was looking at her Father.  The tattoos where lies that the enemy had made her feel, shame, guilt, unworthy, unloved, not god enough, tainted, ugly and scared.  So badly wanting to be with her Father but held/bond by her tattoos.  She hears the call of her Father saying, "come and I will give you rest", and desperately wants to run into his arms!  She looks up after looking at all of her tattoos and dirty cloths and takes a step toward her Father.  As she takes the step one of the tattoos falls to the ground like a scale revealing the pure soft skin underneath.  She takes another step and another falls to the ground.  She takes another step, and another and another and more and more tattoos fall to the ground.  As she makes her way to her Father all that bound her falls away revealing the way that Jesus, her Daddy sees her.  When she reaches her Fathers arms, His tears and the song He sings over her washes over her stone cold, broken, wounded heart bringing restoration and wholeness in the place of the lies.

"Jesus, give us strength to run into your presence today.  Help us to see your heart and find the grace and rest that comes with being with You."  Amen.