E-Encouragement #4
Overloaded Wagon
“But Martha was distracted by her many tasks….”
-Luke 10:40
Shortly after last fall’s conference “Journey to the Center,” I began to experience a few
stress signals. I had shortness of breath and a pressure on my chest when I lay down at night to
sleep, but these symptoms were not present when I exercised. Right after the event, I had a couple
of crazy weeks. At the end of those 2 weeks our small group was scheduled to help with
Klubhouse, a family friendly show where we serve dinner prior to the show. Our small group had
done this numerous times. I recall explaining to Laura, our small group leader; with my hand
drawing the invisible line above my head how I had had it up to here! “If I put up and take down
one more chair, I think I going to loose it!” I proclaimed. Resentment and dread had replaced my
joy of serving. Shortness of breath, chest pains, resentment and dread were all red flags waving at
me announcing that something in my life was grossly out of balance.
Screaming out at God one day from my frustration, I prayed, “God! I have You in the center
of my life. I just led a conference in leading other women to keep You in the center of their life.
Where is that peace that passes all understanding? What is going on?” God was almost certainly
shaking His head waiting patiently for me to ask! When we ask, God is faithful to answer. Over
the next 4 months God began to reveal some things in my life that needed to change. The bottom
line was: Even though God was in the Center – I had some lessons to learn in how to live out of
that center. Lets follow the excursion of a sister sojourner and see if you can relate to her.
“Good morning God… Daddy! What a beautiful day you have made.” The sojourner
prayed.
“Well thank you my child. I love it when you are grateful for the simple things I provide for
you,” replied the Holy Spirit.
“I have a lot on my plate today, Jesus. But I want to give it back to you,” she prayed lifting
her hands up as if offering something up to God. “Is there anything you have for me to do today?”
She asked.
“Yes, there is. I have a wagon with three rocks in it right over there, and I need someone to
pull it up the hill for me. I believe you are just the one to do it. Are you willing,” asked the Holy
Spirit?
With delight, the sojourner responded, “Are you serious? Yes, I’d love to do something for
You. Those rocks don’t look too heavy, and the wagon looks capable enough. Now, where did you
want me to take it?”
“I have marked out a very specific path for you. I want you to follow the path to the top of
the hill beside the bubbling brook and leave the wagon there.” The Holy Spirit explained.
“No problem,” she replied as she picked up the handle and began to pull the wagon down
the path humming a song. It indeed was a beautiful day with the sun sparkling through the trees and
a pleasant breeze whistling through the leaves. It truly was exciting to be doing something for God.
Before long the sojourner met another woman, who was ecstatic to see her. The woman blasted her
with a barrage of questions like she had a Trenta Carmel Latte with and extra shot of caffeine,
“Good morning! How are you today? What a nice wagon you have. Where are you off to?”
The sojourner proudly answered, “Well, God gave me a job today. I’m delivering these
three rocks to the top the a hill by the bubbling brook.”
The woman responded with even more excitement. “No way! Can you believe it? I was
just praying this morning about how in the world was I going to get Lauren to chorus this afternoon,
when I have to have take my Julia bug to the doctors because her asthma has been acting up, but the
only time they could fit her in was at 4 o’clock so that only gives me just enough time to drop off
Morgan at swim practice, take Julia to the doctors and then take her on to violin lessons. Lauren
goes to the same school as your Abigail. Makes perfect sense. God is sooo good. You can pick
Lauren up when you pick up your Abigail and then just keep her until chorus at 4:30 pm and drop
her off. It is not too far out of the way from that hill. In fact just take her to the hill with you and
she can walk to chorus from there.” Stopping briefly to catch a breath, then looking over the top of
her glasses the woman added in a more serious directive tone, “and you know on top of all this
busy schedule – I am the one in charge of all the fundraisers at our daughter’s school and we have
that spaghetti dinner coming up!”
The sojourner, a little exhausted from the woman’s hectic schedule, but with enthusiasm
responded, “Of course, I don’t suppose God would mind. It does seem to make sense.” The woman
placed her rock into the sojourner’s wagon and waved her on sputtering out hyper thanksgivings
until the sojourner could no longer hear her. The sojourner continued to hum as she pulled the
wagon. The wagon was a little harder to pull, but not too much. She stopped for a moment to adjust
the load and continued on her way. It was a delight to be helping someone in need while she was
serving God, surely this would be pleasing to Him.
It wasn’t too long before the sojourner passed by a good friend’s house. The friend was
outside watering her flowers. “Oh my goodness girlfriend, you have quite the load. Have some
water.” The friend handed her a bottle of water. While the sojourner enjoyed her refreshment, the
friend asked, “So, what are you doing?”
The sojourner replied, “I am taking these rocks to the top of the hill! I am so excited! Can
you imagine? God gave me something to do!”
“That is exciting! I will keep you in my prayers. You know the enemy might want to try
and distract you. I will pray for your protection,” said the friend. As the sojourner thanked her for
the water and began to proceed on with her mission, her friend asked. “Oh, wait a minute. I forgot
to ask you if you could make dinner for the Stratford’s tonight, she is the one having twins and is on
bed rest. You know I am organizing the meals for the family. The person who was supposed to do
it tonight called and canceled. You are on the back up list of people to call in a pinch. Just make
extra of whatever you were making for your family.”
The sojourner looked into her wagon and then at her friend and said, “Shouldn’t be a
problem, I think I can handle it.” The friend placed her burden in the sojourner’s wagon and
expressed her gratitude.
The sojourner began to move along the path with more difficulty. It was amazing what a
difference just a couple of extra rocks could make. But it wasn’t that bad and it felt good to help
out another friend. Making a little extra dinner is really not that difficult, but a trip to the grocery
store would have to be worked in to make sure there was enough. Surely God would be proud of
how energetic and helpful she’d been. At that moment her thoughts were interrupted by her phone
ringing. “Oh, hi Debbie,” she greeted trying to hold the phone to one ear and still pull the wagon.
Debbie started right in, “I am so glad you answered your phone. I was afraid I wouldn’t
catch you. Hope you’re not too busy, but I needed to talk to you about the upcoming special event
that the church is doing for the orphanage down in Haiti. The pastor said you would be perfect for
doing the publicity. It is something you could do mainly from your home, working on some flyers
and the webpage to help us get the word out. Then the day of we will need you to put out the signs
and do registration. Oh, I feel so bad for those kids, they didn’t have families to begin with and now
they have to deal with the earthquake too. But this is something little we can do to make a
difference. So do you think you could help?”
While Debbie had been talking, the wagon had hit a hole in the road. The sojourner was
trying desperately to keep the wagon from turning over and still listen. “Are you there,” Debbie
asked? Wearily, she replied, “yes, I am here.”
“Good, thought I’d lost you. So, what do you think?” Debbie asked again.
Stopping a moment to look at the rocks in her wagon and then at the path ahead of her, the
sojourner answered back, “Um…. I think I am going to have to get back with you on that. Is this
the number I should call you at?”
“Uh, ok. Yes, this is the number you can reach me at. Um, so just call me back in a couple
of days if you don’t mind. Remember it’s for a good cause! Bye now!” There was a click and
Debbie hung up.
The sojourner put her phone back in her pocket and began to process Debbie’s request. It
sounded easy enough to do. Debbie was right, she could do most of it at home and then it would be
just the day of. If she didn’t help, what would people think of her? The people would think that she
doesn’t like foreign missions or that she doesn’t care about little homeless orphans. She stopped to
wipe the beads of sweat from her forehead; her stomach was starting to churn. “Oh…. I will feel so
guilty if I don’t help,” she said out loud. At that moment a huge kurplunk jolted the wagon as
another rock fell into it. She didn’t hear the sound of the added rock, but the weight of her guilt
made the wagon almost too heavy to pull.
Emotions began to well up inside her as the load of the burdens became almost unbearable.
God wasn’t supposed to give her more than she could handle. She had made it to the bottom of the
hill, but looking up at the hill it might as well had been Mount Everest. She was about to give up,
when she cried out to God. “This is NOT what I signed up for! It’s too much! I can’t do it!”
“Oh, sweet, sweet child, it sounds like you are having a hard time. What’s the problem?”
The Holy Spirit asked.
With tears in her eyes, she said. “You gave me a job that is too hard for me. I’m just not up
to it!”
“Well let’s take a look at what I gave you to do. What is that right there?” The Holy Spirit
asked.
The sojourner stumbled with her words as she picked up a rock, “Uh, well this belongs to
my friend, Gail, she needed my help with a meal so I thought I could help her.”
“Let’s take it out of the wagon, please. And what about that one?” The Spirit asked.
Noticing the guilt rock for the first time, she replied with a frustrated chuckle. “Well, this
one……. -oh you know what this one is. It is the guilt and shame I feel when I am afraid I am
going to let someone down or disappoint them. I actually carry it around with me a lot.”
Lovingly the Holy Spirit asked her to take it out along with the other rock He had not given
her. But the sojourner protested, “I can’t take that one out too, I said I would help with Lauren. Her
mom is counting on me!”
“Take it out. Sometimes you need to let others carry their own burdens; I will help you with
your mission.” The Spirit again said lovingly.
The sojourner was mortified as she took out the last rock. She said exasperated, “BUT…. I
promised. I can’t just leave these rocks lying here!”
“Child. Yes, sometimes we help others carry their burdens until they are able to carry their
own.” The Spirit said firmly, but gently. “Had you asked me along the way, I would have told you
whether or not you were to help carry them. When you are weighed down with all these other
cares, you are not able to do effectively what I have asked you to do.”
The sojourner had knelt down to place the rocks in a pile, when she suddenly realized the
freedom God was offering her. “You mean I ONLY have to carry these three rocks after all!?”
“That is what I asked you to do.” The Spirit’s voice was exhilarating like the Halleluiah
Chorus yet soothing like a saxophone solo. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I will never
leave you or forsake you. You must learn to trust in me and lean not on your own understanding.”
The sojourner’s excitement began to return. She knew that, what had she been thinking?
She could do this, because Jesus would give her the strength to do it. She picked up the handle of
the wagon and began to pull it up the hill. As the song she had hummed returned to her lips, she
noticed for the first time the sound of the bubbling brook and felt the coolness of the breeze on her
neck. It really had been a good day!
“But Martha was distracted by her many tasks….” (Luke 10:40) I, like Martha in the Bible
and the sojourner in the story above, had added a few rocks to my wagon that were not
commissioned by Jesus. I had offered up my big stuff, but I needed to offer the other things in my
life as well. It doesn’t mean that we don’t help others, but it does mean we need to run things by
the Holy Spirit before we say yes. Lesson #1 in learning to live from our Center is: I need to let
go of the rocks I am not intended to carry. There will be more on this lesson, but this is enough
for now.
Let the Wagon Wheel roll:
 Take some time over the next few weeks and ask the Holy Spirit to help you
determine what rocks are in your wagon that you are not intended to carry.
 Share with your mentor, with your small group or with a trusted friend what those
rocks are that need to be surrendered. Allow them to pray for you and hold you
accountable to action steps in removing rocks from your wagon that need to be
removed.
 Read and reflect on the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.
 Read the other Living Out of the Center E-Encouragements by going to
www.southshorechurch.com go to ministries, then women. The LOC
Encouragements are in the column on the right.
Credit goes to:
The above story was adapted from a story shared in chapter 4 of Joanna Weaver’s book,
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.
Written by
Janae Shatley Camp
Edited by
Kay Adams and Julie Searer