HEAVY? LIFE SEEMS SO HEAVY?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Sometimes Christmas, sickness, and life can be SO HEAVY? WHAT CAN I DO?
I. TEXT:
Matthew 11:28 Come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I WIL GIVE YOU REST!
1 Peter 5: 7 CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM, FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU!
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED.
Psalms 30:4 SING unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give THANKS at the remembrance of His Holiness.
5. For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favor is life; weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.
II. Heavy, life is so heavy. Why? Why is this so heavy?
Well, I can never understand? I just can’t figure it out?
Seems all I see is the little picture, and this piece to the puzzle doesn’t belong in my big dream? This little picture seems to hide or at least distort the bigger.
THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED ... is my heart today.
III. DEFINE HEAVY:
having great weight; hard to bear; of weighty importance; serious; deep; profound;
grievous; down by something oppressive; lackinfg sparkle; dulled with weariness;
having stress;
IV. DEENNA’S POEM:
There is a poem that has ministered to me, and it came to me by a strange path.
There was a lady named Deenna. She was in the resthome.
She had cancer of the brain and they removed the right side of her skull and the
brain behind it. Her left side of her body was totally paralyzed, her left eye was blind,
and she would almost turn your stomach if you really looked at her.
She sang or read 10 hours a day. Her singing was not pretty to the ear, but she was special
to the heart. Her vision was so poor that the song book had to be in her face.
She would sing one song, flip the page and sing the next song. She would sing through the book.
The first song I heard Deenna sing was, HOW BEAUTIFUL HEAVEN MUST BE,
sweet home of the happy and free, fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful heaven must be.
I stood in the hallway of the resthome and cried. This lady was in a fetal position, and out of that
ball of human flesh came a sound that soothed a weary preacher.
I stood in the doorway on her blind side and enjoyed her high shrill voice praising God.
I started to speak to her, but she started singing another song, ONE DAY AT A TIME SWEET JESUS,
that is all I am asking from you ... teach me today, show me the way one day at a time.
I saw Jesus with Deenna and she ministered to my heart. Over the next 8 years Deanna became
a well of living water to me. Deanna’s husband left, her handsome son was in the Army and seldom,
very seldom came home. So, little cripple, singing Deenna was forgotten by the world.
But Deanna often refreshed me when I was tired and low in spirits.
Deanna quoted this poem to me many times, as her memory faded more and more,
Deanna would read this poem to me with the one eye focused on a big printed copy.
AWAITING MY INVITATION
THIS I BELIEVE
I AM NOT WAITING FOR THE SUNSET
AS THE SWIFT YEARS COME AND GO.
I AM WATCHING FOR THE SON RISE,
AND THE MORNING’S GOLDEN GLOW.
I AM NOT GOING DOWN, BUT UPWARD,
AND THE PATH IS NEVER DIM.
FOR THE SKY IS EVER BRIGHTER,
AS I JOURNEY ON WITH HIM.
SO MY EYES ARE ON THE HILLTOPS,
WAITING MY INVITATION,
TO HIS HOME BEYOND THE SKIES. BY LEWIS
V. IS IT FAIR TO ASK GOD TO REMEMBER US IN OUR HEAVINESS?
I moved away from that pastorate, but I would often think of Deanna.
Six years later I was discouraged and I had lost my vision of the bigger picture.
I drove 5 hours back to Floyd County. I was looking for God’s seal of approval on me?
As I drove around my old stomping ground, I thought, I wondered does anyone remember
this Preacher or my ministry? I drove to Walmart, I didn’t see anyone that knew me.
I drove and seemed to be led to the resthome? I parked my car, I walked down the hill.
I prayed a childish prayer, I asked God to let somebody remember me. No nurse remembered me?
I walked down to Deenna’s room, and she was not there any longer.
I heard this shrill, high pitched voice, and I said, THAT IS DEANNA SINGING?
I thought wow God. I walked down the hallway and the voice was louder.
Deanna was singing, but she was very mentally confused. The nurse said Deanna had not made sense
with any talking, but that she could still sing. I stood on Deanna’s blind side and listened and cried.
When I regained my composure, I decided I would pray for Deanna one more time.
I spoke the name of Jesus, yet I felt so worthless, I asked Jesus to remember Deenna and me,
sort of like the thief on the cross, I just asked Jesus to remember us, if everyone forgot, remember us.
Deenna moved her head and said IS THAT YOU BROTHER HUGHES? IS THAT YOU?
I answered her and said, Yes, Deenna, it is me! She asked if I had my guitar?
I said no, it is at home. Then she asked HOW IS LINDA? How are your two sons?
She called my two sons by name, she asked about Marty and Joshua?
I asked about her son? She had a picture of him in uniform. Her son had been over seas several years
and she had not seen him. We sang several songs together.
As I left, I stood in the doorway and listened to her sing. She had lost her copy of her poem,
I quoted it to her, and as she sang, I wrote the poem down in large letters so she could read it.
As I was leaving an old lady named Ellen, said, Brother Hughes, I thought I would never get to see you again.
We talked and visited with Ellen. I walked down memory lane as I walked that hallway.
I saw a name on the door, Bethel, I remembered her, she would always come out to sing.
I observed her arthritis was much worse, she was bent in pain.
I stood over her bed, she looked at me but never moved her eyes. Well, she didn’t remember me?
I did not know Bethel was now totally blind, so I decided to pray with Bethel.
As I spoke, Bethel raised her head and said Brother Wade Hughes, we have talked about you and
your two sons many times. Bethel said, sometimes when we pray we pray for you and Marty and Joshua.
Bethel’s mind was very bright, and we remembered us singing together. She asked me to sing,
WHERE THE ROSES NEVER FADE... I sang ---
1. I am going to a city where the streets with gold are laid
Where the tree of life is blooming, and the roses never fade.
Here they bloom but for a season, soon their beauty will decay;
I am going to a city where the roses never fade.
2. In this world we have our troubles, Satan’s snares we must evade;
We’ll be free from all temptations, where the roses never fade.
Here they bloom but for a season, soon their beauty will decay;
I am going to a city where the roses never fade.
3. Loved ones gone to be with Jesus, in their robes of white arrayed,
Now are waiting for my coming, where the roses never fade.
Here they bloom but for a season, soon their beauty will decay;
I am going to a city where the roses never fade.
Will you sing this with me, NOW?
I was remembered? Little nothingness, but I was remembered.
Can’t you see Jesus’ remembers you? Jesus remembers yours?
VI. SOME TIMES ALL WE CAN DO IS SING? HOW CAN WE SING IN A WEARY LAND?
WELL, WE MUST SEE BEYOND HERE! WE MUST SEE BEYOND THIS TRIAL.
Sure life is heavy, and the older I get it seems much more heavy to me...
We hurt for us? We hurt for others that have made poor choices? We hurt as we see the
heaviness of this old world pressing the ones that we love? We suffer and can’t seem to
get a grip on the bigger picture.
We can’t be exempt from the heaviness, that is life. But God knew that this heaviness would try to dim our lights. The bigger picture cannot be distorted by heaviness. Not if we see...
VII. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED.
VIII. CAN I REALLY SEE? WHAT CAN I REALLY SEE?
12/1/03 I preached a dear friend’s funeral, it was very hard for me. Joe Arnette had been my friend
22 years. He was one of the most faithful church members I have ever pastored. I had been his pastor for
8 1/2 years, 1270 sermons. Joe watched my boys grow from diapers to men.
I was so honored to be called to return to preach Joe’s funeral.
I had written something in the front of my old Bible on 3/10/94. Here is what I wrote:
Joe Arnette, age 82, told me in Louisville, Ky. on 3/10/94,
"MY EYE SIGHT MAY BE GROWING DIMMER, BUT I AM SEEING
CLEARER EVERYDAY."
At Joe’s funeral, his son Joe Jack opened thanking all for coming and remembered his Dad.
Joe Jack said a light has gone out, my thought was PICKING UP THE TORCH THAT JOE
HAD LAID DOWN. We can’t let the light go out, we must find hands and place the HOPE and
LIGHT we know into their hands. I must be a human agent of revival no matter how I feel, or what I see.
IX. OUR PURPOSE OR HIS?
I am asking God to remember you in your heaviness, but God is asking you to KEEP PRAISING HIS HOLY NAME! WEAR THAT GARMENT OF PRAISE ... see the BIG picture of
Romans 8:28 And WE KNOW that all things work together to them that LOVE the Lord, the called according to His Purpose.
A heavy axe with a sharp edge can do great work. It is not if the axe is heavy, it is if it is sharp or
dull. A heavy dull axe can not do much. God uses our heaviness with Your sharpness.
If peace is gone seems every heart is heavy?
We are not designed to carry heaviness, are we?
1 Peter 5: 7 CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM, FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU!
Courage does not always ROAR! Sometimes real courage finds a quiet place, and rest, and listens for the quiet voice at the ending of the day, and purpose within the heart, "I WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW!"
We are promised --- JOY COMES IN THE MORNING...
We can, we can make it, we can go on, we can come through this,
THIS TOO SHALL PASS...
We are candles, and we give ourselves to the light. His Presence we seek!
His voice we listen for! May others see Jesus in our eyes!
May we never lose focus of the main thing!
I love you, I pray for you! Good comes out of bad! In God we trust!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Kyf
