I’m an empath through and through. Of the top 10 traits of an empath, at least eight could be assigned to me. I can be highly sensitive, absorb other people’s emotions, introverted, in need of alone time, targeted by energy vampires, have highly tuned senses (my nerves are frayed by excessive talking and noise), I become replenished by nature, and I can at times give too much of myself. It’s because of this, that I believe I can be easily distracted from fighting the good fight and to lose focus of finishing my race well. 

The enemy knows this too. The enemy knows I have a God-given instinct to respond to injustice (rooted in sin) within the world because God responded to the injustice of sin by sending His son, Jesus. What the enemy does with that instinct, however, is manipulate and cheat me into believing the injustices of the world are my burden. The enemy delights in making me weary and when I’m weary, it’s easier for me to lose heart, lose focus, and lose my footing. 

It’s OK to feel things. It’s OK to grieve and lament. Even Jesus wept. The injustices of racism, sex trafficking, and oppression of the poor and marginalized, are our issues because they are God’s issues. But to quote writer Whitney Lowe, “the line between sharing truth embedded in grace and allowing (myself) to become weighed down with creating a solution is fine; as fine as the line between enjoying a good gift and idolatry.”

Talk about an eye opener. And once my eyes were opened, this next realization hit me: I have allowed my emotional state to contradict my faith that God is truly sovereign. 

If I believe He is in control, that He is the ultimate judge, that the victory is already His, then I need to also remember that the battle is ultimately His. I have the honor of partnering with Him in certain battles while on this earth and I can participate in important conversations, but I’m not meant to carry the weight of the justice and righteousness that Jesus alone can bear. 

The reconciliation and reform we long for, can only be made possible through Jesus because in order for that reconciliation and reform to happen, hearts have to be transformed. 

So when we empaths naturally get distracted by giving too much of ourselves and absorbing other people’s emotions, we have to fix our gaze on our sovereign God. 

“(When) our hearts begin to fray like cords bearing much more weight than they were made for, we follow HIS light and HIS truth and we bring our weariness and our burdens into worship,” Lowe writes. “There we trade the heaviness of having to create change (for we are reflections of the Creator, not the Creator himself) for the change He has already ordained.”

When we are faced with adversity, opposition, and suffering, we must fight to remain faithful to Him, to remain in His Word, and to fervently trust Him. My pastor said it best this weekend – “We don’t know what to do and we don’t have what it takes, so we’re going to stay connected to Jesus.”

“Come to me, all 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.” – Matthew 11:28-30

I can’t tell you how many times I came across this verse this week. It was in my devotional, on Instagram, my Bible study…everywhere. I know this verse, or at least I thought I did, but He knew otherwise. See, I may have known the verse, but I wasn’t living it. He was trying to get me to come to Him, to walk with Him, work with Him, and watch how He does it. To keep company with Him so that I could learn to live freely and lightly in this troubled world. He wanted me to get away with Him so that I could recover. 

I was also reminded of two Lauren Daigle songs this week, “Look Up Child” and “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. In the first, she asks where God is “when darkness seems to win” and “when the world is crumbling”. Of course, His answer is to look up. In the second, she sings, “Oh soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant and free.”

These songs and this verse spoke to me this week. I knew it was a message from above. I hear you God. But man, if it isn’t a daily battle. 

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Holy Spirit, who lives inside me, empowers me every single day no matter what the world may throw at me. He will restore me. He will take my burdens. I need only to look up and be still. 

He’s working and I’m fighting to trust; to fight the good fight; to keep my gaze fixed on Him. I’m fighting to pick up my cross on a daily basis and to rest in His presence and Sovereign glory. 

 Keep leading me, Jesus.