WHEN THE YOKE BECAME EASY
When I was little, I used to think “My yoke is easy” meant Jesus preferred his eggs cooked over-easy. It didn’t make much sense, but neither did a lot of the Bible at that age. I simply accepted that some things were beyond me.
As I grew older, life became heavier than I expected. With constant health issues, I learned early to lower my expectations of myself and my future. I convinced myself traveling alone and never attaching to anyone was the safest route; that if I kept my distance, I wouldn’t become a burden. I never dared to dream of being a wife or a mother. My yoke felt heavy, and I prepared to carry it alone for as long as I could.
In my 30s, the words from Matthew 11:28-30 resurfaced with deeper meaning: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you…for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
I was at one of the darkest points in my life. My health was failing. Sometimes even breathing felt like a battle. I reached out to Jesus in desperation. I asked Him to take over, to guide me, to shoulder what I could no longer carry. I didn’t ask to be healed; I simply asked for a friend to sit with in darkness.
My health didn’t miraculously improve, but something unexpected happened. Instead of removing the weight, He sent someone to help me carry it. Someone who didn’t see me as a burden, even on the worst days. Someone who stayed through the pain, the fear, the hidden moments, and the nights I felt like disappearing from the world. Through that companionship, Jesus turned isolation into comfort and fear into support.
I used to believe that “My yoke is easy” meant life would be simple, that the rest would come through the absence of hardship. Now I understand the promise wasn’t the removal of the burden. It was simply the sharing of it. Rest came not in escape, but in love. The yoke became light because I no longer carried it alone.
Where in my life am I still trying to carry the weight alone? What would it look like to let Jesus or someone He has placed in my life to help me lift it?
Kath Foung