The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
SoulFit: Hope When Life Feels Heavy
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We reflect on hope when life feels heavy and learn to trade control for trust. Scripture, story, and simple practices help us take one faithful step today while resting in God’s care and the strength of community.
• biblical hope as trusting God in the middle of pain
• the rat study as a picture of endurance through hope
• small burdens adding up like a heavy backpack
• God close to the brokenhearted and weary
• releasing control to receive real rest
• hope as direction rather than denial
• present suffering reframed by future glory
• practical steps for today instead of future what‑ifs
• casting anxiety on God and leaning on community
Welcome to SoulFit. Thank you for taking a little time to join us today. If this is your first time joining us each week, we join a live call called SoulFit where we talk we talk a little bit about scripture and we talk about how that can be applied to our daily life. So we take some faith-based things and how do they become applicable to our real life. So let's join our live call. So we'll get started. So we're gonna talk about, well, first of all, I'm gonna share one of my favorite stories that nobody believes, but I'm gonna share it anyhow. Some of you, probably many of you have heard it, and there might be some that haven't. So I'm gonna I'm gonna share it again, anyhow. It's the rat story. And if you've been to walk and talk, sit and talk, you know what the rat story is all about. So back in the 50s, and this is so sometimes when I say uh research shows or study shows, you'll go look for that. You might not find it, just because sometimes it sounds more believable when you say research or study show. Try it out, and people believe you more. But this is actually true. So a study back in the 50s was done with a bunch of rats, and so they took these rats and put them in water. And because they wanted to see how long they would survive, they could little rats could swim in the water. And so they they put them in the water, they're swimming around, and it only took about 15 minutes before they started to go under, they started to sink. So the researchers, they took the labs, they they the labs, they took the rats out of the water, gave them a couple minutes to kind of regroup on whatever rat does after it gets done swimming, and then they put them back in the water because they wanted to see how long they would last after they put them in the first time. So after the second time, how long do you think they would last? And if you know this, you can't answer. It's real hard because you're like, I know this answer. And and you may not remember either, but you might think maybe five minutes, because now the the rats were tired, they were exhausted. You might think 10 minutes. Would anybody think they made it more than 20? Probably not. But when the rats they put the rats back in, they found that the rats lasted 60 hours from the first time. And and mind you that they put them in there, they only made it about 15 minutes. They plucked them out right as they were going under and dried them off, let them rest for a couple minutes, put them back in, and they lasted the second time for 60 minutes. 60 minutes, 60 hours, 60 hours. They lasted for 60 hours. And so we might, and they're just rats, but we might say, what gave the rats, well, how are they able to go from 15 minutes and two minutes later they were able to make it for 60 hours? And the the simple thing is was hope. Hope that someone, that they would be saved again. I mean, I and I don't know if they were if they tested them again, but it it's amazing what we can do when we have that hope from the first time. And so that's what we're gonna talk about. You know, hope when life feels heavy, because just I think we can all think of ourselves as a rat, a rat swimming in water. There are a lot of times when we kind of go under and we come up, we go under and we come up. And life gets heavy, it gets heavy in a lot of different ways, and it's not because we lack faith a lot of times, it's because we're human and life is just heavy. And the great thing about biblical hope is choosing to trust God in the middle of that, in the middle of what feels heavy. I mean, that's biblical hope, is when we choose God, even when everything's heavy, we're trusting Him in the middle of that mess. It's not a researcher that plucks us out many times. It's never a researcher that plucks us out, it's God that plucks us out. And is what gives us hope a lot of times is you know, and that all sounds good, but how does that really work? And it's and it's just like the rats. When we're plucked out, when we were about to go under and we're saved, and we think, okay, it's gonna get better. We can go longer. And then when that happens again, it gets heavy. We kind of bobble and go underwater, then we get plucked out again, and we go, okay, I can go longer. So hope is not the absence of pain. Those rats are swimming hard for 60 hours. Think of how what your swimming looks like in your life. It's really hard swimming against current, all sorts of things. So it's not the absence of pain because think about they were probably experiencing their little rats. Their legs were tired, they were breathing hard, they wanted to, you know, quit, all those things. So it's not the absence of pain, it's the presence of trust. And that and that's what hope is. It's the presence of trust that it will get better, it will change, it will become different. And some seasons aren't hard because of one big thing. Think of a lot of your different seasons. It's typically not one big thing, it's it's they're heavy because of all the small things piling up. We talk about a lot of times that we put them in our backpack. And we take things and we put them in our backpack. And so that thing, inherently of itself, is not heavy. But when we toss it in the backpack, it gets really heavy. So all these things that are going on in our season of life get really heavy because we go, I'll take this little thing, put it back here. I'll take this little thing and put it back here. And and that's what really gets heavy. And life feels heavy in different ways. It feels sometimes emotionally, sometimes it is mentally, sometimes it is physically, sometimes it's spiritually. And sometimes when we feel like God's not showing up, that can be heavy. You know, we keep praying, we keep asking, but we don't see any, you know, any improvement, anything different. That's when we still have, and that can get heavy in life. That can be very heavy. And when we feel those heavy things, it doesn't mean we failed. It just means that what we're carrying is something that really matters. Um, it really matters to us. And so we're gonna talk a little bit, you know, when we say, well, you know, and that heaviness sometimes is God, where where are you? In this in this season, where are you? And so we're gonna talk about one of the things is God acknowledges the weight we carry. I mean, Psalms 34, 18, it talks about the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Now, it wouldn't say that if nobody ever experienced brokenhearted or a crushed spirit, and and a crushed spirit is like, I'm just, I don't know what else to do. Where are you? What's going on? This is too much. And I think chances are, I think I was I was listening to the conversation in an interview the other day, and it was talking about that on average, people have five to six major devastating events in their life. Five to six on average. So we're almost guaranteed some heaviness. Maybe it is spiritual, maybe it's physical, maybe it's emotional. We will experience those things. And and he's close to us, even when we're brokenhearted, even when our spirit is crushed, he is close. And then Matthew 11, 28 says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest. And that's really saying that God doesn't dismiss our heaviness, he meets us in it. And that's where sometimes we find him is in that heaviness. He he's not saying, Well, when you get through it, I'll see you on the other side, big guy. You'll be on the other side. No, he says, I'll meet you in it, I'll give you rest. And we think, well, how does it and if you're like me, sometimes you have things going on, I don't feel very restful. Even though I've prayed, I don't feel very restful. It's still very challenging. Like, I don't know where this rest is that he says, I'll give you rest. I'm not feeling that rest. And I and so when I think about that, and as I thought about that this week getting ready, I thought many times it's because we want to be in control. Why don't we rest? It's because he's not doing it fast enough. So let me take control because I know what to do. And a lot of times heaviness comes from we want control and we're not controlling it very well. So the heaviness, because how do we feel when we just sit with it? And we're resting and we're waiting. And we can get rid of that heaviness by releasing control. When we let go of the control, we then give it to him and say, I don't have control over it, I can't do this, I can't fix this. Have you ever been in a point in your life where you say, I don't know what else to do? I can't do anything. And sometimes that's exactly where he wants you because you keep trying to, well, let me let me do this thing, let me talk to this, let me change this, and because we're trying to keep control of it. So it means sometimes we just sit, rest, and listen. Maybe it doesn't mean we stop doing things altogether. We keep going, but we look for what is he trying to speak to us about? What is he trying to tell us? What does and and sometimes in the rest, just like exercise, in that rest is where we grow. We do really good in the workout, in treadmill, and in lifting. But in the rest is where the repair happens. It's where the muscles repair, they get stronger. The rest is where the magic happens, and in the rest is where we can hear what he's trying to share with us. And so in the rest, we become stronger. And and that's why he says, I will give you rest, but we have to release that control to be able to allow him to give us rest. And then when we talk, think about hope. It's it hope is not denial. Hope is really a direction. And you may have never thought about hope as being a direction. Hope doesn't say this doesn't hurt, hope doesn't say everything is fine. It's what it does say is this is hard, but God is still good. It says, I don't know how this will turn out, but I'm not alone. So it's not saying, oh, you know, this is not emotionally hurtful, this is not spiritually hurtful, this is not physically hurtful. It's saying this hurts like heck. But God is still good and he has a plan. And my and and I have hope because I trust in him and he wants what's best for me. So no matter how bad this is and how challenging this is, just like when you pick up a super heavy weight and you're out of breath and your face is red because you forget to breathe and you go, This is so hard. And you put it down and you go, Man, that felt good. I lifted some heavy weight. I ran really fast today. And that's what hope is is saying that this is hard, but God is good. Now I'm not alone. I don't know how this will turn out, but I'm not alone. So again, biblical hope is a confident expectation that God is at work. You're confident that he is at work somewhere in some part of your life, and maybe he's working on somebody else that needs to help, and that takes some time too, because that goofball over there is trying to be in control too. So he's got all these goofballs trying to be in control and not resting, and then and it takes a little time to get everybody on the right page. So even when we can't see it, he's working on it. And like we know a lot of times, this is so much easier said than done. So much easier when we have loss, when we have hurt, when there we have loneliness, when we have overwhelm, when we have anxiety, when we have these things, it's really hard to be to have some hope. Because don't what what do we usually expect when we pray for things lost to be to be better, for the hurt to be better, for the loneliness to go away, for the anxiety to go away, for the what what do we usually expect? For it to go away. For it to go away right away, like those little rats saying, you know, take me out of the water and them to be plucked. And really the researchers are studying, going, hey, let's see how long they can tread water for and still believe that they're gonna stay alive. That's what we're being expected of. Because there is hope that that will happen, that we know it will happen. It's it's biblical hope. And Romans 8:18 says, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. So, you know, when I read that, I took it as our the future outcome is better than our current discomfort. So, if you want to put it in everyday terms, our future outcome is better than our current discomfort. So, again, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. So, no matter how much we suffer, in the end, it's gonna be so much better. Does it make day-to-day life challenging still? Yes. Does it get fixed right away? Not always. It takes time and it and it takes hope and it takes prayer and it takes friends and it takes spouses and significant others to build up each other and work with each other and support each other. And sometimes it's a friend or a spouse that has that word or those thoughts for you that help you get through it, and maybe he's speaking through them. It's kind of like when we're asking, if you've heard that story of there's a flood and a guy's on the roof, and a helicopter comes by, or a boat comes by, and he says, Oh, no, no, no, I'm waiting, I'm waiting for to be saved. And then a helicopter comes by and says, No, no, no, I'm waiting for God to save me. And then he ends up drowning, and then he gets to heaven and says, God, I thought you were gonna save me. He said, I sent you two chances. The same thing is true. Sometimes it's through other people that we get spoken to. And when we think about hoping, the important thing is God gives us strength today, not to, not for the whole load. He he so it's one faithful step. He gives us strength for today, for this, what can I, and sometimes it's the moment. What can I get through in this moment? And because we often feel crushed, because what are we trying to carry? We're trying to carry tomorrow's worries, future outcomes, and what ifs. Before we've even gotten to them, we're trying to get a head start so we can put them in the backpack. And really, we're we want to be grabbed to the future, put them in the backpack, and carry them before they've ever even happened. Which we can't control tomorrow's worries, we can't control future outcomes, we can't control what-ifs. But what we can do is have the strength in today. And what are we doing today? In Matthew 6 34, God speaks and he says, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own. So that's God telling us that. But yet, what do we still do? No, I'm gonna worry about tomorrow, the next day, a month from now. But he is telling us in his own words, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble on its own. He's saying, focus on today. What is the next faithful step you can take today? And maybe it's just swim a little bit longer, maybe it's tread water a little bit longer, just today, just for this moment, just a little bit longer. And and our hope continues to grow when that weight is released, when he takes that weight from us, when when we can name what we're carrying, what are we carrying? How do we release that? How do we lean on God and our community? Because he's put those people around us, which is our community, to help build us up. We're more than two or more meet, there I am, a community. He wants to be in the community with us. So, 1 Peter 5:7, cast all anxiety on him because he cares for you. He cares for us in that moment. And we're not meant to carry hope alone. We're meant to get it from him and release it to him. So, my challenge is just simply this is if there's something you've been carrying, can you release it to him? Can you can release that control and start leaning on him for that biblical hope that he wants what's best for you? And in his own words, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. And can you take, and if if nothing else was remembered, and hope is what's my next faithful step? What's my next little bit longer swimming? Because at any moment, he will answer the the things I've been asking for. And so that's really the challenge for each of us. So next week's topic, I'm kind of excited about next week's topic. It's trusting God's timing. As we as we follow up from hope and we were and we wonder, where are you, God? We're gonna talk about God's timing, and we're gonna use Sarah and Hagar in the Bible to talk about trusting God's timing because I think it's a great story to illustrate God's timing and what happens when we try to rush God's timing. Um, it's an interesting story that we still see play out today because they didn't wait for God's timing all the way back in Genesis. So we're gonna, I'll just uh finish up in prayer and then we can go on about our wonderful day. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us all together today, joining us in all different places, but joining us here in this one spirit of attitude and spirit of wanting to know more about you and just having you in our life. And Lord, just give us strength that we we lean on you and that we know that. Hope is there, and that you are the answer to our hope, and that you just ask us to worry about today and just take that next faithful step that we may be continue our hope and continue our journey and continue to lean on you and those around us. And just watch over each of us as we go out about our day, about our weekend, about our week, and just give us that strength to do so. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And thank you so much to each of you for joining us on this week's Soul Fit. I look forward to seeing you right here next time on SoulFit.