“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The suitcase of guilt. A sack of discontent. You drape a duffel bag of weariness on one shoulder and a hanging bag of grief on the other. Add on a backpack of doubt, an overnight bag of loneliness, and a trunk of fear. Pretty soon you’re pulling more stuff than a skycap. No wonder you’re tired at the end of the day. Lugging luggage is exhausting.” Max Lucado, Traveling Light

If you have ever been backpacking, you know it can be lots of fun and leads to destinations that are breathtaking. When you go backpacking for the first time, you realize that everything you bring is something that you carry. You can’t bring everything you want. You can’t even bring everything you think you need. Every single ounce counts. Way too often, we try to carry what God never intended for us to carry. I know God doesn’t want us to carry family brokenness, financial pressure, regrets over bad decisions, missed goals and whatever else we try to pick up as we journey through life.

God asks us to give our baggage to Him (1 Peter 5:7) and to ditch anything that is slowing us down.(Hebrews 12:1). God seriously wants us to throw off everything that prevents us from a relationship with Him. God want us to travel light. He is trying to take our fears, shame, addictions, regrets, and control issues. When we pack. our bag to go backpacking, everything we leave out is room for something else. God wants more room in our lives for Him. Think about it; we give our burdens to God and He gives us Himself. Yet, somehow the more we carry from Him, the lighter we are. We need to look at things we picked up along the way. We don’t have to carry them anymore. We can trade them for more of God.