Aliel Cunningham

Last year was my first year of stepping into a full time ministry role and I still have so much to learn about what makes for good habits and rhythms in this new season. Lately, my schedule has been very full and some things that I usually really enjoy have started to feel heavy and burdensome. I have started to talk to God about this sense of feeling burdened. Usually when this heaviness comes in my daily life it is because I am carrying something that He has not asked me to hold. So, I asked Him to show me what I need to let go of?

The picture that came to mind was a surprising one. I was raised in a home that valued stories and we often read and watched different versions of classic fairy tales. The picture that came to mind was in the form of the familiar fairy tale, Cinderella, but it had an unexpected ending. Instead of the fairytale story ending with Cinderella going to the castle with the Prince and living happily ever after, the story ended with Cinderella going to the castle and introducing herself to the king, not as the newly crowned royal princess, but as someone who is self-sufficient and didn’t need anything. She spent most of her time telling the king about what she would so that he didn’t have to worry about taking care of her. She promised him that she wouldn’t be a burden on the royal household because she knew how to scrub floors, sew her own clothes, and cook her own food.

“She spent most of her time telling the king about what she would so that he didn’t have to worry about taking care of her.”

I was startled by this picture and realized how out of place such a response would be to the royal king in the story. How sad such an ending would be if she came to the castle as a princess and yet did not enter into the new life, freedom and provision that were offered to her simply because she is loved. I asked God, “Is this how I treat You sometimes in my heart? Do I try to do some things in my own strength because I don’t want to be a burden to You or to others around me?” I wondered why have I not stepped fully into my identity as a royal daughter of God who has the freedom to trust the King’s care for me?

As I pondered this question, two scriptures came to mind that highlighted two areas I needed to grow in. The first was from Jeremiah 2:13 which says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the Spring of Living Water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.” This verse really hit at the heart of what I had been guilty of doing. I had been trying to find my own provision and create my own store of resources instead of coming to the One who has wooed my heart from the beginning. In this scripture He calls Himself the “spring of living water” and later Jesus extends this theme to say that no only does His living water satisfy the deep thirst of our souls, but He will also cause living waters to flow through us as we trust in His name (John 7:37-38). He is the source of all that I need. Until I repent and let go of all the ways I am trying to be my own source and sustainer of life, I have no room to receive all that He desires to freely give.

“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”

John 7:37b

The other scripture God used to speak to my heart comes from Isaiah 30:15, “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation; In quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you would have none of it.” This scripture also speaks to these two areas of my heart that need God’s healing touch. The first is repenting of trying to save and care for myself like the self-sufficient Cinderella who tells the king she does not need him to provide for her. The second is in learning to rest, trust, and be confident in God’s ability to abundantly care for me and my heart needs and for those around me that my life is intertwined with.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation; In quietness and trust is your strength.”

Isaiah 30:15b

When Cinderella first married the prince most of her life experience had been in serving and caring for the needs of others. She may not have many memories of her father caring for her before he died. She may have struggled when she first arrived at the castle to change her mindset from that of a slave girl who slept in the ashes to that of a royal princess who has every care and concern watched over by the king’s royal household and the prince who fell in love with her. Like Cinderella, we too once were slaves trying to scratch out a living from the cinders of life, but through the love of our Prince of Peace, Jesus, we were rescued and adopted into the Father’s royal family. The question is whether we have chosen to change our mindset or are we still trying to provide and care for ourselves. The scripture in Isaiah clearly spells out God’s desire for us to rest in Him and His perfect care for us, but it also highlights that the choice is ours. We can receive His grace and trust in His provision or we can refuse it and try to work things out our own way.

Comforter, Counselor, Prince of Peace
Author and Maker of everything
Defender, Deliverer, King of Kings
He is, He is

David Crowder has a beautiful song entitled, “He Is” and the last lines of the song ring out this refrain, “All that you’re needing, He is.” Once we start to believe this is really true, we can step fully into our inheritance as sons and daughters of the King of Kings. When we realize that there is nothing too difficult for Him and we start to consistently bring all of our cares, burdens, needs, desires and concerns to Him in complete confidence and trust that He is able to care for us better than we can care for ourselves, then we will start to experience the deep rest of knowing Him more in every situation we face. As we acknowledge our need for more of God, we become earthen vessels which allow others to see the grace He supplies in every moment. We begin to trust and rest in the One who says, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Amen.

Helper and Healer forevermore
Savior and Shelter through every storm
My Refuge, Redeemer and Lord of Lords
He is, He is

Child of Heaven and Son of Man
Provider, Protector, the Great I AM
Alpha Omega, Beginning and End
He is, He isHope for the hopeless
Rest for the weary
Help for the hurting
He is, He is
Mending the broken
Bearing the burdens

All that you’re needing
He is