Who Will Carry Your Spiritual Baggage?

Several years ago in the youth service at my church, our former youth pastor spoke about the baggage that we carry around with us daily.  This topic has really been stuck in my mind since that night.
Each of us has things in our lives that we try to deal with on our own. Maybe we are angry or bitter with someone we feel has wronged us.  Maybe we refuse to forgive the person who lied to us.  Maybe we have troubles on our job or in our family that we try to “fix” by ourselves.
In these circumstances, the trouble is that we forget how little our problem is in light of the fact that we serve an awesome God.  In 1 Peter 5:7, God tells us to “cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us.”   Can you believe it?  God tells us to give it all to Him, and He will take care of it.  That’s wonderful news – if only we would both accept it and act on it.
There are so many times when I face a problem and I tell myself that I’m going to give it over to God only to pick it back up again within five minutes.  Am I the only one?  Or how about the times when I say, “Lord, I forgive ___________ for ____________,” and then the next day when I see the person the bitterness creeps back in?
The thing that I struggle with is completely, 100 percent giving it to God.  He is so much bigger and better than I could ever be, and yet I try to take care of it on my own.  Am I really trusting God if I sit the problem down and then pick it back up again?
For those who know me, I am a “fixer.”   I want to have a plan for everything.  I want to be in control.  I want to fix problems.  The thing that I must realize is that God didn’t call me to be a “fixer,” but rather a “pray-er.”  Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NASB).  You see, if I stop trying to fix everything on my own and take it to God in prayer, He will hear me and He will fix whatever needs to be fixed, and in the process, He will take away my anxiety and give me peace!  Isn’t that awesome?
I suppose you’ve gotten my point by now, but to reiterate I’ll describe it the way our youth pastor did.  Suppose you are at the airport rolling your luggage along.  You have several bags for your long journey.  You roll them along until you get them to check in.  You board the plane and arrive at your destination.  You now have two choices: You can pick up the heavy luggage yourself and drag it around the airport, or you can let the porter load it on his cart and carry it for you.  Which will you choose?