Yoked with the Savior

I've read the following scripture a thousand times:  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

But this one is new to me:  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)

I reached out to someone who has dealt with almost my same situation and she shared the above scripture with me. It was like a light bulb illuminated over my head as I realized that I was wrongly yoked with my husband and not my Savior. Yoking myself to my husband and his sins is bondage. Yoking myself to my Savior is liberty. 

My identity has been wrapped up in being a wife first, not first and foremost a daughter of God. I've forgotten my liberty. My free agency. That marvelous gift that let's me choose righteousness and allows me to come to my Savior for aid and relief. 

This same person I reached out to--let's call her Carly--painted this picture for me:  A yoke binds two oxen together so they can help one another pull the load. If we are yoked to the wrong person (anyone other than our Savior!) then we will be moving in circles. That wrong person--oxen #1/addict--will sit in the muck while we desperately try to move forward. We will get nowhere. Never progressing. Or maybe they do move, but down the wrong path, a place that me as an individual was never meant to go. 

But if we yoke ourselves to the Savior, the burden is light, because we are a team. We become of one heart and one mind. We move forward together. I progress toward being the person Heavenly Father dreams I will become. I stay on the path that leads to personal joy and happiness. 

Likewise, our addicted loved one has to yoke himself to the Savior. We can't help pull the load for him. But we can cheer from the sidelines. We can love and support while keeping our own identity intact and not get pulled into the muck. 

There is blissful freedom in the knowledge that I am a Daughter of God. Yes, I am a wife, mother, sister and friend. Those are important and good as well. But I AM A DAUGHTER OF GOD. I chose free agency, I chose to come to earth to prove MYSELF worthy to return to my Heavenly Father. 

And I can only do that by choosing to yoke myself with My Savior. I am responsible for my own salvation. I have to make it. 

Amazingly enough, I have never felt closer to my Savior. I never knew I could feel such pain and heartache, but I never knew that the pain and heartache I'm experiencing could be the very things that have lead me to lean on Him so greatly and allow Him to help me with my burdens. 

It is truly amazing. I am so grateful He willingly yokes himself to all of us individually. That He is happy to strengthen me just as much as he is happy to strengthen my husband if we will but come to Him and cast our burdens at His feet.