The Sacred Pause: Resting in a busy world
When God calls you to rest, listen!
A month ago, I felt super overwhelmed and a bit stir crazy. It was a call to rest! I unfortunately was not listening at first! Then out of the blue; a kiss from the King as a dear friend likes to say; a friend invited me up to her place. So I decided otherwise; to be spontaneous and take her up on the offer. God was calling and giving me the opportunity to rest.
Our Bodies Call out for Rest
Do you ever feel overwhelmed and wish you could take a break? I’ll keep going even though I’m feeling unwell, and this will ultimately result in sickness due to neglecting my body’s need for rest. Like we don’t deserve a call for rest.
Yet do we Listen to the Call?
Why do we find it hard to slow our lives down? Is it because we don’t feel we deserve the time to rest? Maybe it’s that society tells us we just need to keep moving and keep moving and keep moving until we burned out that we have nothing left to give! I know I have found myself in that situation before, and God has shut my body down so that I have to rest. Sometimes chronic illnesses will come in because we’re not listening to the fact that we need to put rest into our daily rhythms. I know I found myself there a few years back when I couldn’t eat anything without it, making my stomach hurt. And when I say hurt, I was in the emergency room because I was bent over in pain.
Thoughts that Hold Us Back
As I have dug into the idea of rest and why I run from it, I find it connected to my self worth. I falsely learned through some of my past relationships that my worth is tied to what I do. Do for others, my community, my church and even for myself. What a lie! My worth, and yours, is tied straight to the blood of Christ. There is such freedom to embrace this to your very soul.
But yet, just as Lauren Daigle’s song says:
I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
My own thoughts can bring me down. This is why I need to make resting a weekly rhythm in my life. Just as we read in Exodus 20:8-11 (The Message); God rested so why do we think we shouldn’t? God will bless us through our resting. I have found I “find” more time in my week to accomplish all I need to without feeling overwhelmed because I have taken the time to ground my soul.
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
Slowing Learning
I have been a slow learner that a call for rest is a rhythm I need to embrace and practice. I invite you to make margin in your daily life to have time to moments of gratitude; think of a few things from your day to be grateful for. Maybe start a journal. As you practice taking time for this you will find this is a sweet time in your day and it will start to refocus your thoughts.
I have found the most peace and meaning in my life when I take time to journal and lean into quiet moments to listen to what is next in my life.
Redemptive Moments
That weekend that I said yes to a time of fellowship with a sweet friend and a time of growing that relationship was just the rest I needed. God spoke to my heart, encouraged me to step out of my comfort zones and embrace the change coming this year in my life. My heart is open and excited for what He will do this year!
