Being on the World Race, days are full.
Full of opportunities to show the love of Christ to people who are so often overlooked.
Full of challenging moments where choosing joy can be difficult.
Full of unique cultures that I would never be able to experience in the US.
Amid all of this “fullness,” being halfway through my World Race, I’m becoming more and more aware of my need for intentional rest.
Yes, I’m halfway there. Five and a half months down, five and a half to go. Crazy, right?
………
Rest is one of the things God most strongly desires for His children. Look back to Genesis – God created man on the 6th day, and on the 7th day, God ordained rest for all of creation. From a strictly logical perspective, this would mean that after being newly created, man’s first full day was a day of rest. God is revealing to me how He created us to operate from a place of rest. Instead of all the striving and busyness and “go-go-go-until-I-absolutely-need-to-rest-or-I’ll-pass-out” mentality often prevailing, we should work and live from a place of rest.
“There was evening and then there was morning…” the way days were marked during the creation story. What happens first, during the evening? Rest. THEN comes the morning; the opening of a full day to abide in the goodness of God and to walk in His love.
I love how the Lord is often described as being on His throne. A seated posture is a posture of rest. Yes, being seated on a throne conveys authority and power, but also rest.
“Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne…” Rev. 5:13. Jesus is worthy of all praise, and His steadfast and changeless nature dictates that even from a posture of rest, He operates in the fullness of His character.
David speaks to his own heart in the Psalms saying, “Return to your rest, o my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”
Return to rest. Rest is the default position in which and from which our souls were created to exist.
I can’t make it these remaining 5 ½ months of my Race with out shifting my focus to returning to rest. Resting in the Lord. Daily seeing the greatness of His power that flows through me as I look to Him as my strength. Not the greatness of the power that I can attempt to muster up if I try hard enough because-I’m-on-an-11-month-long-misssions-trip-and-I-should-be-able-to-do-this-on-my-own,-doggonit. But resting in His.
May you drink deeply of His rest then walk boldly in His power.
Speak to your soul, “Return to rest.”
From my heart,
Erika Venese
