There is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. Hebrews 4:9-11
Rest: A concept I’ve struggled with long before I came on the Race; but nonetheless, a battle that has taken new heights since leaving home.
The truth is, I am tired and God knows it.
I feel it coming on several times a week. It seems like it comes out of nowhere, but when it hits, it’s powerful enough to make the earth shake. Its presence has been unmistakable lately and I thought that it kept coming because I wasn’t making time for myself. Truth be told, even though leaders are given one day a week to take off if they need it, I was lucky if I made time to take a few hours in a month. This is not a new problem for me. I have never been good at taking time for myself even if I did need it. But this time it’s different.
I’ve found that my feet are no longer stable and quite frankly, the biggest give away is that I don’t know what I want to do. I know that taking a nap won’t cure it, and a couple hours to myself doesn’t seem to make a difference either. It’s a problem without a solution…or so I thought.
I don’t know about you, but when I am tired I draw away not only from people, but maybe most of all, from God. I don’t have the energy to pour into what he is trying to say to me or do through me. He’s just not like my other friends, my earthly parents, or even the future love of me life. See, our relationship is complicated.
He talks but not always through words.
He is present but often not in a physical sense.
He holds me but in a way others can’t see.
To put it simply, He moves in mysterious ways. And when I’m tired, I’m not ready to be creative. All I want is a straight answer. Not confusing analogies that I find in the Bible but a simple yes or no. So I choose to shut Him out; thinking that if He is one less thing on my to do list, than I might have a fighting chance at getting things done.
But the exhaustion I am feeling now is like none I’ve experienced before. The answers I have crafted over the years to cope with my work-a-holic tendencies are not enough. I’m at a loss. So I think. But of course, I’m not really because He is the answer.
God has been calling me to rest long before I started the race, but these past three months He has made it abundantly clear: I need to take rest and it needs to be a rest that is founded in Him.
This weekend, my team and Ashley’s (the other world race team staying with us) did a group prophecy night. One of the staff members at SHE had written out 12 different envelopes and instructed us to pray as a group for which envelope to take. Each envelope contained a word from the Lord, scripture versus to reinforce it, and then a paragraph that further explained how to apply the word or where we most needed this word in our life. Even before we began to pray, my stomach filled with butterflies. Sure we had practiced prophecy plenty of times throughout the race, but every time we did, I had to remind myself that God would show up. I had already decided, internally of course, that if I didn’t hear God, than I would just take the last envelope and that would be the way he chose to communicate with me. But as I began to pray, I almost instantly saw a flash of light in my head that directed me to the location of my envelope. He wasn’t silent. I heard Him clearly.
I opened the envelope, and what do I come to find, but the word, REST.
It couldn’t have come at a better time and man was this more confirmation that I had heard the Lord speak. Yes I needed to rest, but not in the way I was used to. His rest was an entire body kind of rest and it came with the promise that I would feel renewed. This card was the Lord speaking directly to me, and let me tell you, I will no longer attempt to rest without including Him.
My prophecy card:
REST
Come to me, and I will give you rest. Rest is not the number of hours you will sleep in a night, it is far more than that. Spending time with me is a choice, but one that is worthwhile. Allow me to restore you. Allow me to fill your cup when it is empty, so that you can continue to serve others in my name. Come to me for vision and perspective. When you do not understand, come to me and find peace. When you are frustrated, tired, and want to give up, come to me and I will calm you heart. When you think you cannot give anymore, give your last and come to me. I will restore you. Fill up every part of yourself with me and my strength and you will be able to do it all. Stop trying on your own strength, it is impossible without me. I am all you need. Let me be your strength, wisdom, and power.
Our God speaks, our God moves, and our God desires that we take rest in Him! I am so thankful that the answer to my problem really is that easy.
Rest: A concept I’ve struggled with long before I came on the Race; but nonetheless, a battle that has taken new heights since leaving home.
The truth is, I am tired and God knows it.
I feel it coming on several times a week. It seems like it comes out of nowhere, but when it hits, it’s powerful enough to make the earth shake. Its presence has been unmistakable lately and I thought that it kept coming because I wasn’t making time for myself. Truth be told, even though leaders are given one day a week to take off if they need it, I was lucky if I made time to take a few hours in a month. This is not a new problem for me. I have never been good at taking time for myself even if I did need it. But this time it’s different.
I’ve found that my feet are no longer stable and quite frankly, the biggest give away is that I don’t know what I want to do. I know that taking a nap won’t cure it, and a couple hours to myself doesn’t seem to make a difference either. It’s a problem without a solution…or so I thought.
I don’t know about you, but when I am tired I draw away not only from people, but maybe most of all, from God. I don’t have the energy to pour into what he is trying to say to me or do through me. He’s just not like my other friends, my earthly parents, or even the future love of me life. See, our relationship is complicated.
He talks but not always through words.
He is present but often not in a physical sense.
He holds me but in a way others can’t see.
To put it simply, He moves in mysterious ways. And when I’m tired, I’m not ready to be creative. All I want is a straight answer. Not confusing analogies that I find in the Bible but a simple yes or no. So I choose to shut Him out; thinking that if He is one less thing on my to do list, than I might have a fighting chance at getting things done.
But the exhaustion I am feeling now is like none I’ve experienced before. The answers I have crafted over the years to cope with my work-a-holic tendencies are not enough. I’m at a loss. So I think. But of course, I’m not really because He is the answer.
God has been calling me to rest long before I started the race, but these past three months He has made it abundantly clear: I need to take rest and it needs to be a rest that is founded in Him.
This weekend, my team and Ashley’s (the other world race team staying with us) did a group prophecy night. One of the staff members at SHE had written out 12 different envelopes and instructed us to pray as a group for which envelope to take. Each envelope contained a word from the Lord, scripture versus to reinforce it, and then a paragraph that further explained how to apply the word or where we most needed this word in our life. Even before we began to pray, my stomach filled with butterflies. Sure we had practiced prophecy plenty of times throughout the race, but every time we did, I had to remind myself that God would show up. I had already decided, internally of course, that if I didn’t hear God, than I would just take the last envelope and that would be the way he chose to communicate with me. But as I began to pray, I almost instantly saw a flash of light in my head that directed me to the location of my envelope. He wasn’t silent. I heard Him clearly.
I opened the envelope, and what do I come to find, but the word, REST.
It couldn’t have come at a better time and man was this more confirmation that I had heard the Lord speak. Yes I needed to rest, but not in the way I was used to. His rest was an entire body kind of rest and it came with the promise that I would feel renewed. This card was the Lord speaking directly to me, and let me tell you, I will no longer attempt to rest without including Him.
My prophecy card:
REST
Come to me, and I will give you rest. Rest is not the number of hours you will sleep in a night, it is far more than that. Spending time with me is a choice, but one that is worthwhile. Allow me to restore you. Allow me to fill your cup when it is empty, so that you can continue to serve others in my name. Come to me for vision and perspective. When you do not understand, come to me and find peace. When you are frustrated, tired, and want to give up, come to me and I will calm you heart. When you think you cannot give anymore, give your last and come to me. I will restore you. Fill up every part of yourself with me and my strength and you will be able to do it all. Stop trying on your own strength, it is impossible without me. I am all you need. Let me be your strength, wisdom, and power.
Our God speaks, our God moves, and our God desires that we take rest in Him! I am so thankful that the answer to my problem really is that easy.
