My stress level has been through the roof lately! Oh my.. dude, you have no clue. I have been ON ONE for a few weeks now and feel like I have been pushing myself mentally so much. Since coming home from training camp, I have been working significantly more hours, working on establishing better relationships with people before I leave, and trying to continue to fundraise pretty much nonstop (even while I’m at work lol). I haven’t taken much time for myself lately and it is kind of starting to eat me up. I have constantly been stimulated to some degree or another and I have been finding it difficult to rest.
Rest is so important, there is a reason that doctors suggest 8 hours of sleep a night, it’s clearly a big deal. But why is it something that I constantly neglect? I think that I neglect it because I feel as if there aren’t enough hours in the day and that I won’t be able to get everything done or won’t reach my fundraising goals in time. I get so annoyed about it all so frequently and I feel as if I need to rest more. I literally get like maybe 4-5 hours of sleep a night, which is just obnoxious. Although I have been stressed, I have been working to strive more towards God and push to be motivated in the way that He wants me to be. It’s difficult to give up your stress to Him and I find myself continually asking the Lord to remove some of my stress and calm me down. I don’t want to feel so burdened all the time, but I find it constantly difficult to release my burdens onto the Lord. But what does it really mean to lay your burden down and seek rest?
This morning I was spending time with Jesus and thought about it. He reminded me of the words that He spoke in Matthew…
Matthew 11:28-30
“(28) Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
When I re-opened my Bible today, I realized that during this season I have felt incredibly weary and burdened by so many different outlets, so this verse was obviously screaming in my face today. I still constantly struggle to give it up, but this verse is challenging me to give up my burden and recognize how light I can feel as I release all of it to the Lord. Reliance is difficult, but so, so worth it. There is so much benefit to giving away your burdens to the Lord. He provides peace to you and encourages you to be the best you that He created you to be. Reliance brings rest, and reliance brings freedom! You will receive freedom from the Lord and He will hold you in His arms as He continues to push you to do what He made you to do, which is so dope!
So, my challenge to you is to sit with Jesus and try to learn about what His version of rest is for you. For me, I am learning that rest means unplugging and separating from social interaction (which I don’t really like doing) for a little while and just sit with the Lord. I’ve noticed that as I do this, I feel so much better and so much more fulfilled with what I need to do. I feel more motivated, I feel a stronger push to create, and I feel more well energized, regardless of how much sleep I got last night. God is super duper good, which we all already know, but He has created us to do more and to get to that point is to spend your time with Him and to rest in Him!
Don’t worry, baby, He’s got your back and you cannot fail if you release your burdens and stress to Him.
Thank you so much for reading! Please feel free to scroll up and subscribe so you can follow my journey with the Lord on the World Race. Also, you can scroll up to donate!
Thank you to everybody who has donated thus far, it is so appreciated! I am currently about $4400 away from reaching my September fundraising goal of $10,000. If you would like to partner with the Lord and help me during this season, I would greatly appreciate any and every donation, literally everything helps. I am throwing in a T-shirt for every donation above $20, so if you were contemplating donating, now you can get a T-shirt out of it too! You can also donate via Venmo(@MiiggySmalls) or PayPal([email protected]).
Much love, y’all!
