Today, I have the lovely Blair from Wild & Precious finishing up our series on rest. If you haven't visited her blog, you are missing out! She is funny and godly and has the cutest baby girl in the world! credit: friends of type As Americans (or most humans on earth for that matter) rest is a very very difficult thing.  I think it is because we are afraid of what we will hear/feel/see/do if we actually just stop and sit still for a minute and we don't want to admit that we aren't in control of our own lives -- as if we stop for just one minute the world will stop spinning.  Whether we are crunching the clock at the office or just filling our idle time with reruns of the Cosby Show, we find ways to fill the minutes of each day with anything but rest.  I am so very guilty of this.  I treat time alone sometimes as a waste of time, but in reality I need so much more of it. What is God trying to tell you, but your too busy to hear? Are you resting in Christ to get you through the day, or something/someone else? credit: erin leigh A favorite verse of mine is Isaiah 30:15 -- In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and strength is your trust. Oh, how my heart needs this -- rest and quietness!  The verse is not "in yourself and through your actions is your salvation," but repentance and rest!  Not in "busyness" but quietness! Praise God!  That is such good news! ... Read more

Rest. I close my eyes and I ponder the significance of that word for me.  I sigh and take a deep breath taking comfort in the word alone.  I desire rest more than most things right now.  But I have no time for it.  Or maybe it's that I don't make the time for it. Our family has an almost 6 year old daughter with multiple special needs.  She is also medically fragile.  She receives home nursing care of about forty hours a week.  There are 168 hours in a week.  That means for 128 hours a week, her care is on me.  I do it willingly, but I would be less than honest if I didn't say it was hard work and that it has consumed me to the point of exhaustion.  Yet I do this willingly and without complaint because she is my child.  God has entrusted me with her care, for however long that may be.  Even in the forty hours where I receive assistance, I am usually busy.  There's still housework to do and an 8 year old daughter to care for.  I find myself becoming pre-occupied with other things during this time.  I don't use it to my advantage well. I feel the Lord is calling me to look deep within myself and to examine how I am using the time that He has given me to rest and recover.  I know I need rest.  I know that I have a family to care for.  I know I need to be at my best in order to serve them well.  I need to be able to serve HIM well. I believe He is teaching me right now about how to rest.  Recently, our modem at home stopped working effectively.  We ordered a replacement, but when we received it a few days later it just plain didn't work.  So we reverted back to the original while we awaited the new new modem.  It failed altogether.  There was a good chunk of time where I was forced into a technological period of rest.  You know what?  I survived!  I made it through. Right in the middle of this time of tech rest, I attended a conference at which Ann Voskamp was the speaker.  She authored One Thousand Gifts.  If you haven't heard of this book, I highly recommend it.  Over the Friday evening and Saturday morning sessions, I listened to her speak about thanksgiving and about trust.  Her message is still buzzing through my mind.  I truly felt like God was speaking to me through her.  Through her, I felt Him calling me to a place of peace...of rest.  So I have decided that I need to make some changes to my daily routine. I realize that while I do spend time thanking God for his blessings, I need to be more pro-active about how I thank Him.  I have a weekly link up called Thankful Thursdays, which is my weekly opportunity to list the ways in which He has blessed me.  But I need to do something more.  I feel like God is trying to call me out of this season of mental "busyness" and take some time to just rest in Him. I am going to try to be more purposeful about how I observe the Sabbath.  I want to honor God at all times, but I want to show my gratitude by resting in Him.  He is my strength.  I am learning that His strength isn't just about asking for Him to lead me through a challenging situation.  I am learning that His strength comes to me by resting in Him.  Removing myself from the distractions of life so that I can be more observant of Him and the gifts and blessings He is showering upon us.  When we rest in Him, our strength is renewed. As I try to process what I learned at that conference, I am trying to plan out my days so that I am more present for my family when I need to be and less distracted by the things that keep me from seeing His goodness and mercy.  I will be doing my best as I move forward to make sure that, in addition to daily reflection time, that I have created a proper Sabbath time to honor Him. * * * * * Isn't she amazing? Go visit Sarah's blog and say hi. ... Read more