I should yield with willing submission, but resisting rest seems to be my default mode most days as the drive to ‘do’ so often overtakes the desire to draw back, recoup and simply ‘be’.
Periods of extra busyness leave me flat-out with fatigue, yet some part of me still refuses to heed the signs. I ride the rush of adrenaline, feeling wired as a coiled up spring.
So I keep on keeping on, persuading myself that this time I will ride the waves without them crashing me breathless to the ocean floor. Foolish? You bet. Those things we long to press on with can instead become a steamroller flattening us to ground.
It makes me wonder: Are we so desirous of being busy, connected and ‘out there’ that fear of missing out persuades us to be unwise?
I know I am, more often than is helpful. When I do yield to rest, I sense God sighing with relief as I finally listen to Him.
[bctt tweet=”God won’t force us to slow down; He urges us to yield to His ways and picks us up when we fall.”]
And He provides all the rest, ease and peace we crave inside. Here’s the thing: We can relax into rest with Him any time; we don’t have to wait to be sick before we surrender.
[bctt tweet=”God’s love stretches toward us with infinite patience, complete acceptance and tender compassion.”]
If we fail to rest fully we will flounder and falter…
- Our energy, drive and creativity will stall
- Our joy will diminish
- Our stress levels will rise
- Our hope will be harder to hold onto
- Our hearts will become heavy and burdened
Please come and join me at the Association of Christian Writers (ACW), ‘More than Writers’ blog where I’m sharing my words today. Just click here to read the rest of this post.
Words of Joy 
Sweet friend, I pray you embracing rest today – – without guilt, allowing your heavenly Father to restore and revive your spirit. Blessings.
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June, your kindness, inspiring thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reminding me anew that rest is a necessity and I shouldn’t allow guilt to spoil the time required for my heavenly Father to do His work in me. Yielding to rest is hard sometimes but when we do we are well placed for God to restore and revive us. Blessings.x
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Thank you for these beautiful words. I did read the rest but wanted to leave my comment here. When I started reading your post, I felt like you were talking directly to me. I am not good at giving myself time to rest. I push myself harder never expecting to crash but that is exactly what happens sometimes. I have been in a time of pushing harder as I care for my dad. But the rest I so desperately need gets pushed aside and then I find myself overwhelmed and not able to do much of anything. There is a reason why God made the seventh day a day of rest-sabbath. He knows that in the stillness we will feel renewed as we enter into communion with Him. I am taking these words with me as I look to tomorrow and pray that I am able to stop and let God fill me with restoration to begin another week.
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Mary, that’s exactly what I do too as I keep pressing on despite mind and body crying out for me to stop. How easy it is to fool ourselves that we won’t crash, although “that is exactly what happens” in the end. I think “overwhelm” is a good way to describe how we are placed when we fail to rest as we should. It’s a word I wrote in my prayer journal a few days ago. May you be able to enter into the stillness of sabbath and be renewed in every way. I’ll be praying for you to have pockets of peace and an oasis of rest in the midst of life’s busyness. And all the wisdom and discernment you need to know what to pursue and what to leave behind. Let God set your schedule for the week ahead and Holy Spirit guide your days as He also inspires your words. Blessings and love. Xx
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