I Want It AllSample

Rest

If there is one thing that can take a woman down and immobilize God’s power at work within her it’s exhaustion. Get up, get the kids to school, go to work, wash the dishes, put away laundry, buy the groceries, jump in the carpool line, help with homework, eat a quick dinner, get to the evening obligation, look over your list for tomorrow, brush teeth, apply anti-aging cream, fall into bed tired of being tired . . . wash, rinse, repeat.

It’s really difficult for women to experience the beauty and renewal of God’s rest when we are bogged down with busyness. It can feel like everyone else around us is able to have a full and fabulous life while we are sucking wind to get our floors vacuumed and our bills paid. Life can be draining and unsatisfying when it feels like we never slow down.

I’ve lived this. I know the failure I feel on nights when I lay my head on the pillow and whisper the prayer, Lord, forgive me for not making time for you today. Tomorrow, Lord. Tomorrow!

The Old Testament shows us that David lived in the messy middle of busy too. In Psalm 23, David says that the Lord makes him take a break. Yes. He made him do it. Read it for yourself: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake” (Psalm 23:1-3, emphasis mine). I love the way Psalm 23:3 is paraphrased in The Message, “True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.”

Yes. Please.

This is the desire of my heart. That I can catch my breath and be sent in the right direction by a loving God who knows what is best for me. So, I – you – we have to be intentional. Life comes at us fast. If we are not careful, the dizzy pace at which we live can unwittingly become our weakness and demise. Weariness will keep us from experiencing all that God has for us.

I know you know this. I do too and yet somehow it still trips us up.

So what’s a woman to do? I promise that I am not writing from happily-ever-after fairytale land, but from the very real front lines. We have obligations. We have families, jobs, friends, communities, and churches that need us. And though this “breath-catching” will look different for each of us in the many seasons of life, our people depend on us a ton. They should. God tells us to put our faith into action (James 2). And we must. We must mobilize the hope we have in Christ. Serve. Show love. Feed the hungry. Minister to the widows and orphans. Yes. We must be women of action. But we can’t do these things if we are exhausted and bone-weary.

What it all boils down to is this: God’s BEST requires REST.

Do you know that?

Now. Let me ask you a slightly different question.

Do you live that?

The psalmist wrote, “Truly my soul finds rest in God” (Psalm 62:1). The gap between knowing that I need His rest and responsively living it out can be huge. Truth be told, I live smack dab in the messy middle of this tension, just like David.

You too?

When we rest in the presence of God, He restores our souls. Rest is the central ingredient in the restoration we all desperately need. If we want it all—everything God has for us— then we must prioritize rest.