Rest After PCS

Another PCS? Here we go again ...

• Plan and re-plan
• Worry over every single thing you own
• Conduct harsh purges (and question yet again if you’re a hoarder)
• Say emotional goodbyes to friends and places
• Pack up bags (and screaming children)
• Take forced road trips with mandatory fun over a bazillion miles to a place you may or may not have chosen
• Make the best pick you can on housing given the limited options and time
• Haul all those bags in
• Find new grocery stores and schools, haircut and pizza places, and a playground for those still emotional kids

Oof. Sooner or later after a PCS, your family will crash. All that adrenaline and excitement creating an extra energy high will have to slow. You and your family are tired— physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually.

God has set out principles of rest for us, beginning with his own example of taking the seventh day to rest. Jesus also often pulled back from intense times with people to be alone. And he encouraged others to do the same.

After the apostles returned to Jesus, they told him everything they had done and taught. But so many people were coming and going that Jesus and the apostles did not even have a chance to eat. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go to a place where we can be alone and get some rest.”
Mark 6:30-31 (CEV)

If ever someone needed to set down heavy loads, the family that just went through a PCS does. So set them down. Give your kids and yourself extra grace. Don’t jump too quickly into new activities until your body has been restored, your mind has wrapped around this new culture shock, and your heart is ready to try again.

Rest in Jesus. Leave the unpacking to go for a walk and sit in the sun, talking and being with him. Cuddle up with the kids on the couch and process through all the feelings—what is good, what is hard. Pray together for help. And thank him for bringing you through.

PRAY

Thank you again, Lord, for bringing our family through another PCS. Thank you for keeping us safe. Help me to rest now in you, knowing you want to lift any burdens laying on my heart. Amen.

TIME TO TALK

Conversation starter for kids: Provides you with questions and prompts to facilitate a time of applicable discussion with children to lead them towards knowing God and His Word more deeply.

Question(s): How did we see God help our family through this move?

Apply: Start a “traveling praises” journal or scrapbook. List all the things God did to help you through— like keeping you safe when you had a flat tire, finding a great ice cream shop, or having an inside family joke that kept you giggling for an hour.

KEEP IT GOING

Related passages: These verses will help parents expand Scriptural knowledge and place on the armor of God’s Word to tackle each day.

Psalm 22:19

Psalm 23:1-3