The Luxury of Rest

Hello Everyone!

It’s been a while since I have posted a new blog because I have been so busy with the publishing of my new book, Walking in the Spirit – There’s Power in the Wind.  So it seems befitting for this blog to be about rest.

I find myself in the company of just about everyone I talk to – everyone is running here, busy there, doing, working.  Rest?  What’s that?

Rest has many sides to it – not just relaxing, as we usually think of when we hear that word.  So first, let’s think about that definition of rest.

I believe that when we work ourselves to the point of exhaustion, the Lord sends in His troops to help us rest.  For if we keep trying to “do”, it’s like trying to work ourselves out of quicksand.  The more we push ourselves (to get done with our work), the deeper you go.  I find that one thing leads to another and another.  I just get done with one project only to realize that by doing this – that now leads to another which now needs to be done!

That’s the time to rest, even though it would seem you have to work to get it done.  Rest and see.  Rest in the Lord and see how He gives you strategies, answers and the way to best get it done.  For it is in rest that you can sense the Lord’s Spirit and get His directions.

Real rest is peace – shalom.  We really need to know how to rest in busyness! We can only do this in Him, keeping our focus on Him and not what’s going on in the world around us.  I thought of a little song the Lord gave me many years ago – Rest in Me, Trust in Me.  That’s the answer.

When you rest, you trust – and when you trust you rest.  We trust the Lord to take all our burdens, for His shoulders are large and ours are small.  Even when we try to relax, we can’t really rest if we carry all the things to do in our minds.

Sometimes we think that when we rest, we are being lazy.  But do we ever think that rest is productive?  When we rest, we think clearer and hear the Lord clearer.  Rest does produce – it produces the energy to do other things.

It seems to me that this world is a busier world than years ago.  I can remember a time when I could read for enjoyment – simply because I was finished with what I had to do – not because I had to learn something or keep up with what was speedily changing in the world around me.  But does it really matter – and will I really care years from now if every weed isn’t removed right away from the garden, or the basement isn’t vacuumed until tomorrow?  Our stress levels, it’s reported – are higher than ever before.

Yes it honors the Lord when we take care of what He gives us.  However I think it honors Him even more when we are rested enough to listen and hear Him – when our minds are clear enough to hear His wisdom in our lives and His instruction to help others.

Rest in the Lord.  That makes your relationship with Him more intimate.  It also helps us to get the things done better and more efficiently than when we are exhausted.

We need to sometimes just allow ourselves – the luxury of rest!

Blessings, Evelyn

You can find Walking in the Spirit – There’s Power in the Wind on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes or your bookstore.