5/3/2024
How Can I Rest?I am a list maker and my life is a list. It’s a good list. When life gets too busy, my husband often tells me I’m doing too much. I need to take a few things off that list. But I love everything on it. It’s a list of things I have carefully prayed about before adding each item. Asking God for wisdom and guidance. Making sure I wasn’t taking on too much, and that I was glorifying Christ in the process. I truly felt the peace of God with each one. I would be busy, but it would be a good busy.
But when I can’t get to everything on that list and I begin to fall farther and farther behind, I also begin to stress. I recently returned home from a wonderful, much needed family vacation. Many of the things on my list got put on hold, or someone graciously took over for me in my absence. I felt refreshed and ready to get back at it, until the drive home. The closer we got, the sicker I felt. I ended up ‘down for the count’ for almost two weeks. And just as I was feeling better and ready to get back at it again, my back went out in the worst way. The kind where you literally cannot move. I had been holding it together pretty good up until that point. But this was the ‘straw that broke’ Charisse’s back. I was beyond far behind. I whined. “What about all the things you told me were okay to take on Lord? How can I do that if I’m either sick or broken?” God always has this amazing way of speaking to my heart in some way. I knew I was beyond stressing. Life started piling up all around me and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. All the things I normally love to do became heavy burdens that were making me anxious and unhappy. And so, on this particular day my grandson was visiting. His brothers were all at an event that he was too young for. When it was time for his nap, my husband tucked him in and I laid down next to him in bed, making sure he went to sleep. I couldn’t do anything else anyway. We have always played scripture lullabies for the kids when they nap, and as I lay there thinking of the million and one things I was behind on, I gazed over at my grandson. Fast asleep. Not a care in the world. And as God’s child, I realized that’s exactly what He wants for me. I listened to the soft scriptures being sung and knew I was exactly where God wanted me, doing exactly what He wanted me to do. Nothing but be with Him. Trusting Him, relying on Him, and resting in Him, knowing He has everything in control and always has. “It will all still be here tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.” He whispered to my heart. I am the One who holds all of your tomorrows. Don’t let Satan trick you into believing that the very things I put a love in your heart for, and gave you peace about, should be making you anxious and stressed out. Each one is beautiful and precious, but each one is a gift from me. It only becomes overwhelming when you aren’t resting in me.” The Holy Spirit uses scripture to speak to you in a way that nothing else can. In the quiet darkness, I was able to turn off my thoughts and simply listen to His. I didn’t think about my list. I thought about God alone, and my weary soul fell fast asleep. When did we normalize the ‘rat race’ and forget that this is the day the Lord has made. We can rejoice and be glad in it? Take it from me, I know how busy life can get and how quickly we can find ourselves drowning in the ‘to do’s’. But a prayed over life and list can be beautiful. It’s a gift from God and He never meant for it to stress us the way we allow it to. He always meant for us to see it as that gift. A gift to be used to glorify Him. Yes, we can rest but the only way we can fully accomplish that is by trusting Him. If you find yourself in circumstances beyond your control, remember the One who is in control. Find rest in His word and give that gift back to Him. SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 6:34 Romans 8:28 2 Chronicles 16:8 Psalm 46:10 Psalm 37:7 Hebrews 13:8 Psalm 9:10 Philippians 4:6-7 Romans 15:13 Psalm 118:24 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 1 Corinthians 10:31 Isaiah 43:7 Hebrews 4:9-10, 12 Colossians 3:17 |
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