The Urgency of Resting

Henry Maynell Rheam

(Many know blue is my favorite color and this is one of my favorite prints.)

Today was the first day I have had off in many weeks. Not only did I have my 5 children home since mid July, with needs for medical attention, personal time, family time with all sorts of out of town company and I literally hundreds of meals, snacks and clean up, but I launched a new course, had to keep podcasts going, write articles for many others for my launch, run a launch team and travel and speak at conferences.

It has been quite a stretch and exhausting and taxing. Yet, I count it a privilege to be a hands on mama, and to be available to my children when they come home. I also am so very blessed to be a steward of truth, messages that matter that God allowed me to know, a desire to inspire, help and encourage women all over the world in their roles as followers of Christ, as women and as mothers and wives. So, passion for Jesus keeps me going. Yet, I am also human and have needs, physical limitations and emotional needs and spiritual needs.

A part of being a godly mature women means recognizing your personality limitations, (I have to have time away from people to stay sane--and so did Jesus.) Also, knowing that you have to take care of yourself if you are going to finish well. I have to be filling my heart on a regular basis so that others have something to draw from there. I must enjoy life if I am to pass on joy. And so today, though I have quite a few clamoring for my attention now that they know Clay and I are home after 10 days, I chose to sleep late, to sip tea, to go out to breakfast with my beloved Nathan and to take some time to breathe.

Sometimes, when we have piles of responsibility on our plate, we start to place a lot of energy, worry and fear into the issues of our lives and fret. The last thing that seems to be productive when we are overwhelmed with responsibility is to choose to rest.

Yet, rest may very well be the most strategic thing to do if we have a busy, full and demanding life.

If we do not practice a habit of a restful life, we will end up with serious illness, exhaustion, bad attitudes and fist shaking faith aimed heavenly.

As I have said before, "Fretting leads only to evil doing." Psalm 37: 5

God put Sabbath Rest into the weeks of our lives with a purpose. I have found that when I believe and engage my heart in the goodness of God's character, and put out of my mind, after praying, all that I am carrying and just seek to be still and find joy, I see the miracles bubbling up slowly, surely, as He, my Father, delights to provide.

A godly woman makes time to rest and restore.

However, a Martha heart is want to see the miracles, as she is so busy living in the whirlwind of her own meek provisions, she loses all hope and becomes a wretched nag.

The more exhausted I am with life, the more tense, grumpy and tight I become and it spills all over everyone else.

Finding myself at a juncture of exhaustion from giving all that I had the last weekend 2 weeks, to the sweet, wonderful women in my conferences and online, I find that somehow when I try to figure out all of the responsibilities of the next few months, which are huge, I am tempted to be overwhelmed.

I could still be doing more work for my publishers to launch my book, I could despair that my house is showing signs of my too busy life in the past weeks. I could try to answer every message, email, instagram friend.

Yet, from so many times like this in the past, I have learned a secret. My Prince Jesus comes to me and beckons me away to have time with him, to listen to His voice and to trust him to fill in the cracks of all the things I am too limited to do.

Like the story of Sleeping Beauty, the prince comes, not when she is searching the horizon, pounding her fists, running the floor, but when she is doing nothing but resting.

Resting in Him, choosing peace and putting off responsibilities and restoring is sometimes such grand medicine for my soul, that after choosing to rest and to invest in fun and love and ease of life, my strength is renewed and all issues are able to be faced with grace. I know more deadlines of life are coming, but I will face them with courage, trust and resilience if I choose rest today.

Often I find women shaking their fists at God, ready to quit their ideals when I think they are actually overcommitted and doing more than God ever asked them to do. If God's will is good and acceptable and perfect and we feel at great odds with our life over a long period of time, then we need to ask what we are doing that may not actually be a part of God's wise and gracious will for us.

And so today, my plan is to go back to bed, to pace leisurely through the pathway to a new week, to sip and really taste my coffee and tea!...to just sit and listen to my beloved ones in facetime and phone calls, and focus on the beauty of the love we share that deserves my present attention, to stay in comfy clothes all day, to read and pray, and then maybe to rest again, because I know that while I am resting, my Prince is already coming to my rescue.

And I pray you, too, will find time to give your heart, mind and soul a rest amidst a too busy world.

Peace, be still, the Lord is near.

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So many people donated prizes to my launch about table that I still have a prize or so to give away. Thanks for everyone who has gone to such a great extent to help me get the word out about my newest books. I hope they also help you to slow down, to celebrate time with your loved ones, face to face within the peace of your home.

I wish I could win this as I need new knives and pans!

Receive an 4 lovely printable posters to use at your table if you purchased 5 or more books!

This special prize will go to one person who has bought 5 or more books. I know many of our small group leaders of Mom Heart Groups have bought books for their whole Bible study. We have several thousand participating in Mom Heart Groups or Mum Heart Groups all over the world. These sweet ones spread the messages of our books and ministry online. So we wanted to give you who are in or lead a Mom Heart Group, ( Mom Heart Groups and Mum Heart Groups) special thanks for supporting our ministry of messages for purchasing books for you and friends and small groups.

And a Big shout out of thanks to all of you who wrote to say you were buying extra copies to donate toyour library, homeless shelters, crisis pregnancy centers. Our team of staff is doing the same thing in their areas, seeking to be an encouragement to those who most need the messages. Many of you have done this for years. Heartfelt thanks!

If you have bought 5 or more books for any reason, fill out the form below and you will be entered in to win this contest. But also, those who purchase 5 or more books, when you fill out the form below, will receive several downloadable printables we have prepared just for you---a printable poster to use at your table with questions to stimulate discussion with your family; a poster of how to develop family culture, a tea time discipleship poster to give ideas on how to use your table as a place of sharing friendship over coffee or tea and the poster for The Armor of God to share with your children. We want you to feel encouraged by these beautiful resources that my sweet friends have prepared as a thanks for being supportive of the message and encouragement part of our ministry.

If you have a purchase receipt for the copies you ordered, we would appreciate having that. But, it is on an honor system. If you do not have a receipt by email, then tell us how you purchased and you will receive these special items our team prepared just for you. Thanks again for everyone who has helped us in this launch in any way. We appreciate you.