what if you could find rest for your mind, body, emotions, and soul?

RETURN TO YOUR REST, MY SOUL, FOR THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD TO YOU. -PSLAM 116:7

If I could just say this one thing right here, and you would believe it and live it out, I would say this:

Rest.

Imagine what your life would be like if you were able to rest—rest truly and completely, rest in your mind, rest in your body, rest in your emotions, rest in your soul. What would it be like to lay down your burdens and find deep peace with everything, come what may? This is what God wants for you (and me)! Isn’t it just too wonderful, too much to take in??? But this is precisely what he has on offer for each of us. This is what he’s calling you to—to full and beautiful, peaceful rest in your whole person.

I know, it sounds impossible!

You’re saying, “But you don’t know my situation, my struggles, my worries…” You’re right, I don’t. But I do know mine. And I have felt this rest in the lowest seasons. I have experienced miraculous, other-wordly rest in my soul that is beyond my human capacity. God himself has given it to me, and it’s on constant offer, if I would just take it. And I want it! Not just for me, but for you too. So, as we dwell on rest this month, I’m praying for you (and for me) that we could find the true rest of God for our souls. O that we could return to our rest and say, “the LORD has been good to me!” This is my hope for us.

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Mostly, we don’t live this way.

We live like what we do is who we are. We live like the world depends on us to worry about it. We live like we’re the sum total of our successes and failures. We live like busyness is normal and margins are impossible. We live like God isn’t the one in control, but we are... Eeesh. That last one’s a doozy. But it’s true, right? We think somehow everything depends on us. But here’s the truth, it doesn’t. We aren’t God, and sometimes, we need a verse like this to remind us.

We can rest because God is God.

If God is God, and he’s in control, then we don’t have to be. If God is God, and he doesn’t value us by our successes, then neither should we. If God is God and he is good, then we can trust his plan. If God is God and he loves us, then we can rest in his love. He made us to rest, not to control and manipulate. He made us to rest, not to worry and fret. He made us to rest in his love, not in how we perform.

There is rest for us.

So, there it is. Do you believe it? Do you believe that God’s got things under control? He doesn’t need you spinning your gears about the state of the world, worrying about what will happen. He wants you to rest in his power and goodness. Do you believe that? Annnnd do you believe that the God of the universe made you and loves you because you are you, not because of what you do? He loves you without your earning or striving, performing or pleasing. Do you hear that, can you believe it, can you live like it? Can you rest in the God who has more for you than work? “He isn’t served by human hands as if he needed anything” (Acts 17:25a). Instead, he’s the God who came to serve you! He came to give you peace and he calls you to rest in his boundless love, his perfect plan, and his utter goodness. O rest in him!

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO REST?

WHAT BURDENS TO YOU HAVE THAT YOU NEED TO TRUST GOD WITH?

HOW DO YOU EVALUATE YOURSELF BY WHAT YOU DO INSTEAD OF BY WHO YOU ARE?

HOW WOULD YOUR LIFE LOOK DIFFERENTLY IF YOU VALUED YOURSELF HOW GOD VALUES YOU?

Thanks for reading,