When You Are Longing for Rest

I have been sick for what seems like forever. At first I blamed it on my new job at the YMCA. There are germs from 5 public school systems, plus my own children's school...so six schools. There are over 100 children every day that I am in close contact with.

However six months into the job, I cannot continue to blame work. So after blood work and doctor's visits, we are addressing the health issues as adrenal fatigue. An uphill climb has begun with supplements, dietary issues, and LOTS of rest.

Don't we all long for "rest". You know the deep rest that settles in the deepest part of our souls. The rest that lets us know all is well with our world regardless of our circumstances. The rest that Horatio Spafford penned when he wrote "It Is Well With My Soul" in spite of losing his children to tragedy.

I found these verses recently which the apostle John penned. His words address our longing for rest. They bring clarity to us and confirm exactly how to find the "rest" we so long for in today's world where we can never seem to do enough, be enough, have enough, and certainly not rest enough.

"Dear children (I love that God addresses me this way), let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

THIS THEN IS HOW WE KNOW THAT WE BELONG TO THE TRUTH, AND HOW WE SET OUR HEARTS AT REST IN HIS PRESENCE."

So, loving with action and in truth sets my heart at rest in the presence of God.  Thankfully, I have found I can actively love from the bench at the kitchen table by scratching my son's back. I can listen while children share their views of injustices from teachers at school while thanking God they will even talk to me...the old mom who is tired from work. And I can laugh with them all as they remember silly times together at ball games or some other unusual place we've found ourselves as a family. 

There are thousands of self help books, blogs, tutorials, and more to help one find rest. But they won't be truth. Truth is a person. Jesus. These are His words.

May you embrace Christ and His truth today.

Because we all need a little rest.

In Him,

Pam