Rest

This blog is linked to a website for my Faithfultography business. My goal is to highlight the loveliness that God has created all around us. So, here are some lovely thoughts that God dropped into my heart as I was sitting in His presence near a river.

There will always be something to get done here on Earth, a never ending, never stopping, ever-flowing list of tasks to do. If we let ourselves, we can get swept away in it and watch our joy and hope float away in the current of the flow. We can sit in the stream of striving, stuck in the rapids and find ourselves having the mentality that we will let ourselves rest once we finish “just one more thing”. We can tell ourselves that we will take our joy back once the house is clean, or that we will spend quality time with the kids when we have everything checked off our list. The truth is, the list will keep growing, time will keep passing, and the river will keep flowing. If we don’t choose rest and choose to praise God through it all, we will never get out of the rapids and the overwhelm. There will always be something to do until time ends, the earth as we know it fades away, and Jesus makes everything right.

We can allow rising above the rush to grab ahold of our joy to be a distant dream, or we can praise God and allow Him to lift us up into His lap as He sits enthroned upon our praises. We can praise and rest in Him and watch Him pluck our joy out of the stream for us and put it back into our hearts. Rest and praise in the midst of the rapids of life doesn’t come naturally. When everything is out of control around us it feels counter-intuitive to throw our hands up in surrender and let go of trying and striving. It feels like if we don’t hold it all together it will all fall apart. But. God.

I was staring and my living room, yelling at my 4-year-old because I had worked for hours cleaning the house just to find it right back to where it was before I put in all the effort. I felt overwhelmed and hopeless, like I would never be able to get on top of everything. I was angry (anger is the opposite of joy, just a side note). A song rose up out of me, and I barely even noticed I was singing. My daughter asked, “What is that song called?” In her sweet little voice. I said, “I think it's called “Rest on Us.” She went into her room and said, Alexa, play “Rest on Us”. Her room was a mess, the living room was a mess, the whole upstairs was a MESS; and I felt the gentle nudge of Holy Spirit telling me to stop striving and start praising, to make a memory with my little girl and dance with her, praise with her. “As the Spirit was moving over the waters, Spirit come move over us. Come rest on us. Come rest on us.” And He did. I felt Him moving, I felt the touch of His presence, and He shifted my heart. My daughter got on the steps to her bed to make room for me to dance and she sang and watched me. Joy welled up inside of me and I grabbed her and danced with her. We were both smiling and the atmosphere was changed from anger to joy, from strife to free life. God lifted me up and handed me back the joy that I had allowed to be swept away. I started cleaning my daughter's room with a smile on my face and it was done in about 10 minutes. God is SO MUCH bigger than the mess. Choose praise and rest, and God will do the rest.

1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety (cares) on Him because He cares for us.”

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Exodus 33:14 “The LORD replied, “My presenece will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Psalms 5:11-12 “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous, you surround them with your favor as with a sheild.”

Further Study on Rest

Psalm 23:1-2 Psalm 127:1-2 Isaiah 40:31

Mark 6:31 Psalm 37:7 Psalm 46:10

Genesis 2:2-3 Exodus 20:8-11 Isaiah 30:15

Isaiah 58:13-14 Proverbs 1:33