Season of Rest

A new season calls for a renewed commitment to write, and keep all my friends back home in sweet Atlanta in the loop about this leg of the journey. I have finally reached a place of relative rest and can better process all that I've been going through the last 6 months or so. To that I can say, the Lord allowed me to reach an extreme place of need so that I would be able to enter into true rest.

He has been calling me to it for some time now, yet I've been resistant. There is something in me, and maybe all of us, that resists true rest, especially when we need it. It is so hard in this society of capitalism, commercialism, productivity, and performance to be able to say it is even OK to take a season off from producing something. God commanded it, so why is it so hard? For me there is a lurking accusation that I'm being "lazy" and need to be contributing to society. Being able to contribute to society is one thing that can keep propping up your self-esteem, when God just wants to say "come rest in My arms for a while and let me take care of you." I lived in Atlanta, a city that was once called "Marthasville," and a place that surely takes on the nature of Martha, Mary's sister, who was working and worried about many things. She did not choose the better part, of resting at Jesus' feet, and I'm not sure I have either.

In his kindness, God moved me to Kansas City so I could enter into the rest he has prepared for me this side of eternity. I got a hold of a book that has been so helpful for me, guiding me into what God has had for me all along and I would highly recommend it for anyone who is tired. Tired of "fighting" or "pressing in." Tired of living in a cycle of trying harder and/or giving up after perceived "failures." What I realized was that I had not "failed" but that I have been living under a shroud of SHAME. For me, writing this blog is a step toward freedom. I will not live in shame anymore. I am human and I make mistakes. It's time to start living and laughing about them. So that is what I am doing. I am on a road to rediscovering the beauty God put in me when he created me and I am going to be unashamed about it, because that is what truly glorifies God.

If you can relate to any of the above and are ready to start experiencing freedom, may I point you to the book called Tired of Trying to Measure Up: Getting Free From the Demands, Expectations, and Intimidation of Well-Meaning People by Jeff VanVonderen. I hope and pray that it is as helpful for you as it has been for me.

I hope you will continue to join me in this journey as I hope I get to join you on yours.