Worshipful Wednesday: The God Who Gives Rest - Denise Pass
by | Feb 24, 2016 | affliction, Autoimmune Diseases, awesome, Believers, blessings, Body of Christ, Christian, Christian Encouragement, Christianity, Comforter, counseling, counselor, Count Your Blessings, Deeds, Discipline, Family, Family Life, Finances, Flesh, God, Gratitude, Healing, heals, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, Illness, inspiration, Israelites, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jewish, Joy, Joyful living, Kindness, knowing God, Leadership, legal battles, Life, Lord, Love, Mental Health, Mercy, Ministry, Perspective, Philosophy, Positive Thinking, Praise, Prayer, Principles, Promises, Provision, psychology, Radical faith, Recovery, Relationship, rest, revelation, Salvation, Self-help, Sovereignty, Spiritual, suffering, Temptation, Thankfulness, Uncategorized, Victorious Christian Living, wisdom, Worldview, Worship |
Inspirational Thought of the Day:
Rest is necessary to be productive.
Scriptures of the Day:
Psalm 23:1-3
1 “A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He takes me to lush pastures, he leads me to refreshing water. 3 He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation.”
Psalm 127:2
“It is vain for you to rise early, come home late, and work so hard for your food. Yes, he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep.”
Those who suffer with autoimmune diseases know the drill well. Awoken by sharp pain in the back of both sides of my head, my eyes hurt to open. Carefully, I tried to ease into the day the best I can. Trying to move through the suffering to a place of functioning, I contemplate how grateful I am for the times when I do not feel this bad. But for now, I rest.
Rest. That word that should be so welcoming, but not when there is work to do. Until I realize that there is always work to do. Inconvenient interruption of suffering! And yet, perhaps God brings pockets of rest when we need them most.
Today it was a stubborn migraine that would not dissipate, no matter what I tried. I continued to work despite it, but the throbbing reminder was almost too much to bear. It is in this place of pain that I cry out to my Abba Father and ask Him to grant me strength. He does me one better. He offers me peace and makes me to lie down, basking in His love.
This is one of those weeks where there was too much on my plate, anyway. I rose earlier to make sure I would get it all done, but today God canceled most of my commitments. Kind of like a snow day when all of the obligations suddenly are postponed – only today it was the threat of tornadoes nearby.
As my children and I all huddled in the basement, I found myself in awe of God’s power and protection. With a breath or a thought He can affect our world. We have limits and our flesh speaks loudly when our frail bodies have reached them. In humility, recognizing that I cannot do it all makes me rely on God and recognize my need for rest.
God is so good to help us momentarily step out of our busy little boxes and see our world the way God does. Instead of seeing rest as inconvenient, we can create moments of rest as a priority and recognize the necessity of refueling to be able to finish the race he has marked out for us.
Lord, thank You for making me to lie down – even when I would not choose to. You are not a God Who ruthlessly works us – You want to fellowship with us and give us a rest that restores our weary souls.
