The concept of REST and TRUST and WAITING are counter-cultural to our nonstop lives where HUSTLE is king. How would your life look different if you defied common convention?

 

Colorful ranunculus bouquet up close - inspirational devotional on rest and trust - AnExtraordinaryDay.net

 

Nearly a month ago I had an appointment with my homeopath where my current state of health was the topic of conversation.  I’m grateful that she is a spirit-filled believer and so when she speaks, I listen.  She said something that set me back in my seat. “Diane, you need to rest or you will miss something big God has planned for you.” Those words slapped me in the face.  Hard.  I don’t want to miss out on God’s plans for me. 

Since then, I have been trying to figure out what rest means for me and my body.

As a creator and writer, even though I might be sitting more than standing as I write and create and photograph and edit posts and projects, I’m expending considerable mental energy.  Continually, I’m trying to learn something new… taking a class, trying to figure out something that doesn’t come naturally to my nongeek brain, or striving to hone my craft and improve all that I do for the blog and on social media.  It’s a big task.

 

White tulip with red stripe - flowers - inspirational devotional post - AnExtraordinaryDay.net

 

Besides that, I have a side job where I work “on demand.”  There I mostly stand and work, but on top of those tasks, I often expend a lot of mental energy in attempting to catch all the details of the job. Occasionally I help a friend who owns some apartment buildings by doing some fast heavy cleaning and maybe a little painting when the need arises.  Additionally, we have an open door for two energic neighbor kids that are 7 and 11.  And, of course, there are the daily tasks we all are responsible to do from making meals to caring for our homes and family to self-care activities like quiet time and exercise,  not to mention our activities and acts of service outside our homes.  My days are full from the moment I awake to the moment I put my head on the pillow.

I am thankful to live such a full and blessed life.  However, for many many years, I abused my body by getting little sleep, even less rest, and working LONG days.  But… all of that came at a huge cost to me. Living on adrenalin recks havoc on the body.

 

Brilliant vase of colorful ranunculus flowers - part of devotional on rest and trust - AnExtraordinaryDay.net

 

My doctor reminded me that although I “feel” like I’m back to living a “normal” life, my life is far from “normal.” My body is still reeling from living “in between” for far too long, not to mention all the years of self-inflicted “adrenalin abuse.”  Recovery will not come overnight… even with God’s help.

I’ve had a sense for some time now that God has something good ahead for me, so my doctor’s admonition to REST hung heavy and hard on my mind.

There are so many stories over the years I could tell you where God showed me that I was disobedient in not resting.  Ugh! We’ve talked about the importance of taking a Sabbath each week.  Unfortunately, I’m still working on that.  However, I am learning that I don’t HAVE to get up with my husband every morning and make breakfast.  And since eggs have been banned from my diet, that makes it even easier for me.   I continue to wake up when Tim does and we pray together, I stay in bed and sometimes sleep, more often I pray and talk with God and just have a good lay in as I call it, before starting my day.  That slower start to my day has paid great dividends.

I’m making progress.  Step by step.

A few scripture verses hit home with me this week…

 

It is a waste of time to get up early and stay up late, trying to make a living. The Lord provides for those he loves, even while they are sleeping.
Psalm 127:2

This verse is one I wish I had not glossed over, but taken to heart, many years ago.  It would have saved me from my current state. There is no doubt that God honors our hard work.  What he does not honor is working hard because we are choosing to either be self-reliant or because we make our work our god. God wants us to trust HIM first and foremost.  We know that his word tells us that he will provide everything we need to live, yet we take things into our own hands, don’t we?

 

If you will be calm and trust me, you will be strong.
Isaiah 30:15

There we have it again… taking time to be quiet and trusting God, those two practices are what makes us strong.  Not frantically running around like crazy.  It’s time to quit the hustle.  It’s time to quit all the busyness.

 

Wait and trust the Lord. Don’t be upset when others get rich or when someone else’s plans succeed.
Psalm 37:7

This verse doesn’t tell us that it’s through frenetic activity God will prosper us. NO! It’s by being in his presence, by worshiping, reading his word, and waiting… NOT doing.  He doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to others.  He wants us to keep laser focused on him and trust HIM for all we need and our success.

Everything about that flies in the face of our culture and the way we’ve been raised.  We live fully on 24/7.   Okay… maybe 19/7… after all most of us can get by, we think, with 5 hours of sleep. At least that’s what we tell ourselves.

 

Bouquet of ranunculus with the word Rest - part of an inspirational devotional on rest - AnExtraordinaryDay.net

 

This message of rest, trust, and waiting is one that God continues to impress upon me. 

Although I’m a pretty quick learner… in this area of life… I struggle.

Too much of my personal value in life comes from what I accomplish.  Not in “whose” I am.

Slowly I’m learning that I need to quit the striving in order to thrive.

Somewhere in the midst of this, I’m hoping to see results for changing my mindset and my need to keep trying to do more and more.

Making less space in my day for my agenda and more space for God does not come easily to me and frankly, I’m not exactly sure what that is supposed to look like for me.  Every day I begin my day in the word and in prayer… but what happens later in the day? Allowing myself time, even scheduling it, to rest and “do nothing”… is frankly a rare occurrence.

In my spirit, I have a sense that when I get this figured out… when I learn how to rest and be quiet in the Lord throughout my day… I think I just might have a big breakthrough in my personal life and in my business.

One thing for sure… this is important to God and so I need to make it important for me too.  Not just for my health and well being.

Have you figured out the healthy balance of honoring God with your rest and trust?

Or are you constantly striving, living sleep deprived, and always trying to be better, work harder, and push, push, push?

If you’re in a similar position to me… I hope that you feel gently nudged today.

And if this is an area where you have successfully replaced your hustle and striving with rest and trust… please tell us how you are defying hustle and the common convention of our culture.

 

JoyDay! Inspirational post on rest and trust - AnExtraordinaryDay.net

 

It’s JoyDay!

 

Would you join me in thinking back over the past week and counting seven things for which you are thankful?  This simple exercise of counting and giving thanks together in this space is something we do each week to reset our compasses and put our focus back on the Lord.

I’ll start…

Thank you, God for…

  1. Your words that are alive and active and at work teaching and convicting.
  2. baby steps made in learning to rest and trust.
  3. the beginning buds of pussy willows that I saw on my walk yesterday.
  4. an amazing message on the new covenant I heard this morning from Andy Stanley.
  5. Your patience with me as I strive to quite striving every. single. moment of the day.
  6. the incredible unlimitable love You have for each of us.
  7. being a God who intimately cares about how we live our lives.

Now…it’s YOUR turn!

List your ‘seven’ in the ‘share your extraordinary thoughts’ section below.  You’ll be glad you did.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your sweet thoughts.

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Comments

  1. Minnie says

    Happy Joy Day!
    Well my friend, you ask if any of us has figured out the healthy balance of honoring God with our rest and trust.
    For me the answer is a big fat NO.
    As a wife and mother of 4 kids I have no idea what rest even looks like. Now that my kids are grown I still don’t know. Oh I have shifted gears but I’m still running fast. Husband has health issues that have put him in a wheelchair almost full time. Grandchildren live close so are here often ( that’s a good thing) and now I am doing things I have waited to do until kids grew up. Not big stuff, just ME stuff. Home stuff, gardening, building things I have always wanted but can’t afford.
    Faith and trust….well truthfully I also need work in that area as well.
    I’m a “why” asker.
    So this week I will count my 7 a little differently. Maybe it will look the same to any reader but God knows what all I am referring to.
    Lord I thank you for,
    1. The peace that I have in my heart.
    2. This lovely place and friend here to remind me what I should be doing.
    3. The simple things…
    4. I already have it all, I just sometimes need to look at it differently.
    5. The huge blessing that J. gave us yesterday.
    6. I can see beauty where others see none.
    7. I still trust You Lord because you are trustworthy.
    Diane I pray for your Rest.. Trust..Peace… Strength…Health.
    You have heard him so I’m sure you will receive.
    Blessings to you!
    Minnie

  2. When I was younger and had a large family I worked a mighty long 24/7! The same was true even as my family married and moved on as I was employed by a very determined and demanding taskmaster! I wore myself out! The stress and anxiety were insane and they robbed me of my natural good humor and health. After a breakdown, my medical doctor told me I would have to quiet down and quit my job. My family was very supportive and agreed. I had severe adrenal insufficiency, high blood pressure and thyroid disease…..all draining my system daily. Hospitalization was needed and good care was inissiated. Thus began my new

    Tlife. Reading and relaxing soon became my new friends as I tried hard to regain some strength. Sadly, it was a bit too late and I have only gotten worse and am very sad. I had taken on too much for me. God was not in my life then and I was lonely.
    Today, I still read and relax as that’s all I have the energy for. My interests have developed and I “stay relatively busy”. At 67, I feel older than I am but I have much for which to be grateful. I am alive with a new sense of importance. No longer the crazy business of yesteryear! I just don’t have it in me.

    Joy Day
    1. A lovely home in which I am able to rest and discover new interests.
    2. My Kindle which keeps me connected to the very important and , to me, necessary gift of literature.
    3. My puppy, Marcel, to whom I have grown quite attached!
    4. My time with God and prayer which keeps me focused and hopefully level headed.
    5. My beloved husband and caretaker without whom I could live as nicely as I do now.
    6. Spring! Oh, I do hope it is around the corner!
    7. Hope for our future which I hold dear to me!

  3. Gwen says

    What a lovely post. The photos are like from a Dutch Master. They brought delight. The message is so good. Haven’t we all read something and wished someone could read it and take it to ❤️ but they are not ready to hear? It’s taken me an injury to cause me to stop. But even if I go back to less drastic rests. A pastor once advised me that God did allow me time off from church service and to take time off from all commitments so that my brain, heart and body could rest. It was good advice. It did not take too long.
    I’m glad Diane you are learning this measure of rest and balance. It does go against society.
    My Joy Day.
    1. Today is my no pressure day to rest. I feel my shoulders relax.
    2. Today is to be 80* I see when last week our morning was 39* or less. I find joy in weather!
    3. There are so many beautiful cherry blossoms lining our streets right now.
    4. I got to be with my daughter and grandsons. It’s hectic but it’s so rare. I hold this close to my heart.
    5. Laughter when planting a sweet potato I let grow into a leaved plant on my counter.
    6. Getting to reflect upon my childhood and times with Great Uncles and Aunts.
    7. I’m enjoying my Bible reading plan so much!!

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