Truly Resting

So, I know a really awesome girl, who is on a really awesome adventure who wrote a (you guessed it) really awesome blog post that woke me up to a BIG truth that God was wanting to teach me.

Rest.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, turns out, resting isn't something that comes easily for me. I love to be busy. I hardly ever desire to just sit and be (I know, it's a serious problem.) That's the kind of living most of us tend to do in our fast-paced culture.

But I've learned that type of living doesn't tend to lead to good things for me. Hence, my earlier struggles with anxiety. I told you here that I was diagnosed with severe anxiety in October 2011. You would have thought that would have been big enough for God to wake me up, but it turns out that was just the beginning of a bigger lesson He had for me.

As I was walking through that time, one bit of advice that was given to me a lot was to just stop - not to keep running, but just to rest. Problem was, I didn't know what that really meant. So, I began to rest in the only way I knew how - I would just shut down and check out. At first, this was something I would just do as I was alone in my room mindlessly watching a movie or playing games on my phone. But gradually, that habit grew and grew. Checking out turned into a common occurrence; something I would do when I was in situations I didn't want to be in, when things got too overwhelming, or I just would rather not actively engage myself. It was not uncommon for me to just check out in class, Bible study, or even when I should have been listening to someone.

That was my picture of rest for some time, but at the beginning of this month, starting with Rachel's blog, God began to open up my eyes to this better picture of true rest: resting in Him.

One thing Rachel said she was learning from reading Deuteronomy was that "Part of resting in the Lord is remembering who He is and what He has done." So, that is what I did. And it worked. It was good. If you've been to her blog by now in this post, you've probably seen the really long comment I left that was REALLY good for me to write. I remembered all He had done: the promises He had fulfilled in my life, and in the lives of people around me who I love deeply.


That week at church the sermon was (not coincidentally) about Abiding in Christ (focusing in John 15) and there God fully brought together the picture he was wanting me to see...

That I could either:

Live in Fear, continually relying on myself, which leads me to a place of anxiousness, which tends to just repeat itself in a vicious cycle.

OR

Live in Faith, while abiding in Christ, Resting in His presence and promises and remembering all He has done, which allows me to mirror His light.

Seemed like a no-brainer to me. I hope that this blog (or Rachel's) opens the eyes of your heart to examine what resting means in your life. I pray that you may know the full measure of the peace and security and joy that comes when we rest as we were meant to, in our God.