“I shall run in the way of Your commandments for you will enlarge my heart.” Psalm 119:32, NASB
My friend listened as I detailed my busy-laden days, how stressed out I felt. “What do you really want to do?” she asked.
“I want to be a great wife and mother. And I want to write,” I said.
“Then you’re going to have to say no to the peripheral things. You can’t keep going at this pace. You need rest.”
Tears threatened. I knew my friend’s words were the truth just as I knew God was calling me to edit my life by saying no. Or better still, to let God be the Editor, giving Him control to trim my life as He pleased.
I knew I’d been running on the to-do list treadmill, avoiding the still, small voice of God. Because of frenetic activity, my heart shriveled. Finding true rest meant letting God enlarge my heart by giving up my own control for the sake of His, saying no to what seemed important so I could rest. To let Him be big and the circumstances of life be small.
In Mark Buchanan’s The Rest of God, he writes, “If God can take any mess, any mishap, any wastage, any wreckage, any anything, and choreograph beauty and meaning from it, then you can take a day off” (p. 63).
I’ve invited Him to take control, to give me the strength to say no. My heart’s grown, and I’ve found rest.
What about you? When has God told you to rest? What did you do? When has rest blessed you?
