When I am feeling particularly stressed or overwhelmed, I can feel my heartbeat in my throat. Have you ever experienced this? That feeling of desperation that takes over when you suddenly feel like there is too much on your plate–too many people that need your help, too many tasks on your list, too many demands on your broken, tired heart that you can’t meet. 

In those moments, true rest can seem like a fantasy. If only I could make things stop spinning so I could really sit in God’s word or do a slow, meditative yoga flow so I can pray for more than two hurried minutes or create some sort of Sabbath rhythm. But there’s too much to do. Too much to carry.  

As soon as the first humans took their first breaths, God taught us that we need rest. We need physical rest and we need emotional and mental rest–both of which can be found in Him. But we must recognize our limited humanness in order to let go of the frantic need to do all of the things and to intentionally commune with the Father instead.  

I find Proverbs 3:5-8 convicting when I think about rest. It reminds us to trust in the Lord, not in what we know or what we deem wise. By acknowledging our Heavenly Father and His ability to make our paths straight, we gain healing and refreshment. So we trust Jesus with our feeble attempts to step back and rest. We hope that by sitting at his feet in Bible study, we will find healing, rest, and hope again. We believe that He will fill our hearts and give us strength to do the work He has called us to do. 

And then, when things clamor for our attention and we feel that restful space slipping away, we can meditate on Psalm 116:7-17 and claim it as truth: “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you…”