It's been pretty clear (and yet, oh so hard to put into practice) what God is teaching me right now.  

"Relax and rest." 

(Psalm 116:7 MSG).  

Do you ever receive a message like that and kind of laugh-out-loud at the simplicity and challenge of it?  That's been my response lately.  I kind of roll my eyes and inwardly respond sarcastically, "oh okay God, sure thing.  Easy-peasy.  I'll just ignore that eternal to-do list, no problemo!"  Full disclosure:  I can get a bit sassy in my conversations with God.  What a gracious and loving Father that He loves ALL of me (sass and all) and quietly yet firmly redirects my heart.  

I've said it before, but I am a list-maker and a list-doer.  So there is always a LONG list of things to be accomplished, worked on, or dealt with.  Even if I haven't sat down to physically write the list, there is a mental one that goes on and on and on....  This time of year, we are approaching our biggest event of the year, outreach camp.  So my mental list making is on overload.  There are so many big and small things to coordinate, plan, prepare, etc.  Besides the normal everyday things that need to get done.  God is unfazed by my lists and in the midst of my demand for more time and energy to get everything done, He has consistently been speaking to me about the importance of REST.  Which generally receives a "haha...very funny, God, but no what I really need is to get things on my lists checked off!".  He's not telling me to go to bed earlier or to go lounge on the couch for a good 30 minutes.  He's telling me to relax and rest IN Him.  Because the truth behind those long lists of things to-do is that I am putting my trust in ME.  Don't get me wrong, there is no sin with making lists and goals and working hard on those things.  But what tends to happen in my heart is that I start to believe that it is all up to me.  It is all on me.  And when I don't see things progressing the way I want, worry enters in and begins to consume me.  I worry because I fail to remember that God has not asked me to do it all on my own.  God has asked me to lean on Him, to trust in Him and ask Him to help!  In my pride and false independence I work myself into a frenzy.  Over-exhausted, frustrated, and always falling short.  Thus, His persistent call to me to relax and rest.  

I don't know if you've been in the same place.  Some people can hear that call and obediently follow (like my husband).  He has the same (if not more) things looming ahead and tasks to be done and yet he has fully embraced God's word and can lift his hands up and really let God take his burdens and worries away.  I see in his countenance, after his quiet time with God, his own spirit is quieted and at rest.  There is a yearning in me to experience the same.  But it is a strong and daily battle for me to lay it all down and hand it over.  Yesterday, my husband said to me, "Okay, today is a day for us as a family.  What do you want to do?"  I literally could not pry my brain away from the things "to be done" (none of which NEEDED to be done yesterday) to stop and relax together as a family and invest in one another (away from work, away from ministry, away from the household chores).  Thankfully, my husband is very capable of putting all those other things on the back burner and leading us as a family to a time of rest.  So we took a little drive to a new park we had seen the week before and we walked along the paths, talked freely, and felt the sun on our faces.   In a world that is ever moving and pushing us to do more, let's make a habit of finding moments of rest.  Not just physically resting but resting in our hearts.  Knowing that God is capable.  Trusting that He will provide and move what needs to be moved.  

This guy reminds me to slow down and enjoy each moment.

Ivan with our new friend, Renee, from AZ.