A Season of Rest
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
The Lord spoke to my heart He would take me into a season of rest and preparation for where He was taking me next in life and ministry, but the rest to which He was calling me and the way He would bring me into it were not what I expected in the least. I was not surprised after 20 years of pushing myself beyond description in my work, coupled with numerous personal challenges, that He wanted me to enter into a season of both physical rest as well as learning to rest in His love and provision for me, in His sovereignty and care, His forgiveness and mercy, His promises and kindness, His patience and peace, etc. But what surprised me was this. I figured He would give me a season of ease and comfort and that He would relieve me greatly of burdens and responsibilities that had weighed me down. But this was not His plan. For He wanted me to learn to rest in Him regardless of my circumstances, and to learn to rest even physically in the midst of challenges. One morning, He spoke to my heart these words. I believe the words He laid gently inside my heart may contain a message for others who have repented and committed their lives to Christ the Savior of the world.
“I am purposely taking you through this season of trial right when I tell you I want you to rest because what I want you to rest in is not your circumstances but is me. I am your rest. I am your refuge. I am where joy if found. I am your hope. I am your peace. I am your everything. So long as you look to anything or anyone else for rest, you will not find it. Come to me… I am with you. Come to me. Rest. Take joy in me. Know that I will carry you. I will hold you. I will comfort you. I will give you everything you need. You have looked far and wide for relief. You will not find relief in this world. You will enjoy times in your life, you will enjoy experiences. But all of this is temporary. I am forever. Find your rest in me.”
His words to me revealed I had been seeking relief. I wanted to be relieved of what weighed upon me. I wanted the cares and burdens to be gone. But the Lord wants me to continually cast my cares and burdens on Him and to trust Him to lead me through it all while entering into an ever deepening, intimate, forever relationship with Him as He conforms me to Himself. He wants my rest and relief to be in Him. My rest won’t necessarily be a lessening of life’s trials, but instead a strengthening of learning to find peace and all I need and desire in Christ. I didn’t just need a season of rest. I need to learn a lifestyle of it. For following Jesus doesn’t equate to an easy, comfortable life, but instead a life of finding rest, comfort, and peace in Him no matter life’s woes.
Need rest? Cast your cares upon the Lord, seek Him, follow Him, rest in His love forevermore.