Category: rest

Come, thou long expected Jesus

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December 4 

from the Hymn Come, thou long expected Jesus,

 

adventCome, thou long expected Jesus,

Born to set thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in thee.

 

Sometimes, when things are overwhelming, I just want to rest. I want to sit quietly in a chair, my hands falling over the armrests, my head laid back, my eyes closed and most of all my mind still.

It’s harder and harder to get my mind still. It’s filled with so much stuff !! So many things to think about…. So many worries… money, family, job.. relationships, etc. etc. I can’t rest… I can’t stop thinking.

And yet, if only I would put my worries in your hands… let my mind dwell on you… I just might manage to find that place of calm.

Prayer: God of compassion, lead me to that place of calm. ..the place where you will free my mind from all the things I can’t let go. Help me to sit there with you in perfect peace and let you soothe my cares and give me rest. AMEN

 

Rest

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Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
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I have always found this verse from the so loved psalm intriguing. Why does it say “he makes me?” There is an easy answer to that. We are so busy…so prone to never stropping that we don’t slow down. God wants us to stop. He wants to us to just rest in the beauty of nature and listen for his voice. He wants us to hear the babble of the brook and dip our hands into the still waters.
Take the time to take your rest.

Peace! Be Still!

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Mark 4:39 

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
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Finding calm in the midst of a storm is not easy. For those who experienced Dorian know this for certain. But Jesus calmed the storm. Just his words did the job. Resting in the promises of Jesus is the way to find the calm. He has told us not to worry. God is in charge. Be still and be calm.

God’s power

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bible-verse-2-corinthians-my-grace-is-sufficient-for-you-for-my-power-is-made-perfect-in-weakness11

This has been a difficult time for me but God’s grace is always with us. What a wonderful verse to understand that God understands our weaknesses and continues to hold us with his love.

Loving God, we are so blessed that you are always with us. We can feel your grace and love in the most difficult times. AMEN

Too important?

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Anybody can observe the Sabbath but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week. ————-Alice Walker

Our society has almost done away with the Sabbath. God called it a day of rest. God realized that we would need time to rest our bodies and our souls. Today we think that we can’t stop. We have too much to do. Guilt comes over us if we stop. This is arrogance. This is thinking that we are so important that the world can’t do without us for a few hours.

We must take time to rest our souls and bodies. I promise..we are not that important.

Hubris-means-deadly-pride-Thinking-you-can-do

 

Patient God, you watch us struggle to keep up 24/7. You know we need the rest. Help us to see that too. AMEN

Rest in God

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seek God 3We spend so much time in prayer asking God for things but take little time so listen for answers. We must seek to be with God. To rest in silence and meditation and wait for him. God waits for us…we just have to let him find us. In God’s presence is peace.

Patient God, you wait for us to come to you and we doing asking for things. Help us to learn to just rest in you presence. AMEN

Rest

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Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all.    Anne Lamott in”Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”

Heaven forbid that we should sit still and fold our hands in our laps. The world would fall apart if we stopped and rested, took an afternoon off to do nothing but laugh with our friends or rest in the hammock in the yard. Look what we have done to ourselves. We have lots of new technology so that we can have more leisure time and now even leisure time is work. Will we learn again what our forbears knew? How to enjoy each other ….how to sit and rest and think and listen for God.

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