For years, I have felt I had to do this or that, to save or fix a situation. I had to show up and stay present to keep myself distracted so I wouldn’t get bothered by certain situations and circumstances.
Being this way makes life very heavy and tiring, it weighs on you, and it keeps anxiety and stress levels high.
From August to now, I have had some health issues that began with a fall that ended up saving my kidney. Having procedures, surgery, drainage, medications, episcleritis, flu, and now high blood pressure. During all of this, I haven’t missed a beat, still showed up over and over until last week, when my oldest daughter, Lauren, who is a nurse practitioner, said something to me.
I called her to ask if she would give me some pain meds for a horrible headache. Now, let me share that I don’t have headaches, and I rarely take medication. Lauren said, ” Mom, come up to the clinic, and let’s take your blood pressure. Well, I did. She and Karen looked at each other, and Lauren said, “You are going home, and you aren’t doing anything.” You aren’t going to the event in Little Rock tonight.
So, I went home, took a nap, took some Tylenol, and took my blood pressure. It had gone down. I texted Lauren, and she said, ” I’m not sure whether your headache caused the high blood pressure, or your blood pressure gave you a headache, or if someone gave you permission to say you couldn’t do something.
God made it very clear again that saying no is the best answer, and if you remember, in one of my Coffee with Cupcakes earlier this year, I said I asked God what to do, and He told me “NOTHING.” For a while, as I was preparing for Endure the Dirt, I did nothing, just what was necessary, and it proved to be the correct thing to do.
Here we go again.
Not only has Lauren told me to do nothing, but God also told me to do nothing, and He has given me permission to do nothing over and over again.
God gives all of us permission to:
- Rest
- Be still
- Close doors and do not try to open doors that are closed
- Pursue goodness
- Live abundantly
- Make choices within His will
- Use your gifts and talents
God gives us permission to rest, and He models this for us. He invites us to lay our burdens at His feet. He also models how to be still and know that He is God, the one who is in control of everything, and we should trust in Him.
In an article Working From a Place of Rest written by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith an internal medicine physician who also wrote the book The Sacred Rest I found this tidbit of information that made me have an ah-ha moment:
Rest is the foundation
In Genesis, God created man during the sixth day of the creation story, and on the seventh day God rested. Man’s first full day began as a day of rest. Rest was the foundation, not the reward. Rest was the place from which all work would start. God’s rhythm of living includes working from a place of rest. It begins in communion with Him. And after spending time with Him, we leave empowered to do the work we are called to do.
If you seek to serve your family and others, it’s critical you learn how to rest well—not merely to take a nap or to break away for a vacation, but to cultivate a deep abiding rest where you feel God drawing you near and you can lay down your to-do list. It’s the ability to step away from your duties for a time, while you focus not on the calling but the One who called you.
Just as work is valuable, rest has great value. It is by definition restorative. What needs restoring in your life?
So today on this Monday I want all of you to hear this. It is time for you to rest. It is time for you to be still. It is time for you to say no. It is time for you to leave doors closed. It is time for you to take care of you. God is giving you permission and I am too.
So, to begin taking care of you
- Show up for JESUS every day – Start your day in the Word.
- Show up for OTHERS – Serve others. That is what Jesus did; He showed up.
3. Show up for YOU – Fill your cup before you help fill others’ cups. Get your rest.
WE WILL FIND JOY WHEN WE SHOW UP FOR JESUS, OTHERS, AND OURSELVES.
As Father Mike says, “You pray for me, and I will pray for you.”
As Tara Leigh says: He’s where the joy is.
Have a great week, Cupcake loves you and so does Jesus.
Gen 2:2-3
Matthew 11:28
Psalm 46:10
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