Amen On Friday, 12 April, 2024 at 11:01:06 pm IST, Rhonda Hobby
<rhondahobby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thank you for sharing, Cindy.
Love, Rhonda
On Friday, April 12, 2024 at 06:44:57 AM EDT, Cindy Roach
<cjrkids@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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Sorry for the delay ladies
Rest Before You’re Ready
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by JESS CONNOLLY
Author of Tired of Being Tired
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April 10, 2024
Lee en español
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“God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was
evening, and there was morning—the first day.”
Genesis 1:5 (NIV)
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This is for every woman who feels like she has to get it all done before she
rests.
Many of us are waiting until we’re “done” or “finished” with our work before we
rest. But that moment is not coming until the end of our lives.
We’re convinced that the laundry has to be done, every text has to be answered,
every kid nurtured, and every important email responded to. Before we rest, we
need to have a grip on the next week, plan the next thing, and finish the
dishes.
This is why I’m incredibly grateful for the very first vision of rest, which
God cast in Genesis.
Just after God created day and night, literal light and darkness, He did
something interesting. Right here, in the foundation of everything, He switched
the order: He shifted from the day-night pattern to night and then day.
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the
light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the
light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and
there was morning—the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5, NIV).
This is life-changing for those of us who feel we need to earn our rest.
When our intentional and creative God spoke day and night into being, the
original sequence was day and then night. But in Genesis 1:5, it’s like He
pulled out the Uno reverse card and suddenly referred to the two as “evening,
and … morning.”
One possible inference here is that for the humans who inhabit God's creation,
night and rest come first. And then work. This isn’t to say we’ve completely
misunderstood God’s intention for Sabbath at the end of the week (Genesis 2:2).
But it does point to the truth that we can’t work from an empty tank.
From the very beginning, we see God easing our fears and concerns about whether
we’ll ever be able to earn our rest. There is no list to finish before we take
the gift of rest that’s offered to us by a good and loving Father. There is
evening and morning; there is rest and then work. In God’s structuring of the
created order of everything, we might say He intentionally sequenced rest to
come before any kind of waking activity.
So we break ties with the lie that we can't rest until after our work is
completed, and we receive the truth that we won’t be able to work well until we
rest.
When we rest, we take God at His word, trusting that striving can cease.
When we rest, we tear down the false idols of people-pleasing, fear and
perfectionism.
When we rest before the work is all done, we declare God’s faithfulness louder
than our own fruitfulness.
His Kingdom comes when His will is done, and His Kingdom comes when His
daughters rest.
God, we thank You for modeling rest for us in creation and in the life of
Jesus. We thank You for giving rest to us, Your kids, as a gift of grace and
relief. Please help us to accept the gift and stop trying to earn it. Help us
to break ties with striving! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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