"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14
I was reminded of this verse as I was trying to hurry the Lord up to do His work in October. Couldn't He just work on my timeline? I was on a silent retreat and had limited time to receive all I could from Him. Didn't He know that this was my one and only shot for the remainder of this year to get significant revelations from Him?
Wait.
I heard the word so gently, so tenderly. I get pretty impatient with my own shortcomings and humanity. Can't He just hurry up and take care of things?! Eliminate my pride. Give me purpose. Fortify my marriage. Reinforce my parenting capacity. And on and on.
Wait for the Lord.
Have you ever thought about how it takes strength to be still and wait? Seriously. Have you had to wait on a test report, a baby to be delivered, or a loved one to show up for a long-awaited visit? I don't know about you, but I want to do #allthethings. To be still and wait? Impossible!
On the silent retreat, though, the Lord reminded me that waiting on Him allows me to experience unspeakable peace and rest in the core of who I am. Ultimately, I walked away from that weekend with a heart that, for the first time in a long time, felt as light as a feather.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest..." Jesus' promise from Matthew is yet another beautiful reminder of what happens when we come to Him and rest, allowing Him to do His thing (in His timing!). He will give us rest.
Perhaps you glossed over that. Well, here it is again (but with The Message paraphrasing it):
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Wait.
Rest.
Recover your life.
Live freely and light.
It seems counterintuitive to me that waiting on the Lord and resting in Him could pay such big dividends. You mean, we don't need to do anything? Nope. Just come and rest.
There is no magical number of Bible verses to read each day. There are no required prayers to pray. Just come, rest, be with Jesus, and experience the unforced rhythms of His grace.
Friends, as we head into this holiday seasons, my prayer is that we would know the deep rest the Lord offers to each of us and taste of His unfathomable peace.
Updates
November will be full of travels for me, taking me from coast to coast this month. I'm excited that one of my stops is in my sister's church in Wisconsin! I get to share on November 18th with a group of mamas there on "The 3 P's of parenting" (prayer, persistence, and play), and I cannot wait to hear what the Lord is up to in their lives!
On November 26th, I will be a guest on The Christian Entrepreneurs Podcast with AnneMarie Cross. I'm looking forward to sharing about what the Lord is stirring in my heart in regards to our parenting book and how walking in obedience to the Lord has brought such abundant L I F E. You can listen along here at 8:30 PM EST on the 26th.
Your prayers are greatly appreciated during these times!
And the winner is...
Thank you to everyone who joined our mailing list during October! If you signed up during October, your name was put in the running for a FREE $25 gift card for coffee. And our winner is...
Sandy W.
Sandy, I sent you an email this morning with details on your gift card. Congrats on your energy boost! ; )
May each of you know the deep, enduring peace of Jesus as you walk into this holiday season!
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