Rest for Your Soul

The past few months the Lord has continually brought this Scripture before me,
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  Matthew 11:28-30

Usually I am not the type of person to rest.  I want to go-go-go until everything on my to do list is marked off.  Rest is usually NEVER on my to do list.  I have 3 boys to home school and 5 mouths to feed 3 meals a day plus snacks and sports and church stuff and...and...and...the list goes on.

I can hear God laughing now!  All of those reasons are exactly WHY I need rest for my soul, and my body!  God was speaking to me clearly through His Word.  He was telling me to come to Him.  Nothing too hard, just come.  But I didn't for awhile.  I tried to juggle it all on my own. I stayed up late into the night finishing my tasks and then I was too tired to get up in the morning.  I knew this cycle had to end.  I felt like I couldn't make it through the day without my husband's help.  But all this time God was offering me HIS help and I was rejecting it.  How foolish I was.

More recently I have been saying, "Yes God I will come unto you".  I made it a point to do my devotion in the morning and seek the Lord.  I bought a new devotional called Resting in Him: I need to slow down, but I can't by Women of Faith.  I highly recommend it.

My days have gone so much smoother when I ask the Lord to help me and seek His guidance through prayer.  I feel more at peace and less frazzled. 

Today I was doing this Bible study while laying in my hammock with the sunshine beaming down on me.  My boys were in the yard playing and I had a lot of things on my to do list I could have been doing inside...but.I.chose.Rest.  And I am so glad I did.  It was such a sweet and refreshing time.

The meditation was on Psalm 23.  This happened to be the same Scripture that my 7 year old chose to copy on his own for a craft he did today.  As I meditated on it something new stuck out to me.  Psalm 23 says that the Lord as our Shepherd "maketh me to lie down in green pastures".  
I don't know about you but sometimes I have to be MADE to rest.  My husband has to tell me to sit down and not worry about the dirty dishes!  But this is for my own good!  I like the fact that God, as a Good Shepherd, makes His sheep rest because He knows we need it.  The Bible says we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 100:3)

Psalm 23 goes on to say that "He leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul".  As I meditated on this verse I could really feel my soul being renewed and restored.  The opposite is true when I have spent a lot of time on the internet or watching tv or using technology...all of that drains me.  I pictured the Lord leading my thirsty soul to water, where I could drink and be refreshed.  Water is a representation of the Word of God.  His Word quenches us and fills us.  The Lord truly is a good Shepherd.

Psalm 23:3 says that He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His names sake."  After I have been refreshed and well rested, then I can go on and live righteously to the Glory of the Lord!  We all know our bodies need sleep, food and water to operate.  So often we forget that our soul needs rest, the bread of life, and the water of the Word to operate.  Come to Jesus and find rest.  Put everything else on hold for a few minutes each day and make a date with Jesus to relax in His arms and hear from Him.  You will be so glad you did!     

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