Rest

Resting is an important part of our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
The last couple days I've experienced terrible allergies (as I mentioned in my last post). I've found myself so physically drained that I had to have a nap. So two days in a row I've crashed in my bed and slept for two hours in the middle of the day. But each time I woke up feeling better than before.

While I understand that I *need* rest. I often forget what that entails. Rest is not only taking care of my body and letting it sleep. But it is also taking care of my mental, emotional, and spiritual state and resting in those too.
I often forget that emotional rest needs to be in a safe place where I can just rest from all the turmoil and chaos and even all the joy from the day. Joy takes energy to ya'll. We all need time to sit and let the things from the day rest, let our emotions rest.
We all need time to sit and not think. To let our minds rest. Now many people think oh well we can do that while we sleep. But when you sleep is when your mind sorts out everything from the day. It processes all that information and updates how you will interact with that information when you wake up. We need to have time to just let our minds sit peacefully.
But most importantly of all, we need time to rest spiritually.
Psalm 46:10 "be still and know that I am God"
we need to have time to be still and know that He is God. We need time to rest in His presence and rejuvenate our soul and our spirit and our relationship with Him.

In our busy world, and our work aholic society (enabled by caffeine) we all forget to be still and just let everything rest. Some of us will put it off till vacation time. Some of us will watch Netflix and drink wine, some of us will ignore rest all together until our body collapses or tragedy strikes and we collapse.
Well I collapsed physically the last two days, and I've been pushing through in all the other aspects.
But having my body *require* sleep and rest, without an option woke me up to the fact that the rest of me needs it too, and going to church once a week does not count as spiritual rest, at least for me it's exhausting. good but exhausting. I'm very involved in my church which is good, but it is certainly not restful.
So as I am reminded to rest, to be still in mind, spirit, body, and soul. I encourage you to look at your life and see where you need to rest. Is there something on your mind all the time? You may need to give it a rest.
Is there some stuff in your life that has been causing you to be emotionally exhausted but you're just shoving it under the rug? Put down that emotional broom and rest.
Do you keep putting off sleep for work or Netflix? SLEEP!
When was the last time you just sat in the presence of God and enacted Psalm 46:10. For me it's been a while. Stop and take time to rest in Gods presence.
I know that's my goal this week.
Taking time to rest is vital to our well being in every aspect. Don't wait until you collapse in ANY area. Stop now and rest. stop now, and be still and know that He is God.
<3