Finding Rest

After a busy time of moving and assigments, I've been occupied with the idea of finding rest. Rest - not just for my body, but for my mind and my emotions. I find it so easy to go down a track where I mull over a problem on a continual basis. It's as if I can't shut the thought off, can't come to rest. The prophet Jeremiah has intrigueing things to say. One of my favourites is in chapter 6 verse 16. "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find REST for your souls." When we come to one of the many crossroads in life, how do we proceed? What is the "good way" to travel through a disasterous time? When I was ill, prone to UNrest, lying awake, I'd repeat over and over: "In repentance and REST is your salvation, in quietness and confidence is your strength." (Isa.30:15) I've been doing this for a dozen years now and it helps to quiet my mind. Some say it's like a mantra. I looked up how The Message translates this passage and it was so "right on" that it went on the fridge. "Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me." That's it. Complete dependence on God. Stop trying it all in our own strength. Stop our "silly" efforts to heal ourselves, to figure out things on our own, to control our situation, control the outcome. Let go and let God. He has it all under control. It will happen the way He planned it. And He planned it all for good. Some day we'll understand what puzzles us so much now. So let's surrender our situations and REST, REST, REST! (And, by the way, it's the very thing that boosts our immune systems and helps our bodies to heal!) Blessings! Angie BACK TO: "Archives"