Finding Rest

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

So amazingly enough I think I got more sleep last night than I have any day of the fast (Except that first Saturday when I slept till noon). But to have gotten almost 6 whole hours of sleep is fantastic. I mean, it's not great, I'll still be tired later, but I feel a little bit more like myself again.

It really is amazing how important "rest" is, whether it's going to bed within a half-hour of getting home in order to get as much sleep as possible, or taking time off of work to just "be."

I have been in turmoil lately, and I feel so much more at peace right now. My church is having a leader's retreat this weekend, and last night I got to lead worship (which was nerve-wracking a bit but went fairly well I think, at least it ended well anyway) and then we took turns asking God for blessings to give each other, and I feel that all of my blessings were really just straight from God. Of course they were directives too: Step back and let go of your control, God is bringing you out of your cocoon but He's going to make you into who HE wants you to be, not who YOU want to be, He's not going to take you out of the storm but He will give you peace inside of it.

My goodness. But I am so grateful for those blessings, because sometimes you do need to hear God through the mouths of other people.

And I hope to find more strengthening times today, and more words of wisdom and more understanding of who I am, and who God wants me to be. And more times to just rest in Him, for truly compared to doing it all myself, His yoke is easy and His burden light.