Hello SoulfulCREW! I pray that you all are well!
It’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me….but that’s okay.
During the month of May, I took a little SoulfulMOTION respite. I needed to rest, relax, restore, and renew many different things in my life. I now feel recharged, and ready to serve YOU! Thank you for your patience and grace.
I knew that I needed some time off for a number of reasons:
- I was ALWAYS tired. I literally had zero energy.
- My schedule was completely full. I had no wiggle room in my life for anything! And I don’t like that feeling.
- I was always anxious, worrying about what I have to do next.
- I was struggling to create… anything. The creativity that I needed and enjoyed about myself was gone.
During this time off, I was blessed with a new Bible. A Bible where I can fully understand the language, but also gives me space for creativity to draw, take notes, and to do my favorite thing in life… It’s been my favorite thing since I came out of the womb…. COLORING! My new Bible has pictures for me to color yall! It may sound immature, but it’s my business and I LOVE to color.
I decided that I was going to read the Bible from front to back (and color all the pages). And of course we start in the beginning.
As many times as I’ve heard the story of creation, this time I felt a deep connection with my Bible. I envisioned God speaking things into existence and how I imagined them coming to form. Then I colored. I thought about all of the hard work that God did, and that he did all of the work and said that it was good. I thought about all of the hard work that I do on a daily basis, and how I feel that it is good as well. (I mean, I’m not creating and populating a planet, but I do some good LOL). And finally, after creating THE ENTIRE WORLD WE LIVE IN, God rested. The process of creating the land, waters, sun, moon, stars, living creatures of every kind, from the smallest bugs to the largest whales, creating vegetation, and finally…. humans. God, rested. Wow.
Genesis 2:2-3 (NLT) says, “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” Rest must truly be important if our Father, our provider in heaven, felt the need to rest from all that he did.
Our current culture and society have trained us to “get things done”, “do more”, “be more”, etc. And with summer in Michigan ramping up, we tend to be busy, as we only have 12-16 weeks to live our best warm weather lives. After coming off of quarantine, some of us are so eager to do more and more these days.
However, I want to challenge you to pick a day to rest each week. Our bodies need, and crave rest, because that’s what our creator wanted for us, as he modeled what it looked like for us to live our actual best lives. What does rest look like for you? For me, rest means:
- Getting more sleep
- Unfollowing and removing people that result in stressful situations, interactions, etc. This includes social media.
- Unfollowing people who trigger stressful responses in yourself, on social media. These people don’t know they trigger stress in you, but it isn’t healthy for you to be watching and seeing things that don’t bring you happiness and joy, and elicit stressful emotions and hormones (like cortisol ladies).
- Be done with work when it’s time (Christina), and then have fun!
When I’m able to prioritize my rest, I’m able to be more creative in the areas that I need to be. I’m able to offer more of myself to my friends and family. I’m recharged and restored, and I am able to pour from my full cup.
If you’re someone who doesn’t feel like yourself lately, try simply getting some rest, and praying that God will provide you with the clarity that you need to be who He’s called you to be.
One of my favorite SoulfulSONGS has the lyrics, “Come to me all who are weary with heavy burdens, I’ll give you rest. Separating you from your sin, as far as the east is from the west,” which is taken from Matthew 11: 28-30. (If you know the song…. you get a bonus point.) It is written in our word, where Jesus himself speaks, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (NLT)
We need rest.
We need clarity.
We need to cast our cares upon Him.
And rest allows us to hear God more clearly.
Praying that you all are healthy, safe and well. I’m also praying that although summer is fun, that you prioritize your rest as well, and know that it is just as important. Please don’t forget to shoot us prayer requests online, via email, text us, whatever! We want you to know that we love and support you! Praying that you can have a restful month, and that we will see you soon.
Blessings,
