Intentional Rest: Recovering Ourselves

Hey Everyone! 

I hope you all enjoyed the first post on this new series. I definitely enjoyed writing it and I hope it led to acknowledging your own need for rest. But it's not enough for us to stop at acknowledgment - change and action are needed. 

When I was at my busiest and weakest, I noticed a few things about myself that I didn't like. I looked horrible! I was losing hair, I was breaking out in acne and my eczema would flare up. I didn't have enough sleep and grew designer bags under my eyes. I was not taking care of myself, I looked horrible and I was exhausted. I'm sure a lot of you can relate. 

Without rest, we become monsters. We try to cover all these things with make up, drink more coffee, and put on a smile more often just to convince ourselves we still got it. But we all know it's not sustainable. We all know that it's not helping us. It won't grow us. 

Even though I am a pastor's kid, I never knew or understood the importance of the Sabbath until this year. My parents told me why there is a Sabbath and I knew that I have to worship during the Sabbath but I never got the "rest" part. Growing up, I always saw the Sabbath as a day to serve and I can't do anything else but to go to church. 

The Sabbath is good for you. Rest is good for you and it should be fun and enjoyed fully! If resting or the Sabbath is not good for you, you might be doing it wrong. I definitely did it wrong. 

How do I know it's good? Well, God did it and He also told us to do it. 

In Genesis 2:1-3, after God had created the heavens and the earth, He rested. He blessed that day and made it holy. If it wasn't good for Him, I don't think He would've done it. On that day, I'd like to think of God sitting on a recliner, looking at His creation, takes a sip of an ice cold drink going "ahh.. this is the good stuff." He was happy on that day, it was the beginning of the relationship between God and His creation. 

God created us to be in relationship with Him. That is our one true purpose in life! How do you grow a relationship? By spending time with the other person. You cannot spend time with the other person if you're always busy doing your own stuff. 

At the peak of my serving, I was on worship, playing 3 services from 8am to 5pm on Sunday and I had to rush to outreach from 5pm to 6pm. There were days when I didn't have time for breakfast or lunch and too tired to get anything for dinner. I would crash on the sofa once I got home for about an hour and then prepare myself to go to school the next day. 

While I was serving, as you all know from the last post, I wasn't spending time with God. I didn't have the time. For the longest period, I thought "I'm not growing. I want something more, but I can't seem to have more." Going to church on Sunday became a routine, a chore. Instead of being fed, I left hungrier than when I came in. I felt like a fraud. How can I be on stage every Sunday and be so empty? 

We are not slaves. God doesn't want us to burn out. In fact, He doesn't want any of His creation to overwork themselves. God wants each of us to rest and take time to put ourselves back in order.

In Exodus 23:10-12, God taught the Israelites on Sabbath laws. Through this passage, we can actually learn a lot about God's heart for us and how He wants us to rest.

Verses 10-11 speaks on fallowing. Fallowing is a farming practice. It is when you let a piece of land rest, and leave it at its natural form for a period of time. It's a very good practice to maintain the productivity of the land it allows the soil to replenish its nutrients. Just like the soil, this is something we must do too! It's a time for us to reabsorb all the words, prayers and promises God has given to us before going into a new season. 

It also gives an opportunity for others to enjoy and reap the benefits from this soil. In verse 11, it says, "Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left." Isn't that amazing? Even when the soil is at rest, it can still be a source of food to other people! Don't be afraid to rest because you can still be a blessing to others! God will still use you! For example, by resting, you're allowing other people to experience the joy and the bliss of serving, especially to new believers. You can also find new opportunities as a result! Don't you want to be a part of God's expanding kingdom? 

And of course, verse 12 speaks on letting others be refreshed. This verse teaches us to care for others and letting them experience restoration and recovering. Although it's sad when people take breaks, we have to acknowledge that it's good for them and pray that God speaks to them during this time. If they want to spend more time with God, be happy for them! 

Now that we have our reasonings for rest, let's get to the "How do I rest? What do I do?"

1. Pray! 

This is such an obvious one. I went on a social media fast recently to seek God's face and to get my prayer life back. It was harder than I thought since we're in the middle of a pandemic and social media is all I have. Even more reason to do it now! It was a great 2 weeks even though I had a rocky start. I could tell that my whole entire being was happier. I became more sensitive spiritually and I learnt a great deal about myself too.

2. Re-learn the things you love!  

I never would've started a blog without this rest period. I forgot just how much I love writing. I'm learning more about writing in the process as a result too. I also wrote a song and learnt to be a better worship leader (teaser for the next series). This has been such a great revision time and I encourage you to take some time to re-visit old things you love and cultivate these forgotten gifts.

3. Build healthy habits! 

Part of resting is preparing yourself for the next season. What better time is it to build those habits than now? You get to have an extended time to experiment on what can benefit you and how you can pick yourself up when you feel like you'll burn out. Workout, journal, schedule devotions, drink water, whatever it may be, build these healthy habits now! 

There's a lot of things you can do when you're resting! Again, this is why the series is called "Intentional Rest". I hope for those of you taking advantage of working from home, studying from home, or ____ from home, do these things with intention to let yourself recover!