Enter into His Rest

First Day of School

Well, it’s official:  I am a teacher!  The first week of school is officially over and we made it through!  I’ve gotta say….teaching is exhausting.  I think one thing that makes it exhausting for me is that there is so much planning involved in everything and planning does not come natural to me.  (I would rather wing it and see what happens.  Not good for teaching!)  Don’t get me wrong, I know how to plan, but when your job requires you to be the planner and the one driving the boat, it’s tiring.  So if you think about it, lift me up in prayer that planning would become more natural to me and that I would enjoy that portion of my job. 

Along with that exhaustion and weakness though comes a reliance on the Lord that I have enjoyed so much.  On Thursday I was so tired after school that I went home and just slept.  And I guess when I say that I just slept, I really mean that I laid there as my mind ran.  But it was wonderful…God did something to my heart as I laid there.  I think in that time of rest I can me to grips with the facts:  I am weak and He is strong.  In that moment of rest I became joyful about my situation, about the facts about being weak.  When we have the facts straight about who God is and about who we are, I believe that we can finally come into the rest that God promises.  (Hebrews 4:1) 

Bandung Alliance International School

I’m learning that resting is not really about getting sleep or taking it easy, either.  Rest is when you stop fighting.  It’s exhausting to fight a fight you can’t win.  I am not in control, but if I attempt to have control I will never rest.  I know it’s simple but I’m finally living in the reality that God is in control.  I am weak.  It’s just the facts.  Now that I am no longer fighting that I can rest in God’s promises.  I can rest in the fact that God says that He will fulfill our desires with good things. I have lots of dreams and wants and ideas about how my life should look.  I normally don’t tell God what I really want for fear that it’s not a good thing to want or if I ask I won’t get it.  But now I know that I can tell God exactly what I’m thinking and then also tell Him that He knows my desire and I know that it will be fulfilled with something good (Psalm 103).  I could ramble for a long time, but the point is, that God is good.  But we can only dwell in the rest that He gives if we come to grips with this: WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL!   Stop fighting it and give in to HIS goodness and HIS plan and HIS protection.

Love you all.  Praying that God is showing himself to you and that you can live in His rest.  Its’ pretty awesome!