TOSSING & TURNING

     Sheets were wrapped and wrinkled about my legs.

     Pillows had been tucked, fluffed and puffed.

     Positions were shifted a hundred different ways.

     It was no use -- sleep wouldn't come.  My mind was filled with the "must-do's" and the "how will I do's"; the clock mocked me as the minutes ticked on and sleep remained unattainable, and the tossing and turning continued.

     The truth that rested in my head, couldn't seem to find it's way to my heart -- God is sufficient.   

     We're promised rest, true rest, in God's Word.  Not just in the sense of sleep, but pure and perfect rest as when our hearts lay calm despite the tornado that swirls in our world.

     How do we grip hold of that rest?  What do we do when rest eludes us?

     There's only one place to find escape from tossing and turning.  It's in the One who created rest.  Of Him, David, the psalmist of old, said, "My soul finds rest in God alone...my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken....Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." (Psalm 62)

     Do you hear those truths?  Do they resonate in your deepest being?  Do they bring peace to your heart?

     God shows us through David's life three key things in this passage:

1. The only place where rest is found is in God alone
2. The only way we will avoid being shaken is in Him
3. The only way to receive that rest is by CHOICE

    

     We must lay at God's feet what is heavy and burdensome to us this Christmas; but then we have to leave it there!

     We are to pour out our hearts to God, but then we must choose to leave the things we've poured out to Him, in His capable hands -- don't pick them up again . . . "God, I don't know how we are going to deal with ______, but I trust You have the answers and I'm choosing rest.  God I don't know where time will come from to accomplish ______, but I trust You to provide for what really needs to be done and I'm choosing rest."


     Missionary, Amy Carmichael, was quoted saying, "God is willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; willing as water is willing to flow into an emptied channel."  May He flood over us today!

     My prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we find true rest; not because our circumstances fully resolve themselves, but because we find rest from the Source of all rest -- God alone.

"Come to me, all you who

are weary and burdened,

and I WILL give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

A Song for Today -- "Blessings"

(click this link to hear an awesome song)

Flapping Around

This week we had the privilege of rescuing a hummingbird from our garage - it is not the first time and I hope it won't be the last, because I love seeing these little creatures up close.  They are a reminder of God's wonderful design and plan in the way He has created everything around us.

This time with the hummingbird, though, I had a new observation about life ~ although our family had the best of intentions to help him get out of the garage, because he was panicking in efforts to escape, we couldn't help him until he settled down.  As I pondered this, it began to remind me of how I must respond to God sometimes.  Even though I know in my head that He has the best of intentions for me, when circumstances around me are not going the way I would hope or want, I can be found flapping around and panicking.  This takes me to the same place as that little hummingbird, in that God will have a hard time helping me if I can't rest in Him. 

How do we rest when we feel like overwhelmed with life?  We need to remind ourselves of WHO God is and WHAT He desires to do for us.  There are so many places in the Word that assure us of God's good intentions for our lives and not for evil.  Psalm 34 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And Psalm 100 says that, "The Lord is good and his love endures forever."  Then Psalm 119 tell us, "You (God) are good and what you do is good."  There are many more references, but they give us the same assurance - God has good to bring into our lives and when that is not what we "see" happening around us, we need to trust that the good will come and claim what He has promised for us.

One of my favourite verses is found in Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Rest in knowing He has the best plans for you!