The REST of the Story!

This is The REST of the Story! I’ve read the end of the book and I know Who wins and how it all turns out! 😉Perhaps this is your experience with any summer time reading? Perhaps this is your desire–to rest or have a vacation time—from your typically fast paced and busy life? Perhaps you are not satisfied with any time away or anything that you are listening to, reading or watching? Playing off this summer time of the year, when many do take a vacation from normal activities and try to read and relax more or even visit places outside of their normal daily routines, I will take this opportunity in this blog article to focus on The REST of the Story!

In our fast paced culture and way of living in this information age today, we often find ourselves wanting to get away from the daily grind—wanting a break from work and normal responsibilities—a time of Rest! There is so much needing to be done—the responsibilities with children and/or other family, the many activities and events with friends or groups you are in, the obligations to work and financially try to keep up with our lifestyles and make ends meet. The pressures in life might drive you to drink or depend on other drugs or even come to other places of compromise in an attempt to cope. Truly Resting is often nothing more than an elusive dream!

Resting is not the same thing as sleeping, though our bodies should be able to rest when we sleep. When you think about it, sleeping (and at least some type of resting) does take up a major portion of your life. If you average spending about eight hours sleeping every day, you will be spending one third of your life asleep. That means that if you live to be about 75 years old, you will have spent the equivalent of 25 of those years sleeping! Just take your current age and divide by three to see how many years you have been sleeping. Most of that time should include resting as well. We need good rest to survive and to thrive. Actually, with the frequent breaks that we take from our regular routines and work, we spend a lot more of our time resting than working. So, do you really need another break or vacation as desperately as you may think? This is interesting to consider from this greater perspective. Since we typically do not function very well without sleep and rest, it is obvious that sleeping and resting are very important parts of life!

GOD intends that at least for now we have frequent times to rest and sleep. This does not mean, however, that any authority should step into our life and demand that we sleep a certain amount every day or even at a certain time. This issue is very personal for me as it was this reason—not getting normal or “proper” sleep and rest—that led to all of my personal tragedy since 04-16-07. Though I was doing nothing to harm myself or any other person, authorities came and took me away to try to make me sleep and rest. Sadly, their doing this and forcing me into the mental health system actually delayed my getting some needed sleep for several more hours! What they did not know or properly care to find out then is that I had been resting, though not sleeping as much as usual, due to all of the ministry I was leading. I was also able to stay awake more then, because I had been having trouble getting proper rest when sleeping, so I was able to more easily discipline myself to sleep less in order to stay awake and do what I could to help as many as possible in the aftermath of that terrible tragedy. It is because GOD was sustaining me then and because I have continued to rest in HIM that I have not broken down, but instead have been able to overcome all of the things forced upon me and all of the ongoing tragedy in my life. This is the REST of the Story that I talk about in my book! 😉

Friend, I trust that you can have an enjoyable vacation time this summer, but even more than this, I trust that you will learn to Rest in HIS REST! You can find that Rest that you often long for and even try to fill with busyness. You can come to Rest in Him and find Rest for that part of you that is so often neglected—your soul. Imagine what that would do for your schedule and for the health of your body! Consider the call of your Creator, Jesus Christ, as found through His own words Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Let this be the REST of your story!