And Rest A While....It's all Relative
A heartfelt greeting to you sisters!
Praise the Lord for this day! We were blessed with a couple hours of sun this morning to help warm up the van and as I type this, the clouds are settling in to drop the temps to the teens tonight. We are warm and comfortable right now as we have a place to rest for a while. (I'll share about that later on.) A sister and I were sharing this verse and talking about how God gives us times of rest.
And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
Mark 6:31:32
I thought it would be a good topic to expound upon for us all, myself included.
A place or time of rest can be different for us all, based on our situations. In the case of Mark 6, they departed from all the people to go into the desert and we see Jesus getting away from everyone in the wilderness / mountain to pray. For some saints, it may be a day or two away from everyone, a godly family may take a drive out in the country to get away from the city, for some (especially mothers with children at home) it may just be those few minutes before bed that the house is quiet, for those who may have to work long hours, it may be the drive to and from their work, for the keeper at home sister it may be working in a garden or taking a walk at sunset. Resting a while is all relative to our situations and learning to look for those times will allow us to recognize them and redeem them as such, for the Lord.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
If we take those times offered to us, however long or short, we can give our burdens to the Lord and He can refresh us to go on with a renewed spirit and countenance. Notice it says 'and learn of me;for I am meek and lowly in heart'. I'm sure you all agree that when we find our flesh lifting us up to a lofty position (thinking we deserve something) that it becomes chaos but when we shed ourselves and become lowly and meek, expecting nothing and thankful for all things, there's less burden to bear. Let us all learn of our Savior to be as such.
Jesus says in John 16:33, (one of my favorite, uplifting verses) to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. If we ask the Lord to give us a cheerful countenance and allow us to cultivate that within us, our outlook and perception is dramatically changed in times of trials. We will focus on the hope of eternal life at the end, pushing through trails, knowing that if we finish the race, we will obtain the crown of life. The people on the sidelines (the world / unbelievers) think we are crazy, running our race, but they cannot see the end as they are blind. Let us run joyfully so that they may look to see what it is that we are running to, and possibly save a soul from the darkness.
In my life, one of the biggest transformations that is visible to the outside world (other than the obvious of dress and headcovering) is my joy. I used to think this life was hopeless because nobody had any answers of what lay ahead after death. It never made sense to me that people in sin could still go to heaven and so it was all confusion to me, not having anything solid to hold on to. When I heard the gospel, repented and was transformed, it all made sense and from then on I've had an unquenchable joy that resounds even in trials and physical pain. My Savior is waiting for me...a wretched, wicked, vile woman that is now a new creation because of Him. How can we not be joyous because of that? How can we not shine that to the lost world so they can have it also! (Yes there are times I am weighed down and my joy does not shine quite as bright but it does not last long and the Lord helps me do so.)
Being thankful in all things, looking for the blessings within our lives, seeing what great works we can do for the Lord, anticipating and potentially creating witnessing opportunities all help cultivate that joy and within that, we can have rest. Rest doesn't have to be only in the physical as we can have that rest in the midst of the business of life and the trials that we endure.
It's all relative to our situations and what we set our mind on. As I mentioned before, the woman with small children at home may be so grateful for 15 minutes of peace and quiet to ponder the Lord, before she falls into bed exhausted, whereas the sister who has time throughout the day or a couple hours in the evening would not greatly appreciate that 15 minutes that the other sister savors. It's all relative to our situation and our outlook.
Speaking of situation, brother Jim and I are greatly appreciative of our current situation as we are doing something that we have not been able to partake of for about 8 months.
We get to sit at a table with a comfortable seat, while we work online ministry. What a rare treat to be comfortable and we rejoice greatly for this opportunity! (We have no sitting comfort in our van as brother Jim sits on the metal box between our seats and I sit either on the cooler or perch on the bed.) We are perfectly fine with that (flesh killing for sure) but when we have the opportunity for a bit of comfort such as this, we are grateful. This is a type of rest for us, even though there are people all around us conversing of worldly topics....whereas a saint who lives in a house with a table and chairs to use at any time (or couch / recliner) would not find this a place of rest. It's all relative to our situation.
Anyway, let us be thankful for all things to bring honor and glory to the Lord.
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
Psalm 30:12
I'm truly thankful that we only got a little snow last night:-)
...and that it didn't continue sleeting so as to freeze up on our windshield. It was pretty cold last night and our little heaters struggled to keep up so this morning I dug out the bigger one to see if it might get it a bit warmer. (We can't use too big of a heater on our little generator, just another one of those things that we deal with:-)
Oh and to go back to where we are right now, I had a coupon for a coffee, a rare treat for us, and as we pulled in we saw people in the lobby sitting at tables. I went in and asked if they allow seating inside and could we stay a while and they enthusiastically invited us in. On one of the coldest days, the Lord provided a refuge for us with some added comfort. But, there's something more interesting...
To frame the picture I have to go back to when we were standing outside a religious place calling them out of their sins, there was a man there walking back and forth, between us and their patrons. At one point he was 2 inches behind me, blocking me from the people coming and going and I had no clue until I turned around...if I would have stepped back, unknowingly, I would have bumped into him. I stood there thinking how threatening a covered, dressed, biblical woman looks. No...he did that because he was a coward and would not face brother Jim biblically and so he went to the weak point of a man (me, the woman) and tried to pull an intimidation tactic. It didn't phase me and I thought he would reap what he's sowing, if he doesn't repent, because my Father is watching. As we came in here today, that man walked past brother Jim, got to the door and said 'Merry Christmas and if I had time I'd tell you why' and as he was rushing out the door to get away, brother Jim said 'Get your bible heretic!' That man had several hours to talk while we were outside their building and last year at this time we were there, he could have done the same. We see that while we're out on the street also, people will sit there in their cars listening to brother Jim preach and just as the light changes and they are pulling away, they quickly yell something and take off.
Brother Jim calls them Revelation 21:8 cowards and rightfully so.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 21:8
If you have the truth of God you have His power and knowledge on your side and can combat all things. If you are on the other side of truth, your power is in false accusations and running away into hiding. Stand strong in the truth sisters.
What a unique plant isn't it? It looks as if we will be heading out soon and getting set up for the night ahead.
Tomorrow is a new day, Lord willing we live to see it, and we shall see what comes of it. Do the best you can in the day you have, taking that rest when it's offered to you, however that is, giving thanks unto the Lord for all things. Brother Jim has a teaching on Saving Faith, you can listen to it HERE.
May the Lord grant you peace and joy.
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...