Return To Your Rest…

How long has it been since you’ve been to a drive-in movie? We had so much fun! Until the next morning. My body has passed the stage of all-nighters. After this crazy–and wonderful–week, I’m trying to let this Scripture soak into my soul…

“Be at rest once more, O my soul,for the LORD has been good to you.” (Ps 116:7 NIV)

The LORD has been good to me…so why do I still feel like a bowl of jello on the inside? I’ve arrived at three very plausible reasons for the jello-innerds. 

Reason #1 – I haven’t asked for the LORD’s help.

Duh!  Why don’t I think to ask Him for help the moment I start to feel overwhelmed. Instead, I complain to my husband and shoot off a status update on Facebook! (Don’t laugh! You do it, too!) King David said in 116:1-2,

“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”

Reason #2 – I’ve been through the ringer!

I watched my baby girl deliver her first baby girl–until 5am! I was blessed to play with my other two grand-daughters for a couple days after that, and then we took them to the drive-in and stayed up until 3:30am. A few days later, there were fireworks in our neighborhood until 1:00am. Why am I tired? Hmmm, let me think.

And while I was doing all that, my work–oh yes, I actually have work to accomplish as a writer–was piling up. My shoulders are tensing as I’m typing these words…eee-gad! Ya know what else King David said?

“For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. I believed; therefore I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted.’ And in my dismay I said, ‘All men are liars.'” (Psa. 116:8-11)

Well, I certainly didn’t endure all that he went through, but my point is…I need to give myself some grace. Remember I’m not Super-woman, and let the emotions and physical strain of my week work themselves out in rest.

Reason #3 – Focus on the eternal, and praise will lead to rest

With all my energy focused on the hear-and-now, it’s impossible to praise the God of eternity. I make Him small by limiting my vision of Him to my immediate need–though He’s quite capable to meet it. He wants so much more for me than the now. He wants to free me from the now in order to see the majesty of His forever. Seeing forever allows me to prioritize the now. And suddenly, my enormous God opens His majestic arms for his little girl. I can run into the safety, the sufficiency, the peace that awaits me in His embrace.

16 O LORD, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
you have freed me from my chains.

17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

(Ps 116:16–19 NIV)

I can make my body rest. I can take a nap, go to bed early, sleep in one morning or two. But the real trick is quieting my mind and spirit.

Return to your rest once more, O my soul. For the LORD has been good to you. 

It’s a conscious decision I must make as I ask for the LORD’s help, recognize my physical limitations, and praise God for His goodness. It’s the best jello remedy I’ve ever heard.

• How do you remedy jello innerds?
• Any favorite Scriptures that return your soul to its rest?