Learning to Lean

 

Here’s a message I just sent to a young friend I am corresponding with through a mentoring website I belong to that is sponsored by Power to Change.  It’s a message we all need to remind ourselves of right now, when it seems like the world is spinning out of control and we are uneasy with the uncertainty of it all. We want to do something to fix the mess around us but we don’t know where to begin, it all seems so impossible.

 

So I said to my young friend,

 

I feel sympathy for you in your striving.  I have always been a striver too--and have struggled with perfectionism. Now I am older and wiser and more at peace with just living from day-to-day.  The “need” to “do,” especially for God’s eternal Kingdom, still pushes at me, but more and more I realize that all I have to do is relax into His sovereignty and not worry so much.

 

A few years back I ran into a meme that changed my life.  It says:

 

All we need to do, as Christians, is to be

RESTFULLY AVAILABLE and INSTANTLY OBEDIENT.

 

I love that.  Especially the restful part.  The more I am able to relax into Jesus the more freedom I see Him having to do His Kingdom work through me.  Now I pretty much go through life just flying by the seat of my pants, knowing that it's His wings I am flying on!  And it's a wonderfully peaceful and joyful way to live. 

 

I think it's easier to come to this way of living when you're older.  The pressure to perform (my own pressure on myself!) has sort of passed away and I can just live from day to day, trying to walk in the pace of the Spirit instead of sprinting off like there is some kind of finish line I have to cross before the end of my days.

 

A friend once sent me a card with a picture on the front of a little girl and a big rock.  She has her hands up on the side of the rock and it looks like she's holding it up to keep it from falling over, but you realize, when you look at it, how ridiculous that is, because the rock is way bigger than she is and it is obviously holding her up. 

 

That kind of symbolizes my approach to following Jesus for most of my life.  In the past I have been very busy helping Him make sure everyone is doing what they should do and things in this world are going His way.  Now, in my old age, I am just happy to lean on the rock instead of trying to help God keep it in place!

 

But it takes time for us to learn to lean.  And God is not in a hurry.  He grows our faith, even as we struggle to help Him do His work!  He is leading us to a good place--a place of rest and a simple enjoyment of walking day-by-day with Him.  I have begun to experience this joy more and more, but I am sure it will grow deeper and sweeter as He continues to lead me away from the struggle to total trust in His ultimate sovereignty.

 

We, who want to follow Jesus, are all on this journey. And it’s a good one. It's a journey to complete trust in a loving, powerful and sovereign God.

A Writerly Predicament

So this is my predicament:  I feel I'm supposed to be writing.  Writing lots.  But I hate writing.

My solution:  Procrastination by way of reading.

Reading seems to be the only escape from the arduous task of writing that my conscience will allow me.  Reading is, after all, research for writing, right?  Reading is the other side of the writing coin, and all writers should also be readers.

That's my justification, but I'm looking nervously over my shoulder as I bury my nose in my books.

I feel I'm at a crossroads in my life's journey.  Or maybe taking a short detour, off the beaten path, that's bound to lead, eventually, back to the main highway.  I'm pretty sure the detour is part of the "rest" God has called me to right now, but I suspect it won't be long before I am catapulted back into the writer's world again. 

I have no idea what that catapult will look like, or when it will sneak up behind me, but in the mean time I intend to make the most of my sojourn in the reader's world.

Also in the mean time, to assuage those little pangs of guilt and anxiety I get when I leave the writing behind for very long, I will occasionally post a blog.  This one is about, of course, reading.

My taste in books is eclectic.  If you'd like to take a peek into my reading world, I invite you to check out my Amazon reviews.  Some of the books I enjoy are deeper than others, but all my choices are uplifting.  Whether they deal with spiritual issues directly or not, every book I've reviewed will leave you with a sense of hope.

I plan to add to this list of reviews as I read, as a way to further justify my reading and keep my writing skills exercised.  I'll keep you posted as new reviews come up.  Meanwhile, if any of these reviews prompt you to join me on the reading journey, I will feel affirmed.  I will feel like I am, in Mr. Topham's words, "a very useful engine."*

Here's the link to my current Amazon reviews.  I highly recommend all these books to any of my reading friends.   

And here's a link to the last post on my writing blog, which is, predictably, also about reading and Amazon reviews.

Please comment here, or connect with me in other ways, if you read any of these books and enjoy them.  It's a tad lonesome on this side road, and I'd love to have a comment or a conversation about your own reading journey now and then.
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*  If you have kids or grandkids you will understand this reference.  If you aren't you'll have to Google it.

Rest That's Soul-Deep for the New Year

     Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

I enter the New Year celebrating an age-old truth freshly spoken into my heart by God through the Holy Spirit today.  It's a culmination of the "rest" theme He's been leading me gently into over the past few months.  I pray this message of rest will comfort and strengthen your hearts, as it has mine.

A version of the following message was originally published in the Far East Broadcasting Company's blog on December 11, 2013. I've added some thoughts here on hearing from God, another theme you will have noticed in some of my previous posts on this Joy blog.

"So much for your preachy Thanksgiving post last week about how we should thank God for the important things He does for us," I said to myself as I sat in church on Sunday morning.  We were preparing our hearts for communion, and I could not conjure up a spirit of thanksgiving for God's gracious gift of salvation to save my soul. 

It's really hard for me to admit this, but after sixty years of celebrating communion every month, it's sometimes difficult for me to come to the table with a fresh appreciation for what it all means.  I think one of our worst characteristics, as human beings, is our tendency to take good things for granted after we've had them for a while.  It keeps us from loving God as we should, and it steals our joy. But I have no idea how to keep it from happening.

So I sat there, feeling exactly the opposite of what I should be feeling as I "remembered the Lord's death until He comes."  Feeling nothing, except an uncomfortable burden of guilt as I realized how hard my heart was, and a tiny sliver of fear that sneaked in after the guilt.   

And then the Lord spoke to me. 

I want to try to describe how it happened, even though I can't do it adequately, because I've been thinking a lot lately about how God speaks.  I don't know if this is how He spoke to Abraham or not.  I know He used words with me.  He spoke them into my spirit somehow.  But when I try to remember them and write them down, they don't seem quite right. 

I know it was His "voice" because I recognize the spirit of Jesus in what He said, and also because of the overwhelming awesomeness of the realization that came.  The words had the ring of truth to them.

As I sat there feeling sad and guilty and afraid because of my insensitivity to His love, He said, "It's okay, Ginny."  

Translated into New Testament language He might have been saying, "Peace, be still," or "Let not your heart be troubled."

Then He told me why I should not be troubled.  He said,

Whether or not you feel gratitude for my broken body and shed blood has no effect on whether or not you're forgiven.  My broken body and shed blood have thoroughly redeemed you, and that redemption is a finished work.  You will always be forgiven, whether you ever thank me or not.  I didn't die for the appreciation.  I died for you, because I love you.  It's a given.  Nothing will ever change that.

He wasn't that wordy.  It takes a lot of inadequate human words for me to convey the total relief and freedom I felt when He spoke.  It was overwhelming.  It brought peace to my heart and tears of gratitude to my eyes.  That's why I know it was his "voice."

More and more I am realizing that the Christian life is not about what I am supposed to do for him, but what He has already done for me.  And continues to do.  And will continue to do, throughout eternity.

More and more I am learning to relax into His love, and every time I hear His voice I find it easier and easier to recognize.

Jennifer Dukes Lee writes a blog that I always find a real blessing.  I recommend her to you.  Her post today on New Years' resolutions mirrors this same message of rest.  

May God give you a heart full of peace and joy as you lean back into His boundless love and grace during the coming year.  

Four Steps to Finding True Rest

I'm finally beginning to listen, and I'm discovering, to my great delight, what God means when he tells me to rest.  

God's rest is not passive inactivity.  Instead, it's a deliberate action on my part that leads me into the center of His peace.  Here are four elements of God's rest that can revitalize us and bring fresh excitement into our walk with Him.

RELINQUISHMENT

Entering into God's rest involves, first of all, my relinquishment of my own agenda. 

Agendas are not intrinsically wrong.  God has an agenda.  The Bible is His revelation of His agenda, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation.  His agenda is all about goodness and grace. 

My agenda rarely takes into account those two attributes, so it's often at cross- purposes with His.  My agenda centers around my needs and desires--my list of priorities--my "To Do" list.  That's why living according to my own rudderless agenda leaves me restless and frustrated.

To find true rest, I must put my agenda into His loving hands.  When He's finished the purification process, my agenda will be ready to be incorporated into into His perfect one. 

This relinquishment involves the same kind of active decision as the one I made when I gave myself to Him in the first place.  This day I deliberately choose to let go of my own understanding and commit my agenda to Him. 

EXPECTANCY

After I relinquish my agenda to Him, I must wait with expectant attentiveness for His revelation of His agenda for me.  I must listen for His voice.

The attentiveness must be deliberate, and I must be patient in the listening.  No quick prayer for guidance in the morning before I head off into a day's frenzied activity.  I must give him permission to tune my heart and mind to his, and then wait for Him to speak.  I can go as I wait, but if my going is not marked by rest, it's a sign that I'm not being truly attentive.

The attentiveness must also be expectant.  I must be convinced that God will speak.  I must lean into His voice.  

He may not speak immediately.  He sometimes has to wait until He has my full attention.  There are no shortcuts to hearing from God.  But when I do hear, the word I receive is well worth waiting for.  Waiting in expectation that He will speak is a joyful activity that leads me into true rest.

SATISFACTION

Only after I relinquish my agenda and take the time to listen to Him will I begin to discover that He, and only He, can satisfy my restless heart. 

The world is full of restless human beings who search frantically for satisfaction of their needs and desires in all the wrong places.  Their restless activity leads them away from God's rest down many different dead end roads--paths that ultimately result in addiction and despair.

Everything we need, and every good thing we desire, can only be found in the context of a deep, intimate relationship with God.  His agenda of goodness and grace leads to complete satisfaction, and nothing else will.

Realizing this, and relaxing into this reality, will lead us into a place of true rest.

TRUST

Trust in God is the foundation of true rest.  It's the bedrock attitude that will keep us at peace in the midst of the chaos that surrounds us in this crazy, frantically restless world. 

We who belong to Jesus can be completely at rest, all the time, because our lives are anchored in the eternal reality of the deep, unconditional love of a good, omnipotent God who is faithful and will never change.

In Proverbs 3:5 and 6, God admonishes us to embrace these four elements of true rest. 

To "trust in the Lord with all your heart" is the master key to finding rest. 

To relinquish our own agendas is to "lean not on your own understanding."

To recognize that He is the only one who completely satisfies is to "acknowledge Him in all your ways." 

And expectant attentiveness to his voice will allow Him to "direct your path."

Lord, teach us how to relax into You and so come to experience true rest.  Make us instruments through which You can lead broken people around us into Your rest as well.  We choose, this day, to make ourselves restfully available to you.  Accomplish Your good and gracious agenda through us, we pray.

P.S.  Here's a delightful example of what happens when we make ourselves restfully available to God.  An example of how He takes our agendas and incorporates them into His own.  It's an amateur video, which makes it all the more moving.