A Blessed Saturday to All!
There’s no doubt in my mind that virtually everyone can relate to what I’m about to share. It’s about those “EPIPHANY MOMENTS” when something changes us. When something we read, or see, or do, or hear, SUDDENLY CHANGES US. When the blinders fall away and our vision becomes clear. Oprah calls them “Ah-ha Moments,” I call them…
U-Turns toward God. More years ago than I care to count, a book called: YOUR ERRONEOUS ZONES by Dr. Walt Dyer changed the course of my life. This was years before my u-turn toward God – back when I lived as a New Age Diva (insert a big smile here.) But nonetheless, my life course was changed by words I read in a book. For the first time I was empowered to stop being a slave to what other people thought of me – to stop letting other people color my world gray. A novel idea, I know, but one that took me a few years to fully grasp.
As I’ve walked a faith-filled journey these past years – and especially since I entered the world of publishing - I’ve found myself a slave once again. A slave to deadlines—email—proposals—travel—and busy-ness in general, I’ve allowed myself to be a victim of trying to do it all…in spite of co-authoring a book titled: I CAN’T DO IT ALL. (sigh)
Even my time with God has suffered as Bible study and quiet time has taken a back seat to all the projects on my plate.
This past week my publisher sent me a new book by Kim Thomas, titled; Even God Rested – Why it’s Okay for Women to Slow Down. I could sense an Ah-Ha moment on my horizon … a u-turn directional change was about to occur…
I’d like to share a sentence I’ve highlighted—a sentence that is helping me to make a long-awaited u-turn back to a quieter life—a sentence that has ushered in a much-needed EPIPHANY MOMENT for me.
“We have willingly looted the vaults of good sense and sacred integrity with our overbusy lives and have starved ourselves of revelation.”
Wow.
Does that speak to anyone else out there?
She goes on to write:
“At specific times in our lives, we all need different types of rest. When our schedules become too demanding we recognize our need for physical rest. But on closer examination, we find that we are equally tired, if not more tired, on the emotional level. Overspending our emotional bank account, we find ourselves deeply in debt and in need of refreshment.”
I’d love to hear from anyone else who finds these words speaking directly to her heart as they’ve spoken to mine.
God knew what I needed to read to gently (okay, maybe not so gently) nudge me back to Him…back to a life where He comes first and the rest of the stuff-of-life falls into place at a sensible pace.
That said, I’m off to have some refreshing revelation. It’s time. See you next week.
Allison
PS: One more thing, my second novel, ONE LITTLE SECRET, officially releases this Wednesday, August 1st. On that day I’m launching my first-ever INTERNATIONAL BLOG TOUR where I’ll be visiting 40 blogs over the course of the month of August. We’ll be chatting about a lot of fun stuff during this tour, and giving away free books and other cool stuff, so please visit the Blog Tour page on my web site to see where I’ll be and stop by to say hello!
6 Comments
Ali
The “slow down to make room for God” manta is one I’ve been repeating for years now. Lots of women resonate with this message, but it’’s amazing how many push back and say that they read their Bible while jogging on a treadmill, that God wired them up to love being fast-paced, etc. going too fast injures us.
I’m currently working on a book on Sabbath—God’s original “rest” commandment. He knew we can’t do it all (sigh!), but we have all the time we need to do what he has called us to do!
Interesting that
Oh, I just have to chime in. I spoke at a women’s retreat two years ago on “Rest and Solitude.” But these women had me speaking from sunrise until way past midnight…I was so exhausted I had to “rest” for a week afterwards. Funny, how even women’s retreats are marathon races! I haven’t spoken on the subject again…I’m afraid of what might happen!
As I’ve matured, this is truly something I try to remain prayerful about. I only wish I had been less rushed when I was raising my three children. By the grace of God, I didn’t work. I was a SAHM whose life revolved around my family. I honestly don’t know how women who work full time do it. I always admired them. But even as a SAHM, we can pack our days full.
What has helped me tremendously, is taking time to spend with God each day. Checking in with Him on a regular basis keeps me from running out of control. It’s not what He wants for us. He offers a peace beyond understanding and when we can tap inot that peace, we are so blessed and so are the people we love and come in contact with each day.
I read just two weeks ago a beautiful devotion on resting. All of our fruitful work actually comes out of a rested body, mind, heart, and soul. “But I don’t have time to rest” is something we often say, putting work before rest and play and solitude. But the reality is that we often self-impose our workload, adding and pushing boundaries to put one more thing into our week or day. If I truly believe that fruitfulness comes out of rest, then I insert rest into my schedule and give it a high priority. We have it backwards in this society, missing out on balance and peace that comes from resting and quiet times where our heart and mind can find peace and solitude.
Do you think sometimes our resting, when we finally do it, is uncomfortable to others? I used to be more of a “doer” - always a big list of things to accomplish at night. Not crazy busy with social commitments or anything, but never sitting down either. Lots of self-imposed tasks. Over the past 6-7 months I’ve made a conscious effort to slow down. Spend more time with the people I love, doing things I enjoy and relaxing (usually with a book!) Although I’m definitely more relaxed, I feel guilty - hate to say it. I feel like I’m letting my husband down or something if I decide to cut something out or if I’m not doing anything. (I work full-time too) Anyways, just curious how others respond to your less rushed life?
Several years ago I read a soup cookbook written by a Benedictine monk. I was so enchanted with it that I went on to read a second book “A Monastic Year”, which is a series of meditations. What struck me about the book was that the monks saw their time as holy and made certain that there was time in each day–for work, for rest, for meditation, for prayer.