Rest

Without a doubt, the past six months have been the most stressful of our lives.  We were at the absolute end of what we could give when we arrived in Orlando three months ago.  We desperately needed rest.  Not the lay-around-and-do-nothing kind of rest but deep, emotional rest.  We needed care.

I think we were feeling so beat up that weren't even sure how to pursue the rest we needed.  We serve such a good God.  He knew exactly.  Three months in, we are feeling so much more rested.  We feel like we are beginning to move from surviving to thriving.

He has given us physical rest.  We have slept.  A lot.  We have committed to very little outside of work.  We have been horrible about returning phone calls and e-mails.  Our bodies are beginning to feel a little more like normal.

He has given us spiritual rest.  Every Wednesday morning, we hear from a speaker at our LHS meeting.  A professor from Reformed Theological Seminary spoke one week on Ecclesiastes.  God used it significantly.  One week we learned the practice of Lexio Divina--a method of meditating on Scripture.  Last week was an hour of worship.  And God has also led us to a church where we have been deeply fed each Sunday.  First Presbyterian Church of Orlando will be our church home while we're in Orlando, and we're really thankful to have found a church that fits our family so quickly.  The kids love going and are learning incredibly rich things during Sunday School.  Next week they will begin studying the "Solas" that define the protestant movement.  Cody and I have savored the opportunity we've had to worship in English and every week our spirits have deeply agreed with the Word being taught.  The gospel is being proclaimed.  Yes, God has fed our souls in the past months!

And He has given us emotional rest.  Through the grace and love of many new friends, He has given us a really safe place to process the past three years of our lives.  He has challenged the things we needed to give even more fully to Him, He has worked in our hearts to be able to offer genuine forgiveness, He has begun the process of placing a new call on our hearts.  He had begun the healing process.

We are still feeling pretty fragile, but we have more energy than we've had in a long time.  We have more hope than we've had in a long time.  That is deeply good.

"Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort and perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life?"

--Ann Voskamp, 1000 Gifts