Come, Rest…
The text came through and I just stared at it.
What? Why? How? When?
I swallowed hard and gripped the phone with both hands as if I could squeeze the words away and let them not be true.
How much more, Lord? How much more bad news can we take?
Memories came flashing back of my friend and her husband. Good times. Laughter. Oh so much laughter.
How could he be gone?
At times I want to throw my phone in the ocean. I am so weary of the newsfeeds, social media feeds, and texts that completely throw your equilibrium into a spin cycle.
As if not having the phone would make those sad and awful things go away. It won’t.
Several days after getting that text, and several other texts regarding loss, addiction, sickness….I felt my shoulders tighten and my neck stiffen.
Driving my car, I could literally feel the burdens, the sadness, the grief, the heartache. It felt like it was laying heavy on my shoulders. I was carrying it. All of it.
The word “Come to me” was spoken in my spirit. Clear as day.
Then, the scripture often quoted from Matthew played on a script in my head…”Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
Come.
Rest.
The words washed over me like a soft rain on scorching sand.
As soon as I got home, I grabbed my Bible and I found some shade on my back porch. I started to open my Bible, but then decided to just rest there.
Weary, tired, heavy…my heart needed to rest.
I closed my eyes, listened to some birds flittering around me. I took a deep breath and could feel, tangibly, God’s Peace.
My shoulders began to relax and fall away from my ears. My heartbeat slowed down. My face and neck began to release the tension I was holding onto so tightly.
Come.
Rest.
Since that day, I have had to keep those words on repeat in my heart.
The world is not meant to be on our shoulders.
It’s on His.
When the burdens get too heavy, when the news is just too much…I picture myself walking up to Jesus and laying it all, every ounce of it, at His feet.
Then, I picture myself lying down right at His feet, free of all of it. Peaceful. Comforted. Rested.
Come.
Rest.
I invite you to do the same today. Lay it all at His feet. Every bit of it. The wayward child, the diagnosis, the crumbling marriage, the news, the sickness, the death, the suffering….all of it.
Accept His invitation…
Come.
Rest.
“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 6:28-30
at His feet,
jill
