Episode #379 Finding Rest That Actually Works – Practicing Conversations With God
From Today's Episode:
In today’s episode, we talk about life WITH God, not just life FOR God.
You were never meant to carry this on your own — but knowing that and actually experiencing it are two different things. In this episode, Jen shares one simple question you can bring to God in any hard moment to hear from Him in a way that's personal, practical, and surprisingly freeing. This is faith-based reflection for the woman who's tired of white-knuckling it through her days, feeling alone. Learn to trust that God is there and wants to help.
Our Good God talks with us and we're created for life with Him, so let's experience more of it!
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Verse
Matthew 11:28–30
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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Question
God, what could it look like to experience this with you?
Here's the episode transcript
Hey, friend. One of the most amazing things about being human is that we were made for life with God. You and God belong in each other's lives, but we don't always know how to actually experience that. And that's what we're talking with Him about in today's episode.
You were never meant to carry life on your own. And so what we get to experience as believers is not escaping the circumstances of life here on earth, but is going through daily life with God. And where we can get into trouble, if you're anything like me, is we can read opportunities described for us in Scripture and feel like we're just supposed to know how to do that already. And so we put pressure on ourselves, instead of receiving what Scripture offers us as invitations to draw close to God and to have Him unfold and reveal and show us what that looks like in every different circumstance and season that we're walking through.
I'm gonna show you what I mean, and we're gonna start with reading Matthew 11:28-30. It says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lovely in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Now, in the past, I've read this passage of Scripture and put a lot of expectations on myself. "Okay, so I'm tired, and I am heavy laden, and so that means I must not be coming to God to receive the rest that He's giving me because I am still tired and heavy laden. And I need to take His yoke upon me, but I don't really know how to do that, and I need to learn from Him, and clearly I'm not doing that because my burden is not light. My burden is heavy." And so I would read this type of passage, and I would put all these failings on myself. It would give me this list of other ways that I wasn't measuring up because I didn't know how to do the thing that I was supposed to do to get the results that God was offering me.
But what we get to experience as we go through life with God is not just us running up to the Lord to receive instructions or our next directive, and then for us to run off and do it on our own. We get to come and stay and receive and rest. And what that looks like can vary in all sorts of different circumstances. What rest looks like for you can change multiple times, even in one day, depending on the type of rest that you need.
And so this episode today is not to give you instruction, but it's to echo God's invitation. If you are working and feel weighed down, if you are in need of rest, if you feel like you're carrying something heavy, come to Jesus. And as you come, I invite you to take to Him this question to see what He would offer you.
God, what could it look like for me to experience this with you today?
As I've gone to God with that type of question, He's told me to take a nap, to ask a friend for help, to spend some time in the Word, to do something fun. There's all sorts of different responses that God gives us, and the beauty is that it can look different because we get to go through this life circumstance, and every life circumstance with God, because we're made for life with Him.
So don't let this become another heavy thing that you have to figure out how to do too. Believe what Jesus says, that if you are feeling heavy and tired, you can come to Him and receive rest. And then ask Him to show you what that looks like uniquely for you in this moment, in this circumstance.
God, what could it look like to experience this with you?
Sometimes He shows me ways that I've been carrying things that aren't meant for me to carry, ways that I can trust Him and release burdens over to His care. The beauty is you were never meant to carry through life on your own. Because of that, you can ask God to show you what it means to come to Him and to receive the rest that He offers you.
God, what could it look like to experience this with you?
Have a good talk.
And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!
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