Something beautiful occurs when we shift our perspectives away from chasing values that don’t align with God’s best for us.

The freedom from self-made expectations has been so enriching for my creativity that I can’t help but encourage us to keep pressing into the Father’s heart to discover more regarding His standard for living and conducting business.

Which also includes His directives regarding rest.

Rest is among the Top 3 things we never give ourselves. But let today’s heart letter be the sign needed to give yourself a break!

The Sabbath Rest

Among the most moving conversations I’ve had with the Lord this year has been centered around honoring the Sabbath.

Our church has recently come out of a Sabbath period where we collectively had a three-month sabbath, resting in the Father’s presence to be healed, refreshed, and restored from the effects of the previous season.

As the Father ushered us into that period, the conversation went a little like this:

“Do you know what it feels like to have zero burdens, zero worries, zero stresses, zero weights? You have an opportunity every Sunday to experience that. Will you take it?”

That epiphany from the Lord hit me so hard. We have an opportunity every week to enjoy a Sabbath break to sit in the Father’s presence and be healed, refreshed, and restored from our labors. Yet how often do we take it?

Has Sunday become filled with so much tradition that we miss the gift of the Sabbath?

The ways we serve the kingdom should never take precedence over spending time with the King. There are six days to labor and the Sabbath to rest.

If we don’t love spending time with the Father here on earth, why would we be excited to get to heaven?

Friend, the Father desires to spend time with you. And it’s not just to watch you run on a hamster wheel getting nowhere in business or in life.

You are so valued by the King that He yearns to draw you into a place of rest, where you learn from Him and discover the unforced rhythms of grace (ref. Matthew 11:28-30).

So from the place of rest, you will have every strength and resource to thrive in the mission God has placed on your heart to steward through your creativity.

Now is the perfect time to reflect on how we view rest as we enter the months of gratitude and advent.

There is a time for labor, but also a time for rest.

May you be encouraged to consider how the Father is drawing you deeper into His heart to discover the refreshing He wants to give you.

“Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 (NLT)

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)