September 4, 2012 - Enter Into God's Rest

GOOOOOD Morning, it's blog time. Hope you're up and meditating on the goodness of our Creator and His faithfulness to you and your family. I hope Labor Day did you great and I pray you have asked God for HIS wisdom and help for THIS day. Let's not borrow trouble and WORRY about tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll tackle tomorrow's issues..........today, let's walk in wisdom and honor God and love people as he loves them! Anyway - we had a GREAT time Sunday night. We had normal food and "not so normal." :) LInda came to the door with a bowl of dried leaves. I smiled, being gracious, and she said, "dried leaves; try one." Then I REALLY smiled. (I could have back tracked into my heathen days, but I'm free! wink) So, I cautiously grabbed a dried leaf and slowly brought it to my mouth. YUMMMMM! She had dried kale with evoo, salt and lemon juice. YUMMMM! Really crispy, very healthy, and popped with flavor. My Kailey LOVED them and asked for more yesterday. That's a great way to get kale turned into chips and into our bodies. So, when you come to LIfe Group you never know what experience awaits you. :) I was reading in the 4th chapter of the book of Hebrews this morning about God's rest - a time when all labor and toil will cease. For those of us who are believers, that has multiple layers for us: salvation and eternal life. For those who haven't accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, that begins with your acceptance of his love (believe) for you and your obedience to allow him to take over your heart. Read John 3:16. Then, a final rest awaits you as well. However, there's that middle part. Yes? Here's what I think........worrying and toiling and striving to "be thin" is a major distraction. Our goal is being healthy........period! There is a place that each of MUST come to where we no longer can reach back and be tormented by our failures. In some ways, our past can help keep us moving forward. However, I believe, there has to come a place of REST in knowing that we CAN NO LONGER RETURN TO OR PAST. Our gaze is forward and up - our thoughts are on successful days and NOT days of failures. We are always going to bump against circumstances that want to drag us back, but standing in freedom really comes to a place of REST. When we get frustrated and anxious and angry with ourselves, rest goes out the window. Galatians 5:1 teaches that Jesus came for our freedom but we must stand firm then - REST - in that freedom. YES......bad choices CAN place a yoke on us again; chemical imbalances and health issues CAN place a yoke on us again; family and work issues CAN place a yoke on us again..........but do they have to? Can we come to a place of REST with our health plan where when the storms come (and they will) we simply don't go to a past failure and smile at it? We don't "freak out" in the storm and eat 12 cookies - we don't anything wrong - we have finally arrived at a place of REST and eating is not the storm calmer.........Jesus is! When the storm came and everyone was in a panic, Jesus slept. Why? He holds the answer to every storm. So, instead of grabbing a cookie, stop and lift up your voice, eyes, spirit and ask the one who knows the answer to help you. Then REST and put the cookie back. The answer is on the way. Love, love you! PK