Resting in God
Saundra Daulton-Smith, adapted by Donell L. Seager
Allow your body and mind to be still. Make yourself comfortable. Your positioning should be relaxed. Take in a few deep breaths, breathing in the peace and love of God and exhaling out any tension or anxiety you may be experiencing. Be aware that thoughts will try to pop up in your mental space. Resist the temptation to allow them to dwell there. As the thoughts come, maybe thoughts of your to-do list or whatever, dwell on a word for God that brings you comfort such as faithful, healer, deliverer, joy, redeemer, peace, restorer, powerful, love, truth, and grace.
Give yourself permission to do nothing on purpose. You might consider sitting on your porch and listening to the wind blowing through the trees, soaking up the sun. Whatever you do, though to stop and rest in God, resist the voice saying you are wasting time. How can restoring your soul be a waste of time?
Don’t make a to-do list, write in your journal, or try in any way to record the moment. Just enjoy the moment. Being still and silent before God is often the most challenging part of resting. But, oh how we need it. We need those times when we decrease, and He increases.
Perhaps you need an image for what it looks like to rest in God. Imagine yourself in God’s lap, with your head resting on God's chest and your body held tenderly and lovingly by God’s arms. Rest there like a little child rests on her mother’s chest after being fully sated from nursing. A child does this because she trusts that all her needs have been and will be met by her mother. Rest now in God’s loving presence.
Silence 30 minutes
End with this prayer: Jesus, I am tired. My mind is frazzled, my hands are full, and my emotions are reeling with all the things I have to do. Help me to come to you in the middle of the overwhelm. Remind me of your ever-present help in my times of need. Show me how to rest in You. Reveal to me both the beauty in the work and in the rest. Calm my anxious thoughts and encourage my heart with Your nearness. Instruct me in your ways. Bring productivity and contentment out of the peace and comfort I find. Settle me in Your truth and in Your love. Amen.