Passing The Test

"Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens

And I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.

  Let me teach you for I am gentle and humble of heart, 

and I will give you rest for your soul.  

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

Last fall God blessed me with 26+ (I quit counting after 26) encounters with the above verses in Matthew 11 in only a few weeks.  God was making more than a small effort to get His message across to me!   I believe He was preparing me, teaching me, and providing the answers I needed for peace in my circumstances just like any loving Father would do.  With patience He gently reminded me over and over again that the only place to rest was with Him.  Trust Me....Trust Me....He was whispering.

Needless to say, after last fall's encounters with Matthew 11:28-30, I felt the words I was to meditate on this year were "rest" and " trust".  They really are connected for me.  I truly need to trust God in order to rest in Him.  His plan, His love, His healing, His wisdom.  Rest in Him.  I even changed the title of my blog in my quest for entering into rest with our Lord Jesus. 

Now if I could just make the leap into His lap and stop struggling.......

This past Sunday morning Joel Osteen spoke on "entering His rest".  Especially at times when our circumstances have us feeling overwhelmed or we are challenged by storms that come our way.

A storm comes up.........financial, emotional, physical, spiritual.  Money is scarce, anxiety wants to take up residence, the doctor gives us a bad report, or we find ourselves wondering where God is in our mess.  A storm.

God wants us to trust Him in ALL circumstances.  He wants us to climb up on His lap and rest while we let him calm the storm, or calm us while we (God and us) go through the storm. 

I flunked the test.  You see, Joel Osteen said yesterday, "When you are at rest, you are passing the test."  I flunked the test.    :)    When I "rest", when I stop striving to get well, I truly feel anxious, because I believe deep down in the six year old part of me that when you stop fighting, when you are still and stop resisting, bad things happen to you.  I also am one who prays, but then I take the reins back from God's more than capable hands!  Thus:  I. Struggle. with. resting.

When I was battling Lyme Disease I would pray and pray about it, and then I did research and more research,  followed a strict diet, took a ton of supplements, herbs, and antibiotics, and followed a rigid sleep and rest schedule.  I felt I just had to do everything exactly right in order to get the 2 + 2 = 4 result I was looking for.   It is not that those things did not help, they did......but I did not trust the doctors or God to get me the results I desired.  As you probably know the healing that came my way in the past year was the result of prayer.  Only prayer.  Interesting.

Now, with the setbacks I have had this year I am still striving to get the results I desire WHEN I desire them. I end up taking my eyes off of Jesus and unto Dr. Google or my own efforts.  Striving.

That brings me back to the resting.  God has shown me the same verses in Jeremiah a few times concerning my healing.  "I will give you back your health and heal your wounds says the Lord."

I know I will be healed.  He has promised to give me back my health.  He has promised to heal my soul wounds.  But when?  I resist it being at His timing.  It is hard for me to trust sitting on His lap.  It is hard to rest in His arms and trust Him with it all. 

Just being honest here.

Because, here is where the truth lies about my present journey......When I enter into His rest, I am passing the test. 

I have learned from Ann Voskamp that one way to learn to trust is by taking in all those small and large things in life.  Write them down and meditate on all God blesses us with on a daily basis.   "Eucharisto comes before the miracle." (Ann)  Grace.....gratitude......trust.

So each day I am making the effort to find those things I am grateful for.  In the midst of feeling just plain awful I am holding on to those many things that come my way by the grace of God.

Laughing with Joel
Crying with Joel over the death of our sweet dog Levi last Friday
A cardinal stopping by and gracing my view
A heavy rain that reminds me of our years in The Philippines
Being able to sit on a stool and make pancakes
Eat pancakes with fresh strawberries and coconut whipped cream
Sitting in what was once my mom's recliner and remembering her
A text from a daughter with pictures to share
Entering Papa God's rest and sitting on His lap...even for a moment
Passing the test....one day at a time. 

I Find Rest

Lately I find myself singing the chorus of a song I like.  It draws my eyes unto Jesus, and seems appropriate for Holy Week.

I love I love.....I love Your presence

I love I love.....I love Your presence

I love I love............I love You Jesus

I love I love......I love your presence

A few days ago when I listened to the whole song, part of a verse drew my attention and brought me back to God's persistent message to me about resting.

"In the glory of Your presence

I find rest for my soul"

There it was again.......RESTING.  That same day a comment left by a cyber friend in reply to a post I wrote brought tears to my eyes as it spoke Gods message to me a second time.  Gayle wished me happy birthday and said, " may you find rest for your soul".

Rest for my soul.

I long for peace, but I am not so good at resting.  It is a difficult concept for me, but one that God keeps addressing.  During my quest for healing this past year, I have often struggled with my desire to find the key~ the formula to releasing the healing Jesus provides.  I have been diligently seeking and striving instead of resting and trusting in the promises of God. 

 I do rest in what the Bible says in Isaiah 53, among other places~ that Jesus died for our sins and all diseases.  Just like with salvation, I believe healing is availble for ALL, but there is no formula for receiving and releasing that healing.  With Joel is was overnight.  He commanded healing come into his body, and. it. did.  Period.  Amazing, right?

Recently I read a book titled, "Your Healing Door" by Pastor Greg Mohr.  He wrote about the many doors available for your healing and that of others you pray for.  He went on to say how important it is to listen to the Father's voice speak to us when in need of healing, and then in obedience we do what God says.  Mohr metioned that God does not use a formula for healing because THEN we would rely on the formula and NOT on God!  I have read many books on healing and like this one the best,  as it explains things so clearly and simply.....including a chapter on when healing does not occur. 

Since reading Pastor Mohr's book, I have begun to ask God what HE wants me to do regarding the return of symptoms that have me in my recliner struggling with discouragement.  Remember when the Holy Spirit told Joel I was to walk to the river, which was a very strange answer to what I was experiencing?  I did so and ended up going to Urgent care for a big increase of UTI symptoms immediately following that walk.  Sometimes Jesus uses medicine to heal too and the antibiotics I was given cleared me of that condition.  Yesterday I was feeling anxious over how weak I am and while visualizing in the Garden of my heart, the Holy Spirit showed me I was to praise God and so I began to do so, praising Him with scriptures and with whatever came from my heart.  The fear left and joy took its place.  Some of the weakness left, but mostly it was a renewing of my mind that happened when my focus went from me to Jesus! 

I know that it is here that I find rest for my soul.  When my focus is on Jesus......when I stop worrying over my circumstances.....when it is not all about me.....when I open my heart to God's timing and God's way, trusting Him completely.  He beckons me with familiar words:

Come to me all who are weary.....oh I am so weary of striving, Lord......and you will find rest for your soul.  Thank you Jesus....I need that rest.  Thank you Lord for not giving up on me, for not giving up on any of us.  Thank you Lord for persisting.  Thank you Lord for sending your Son who suffered so greatly on that cross for our sins and our diseases.  Thank you Lord for Your presence in our lives.  Thank you Lord Jesus for providing rest for our souls.

"In the glory of Your presence

I find rest for my soul"

I am linking up with Ann over at A Holy Experience

Seeing With Eyes Of Faith

"In quietness and trust shall be your strength"

Isaiah 30:15

Watching an evangelist speak, I heard him say, "You need to stop striving. and enter into a place of rest.  Cease your labors, and trust Jesus more than self.  See with eyes of faith."  Once again my thoughts turned to resting and all that it means.   Trust and Rest.  My words to meditate on this year. Jesus is relentless in bringing them to mind for me.  He is good that way.

When we are told to stop striving or cease our labors, it does not mean we move into a place of passivity.  It means we focus on Jesus and trust Him more than we trust what we are seeing and feeling.  We trust Jesus more than ourselves or others.  We stand firm, believing in His promises.  Such as, He will work all things out for good, He is the God who heals, and He will never leave us.  Standing firm on the promises found in His Word, we are able to stay calm and centered in  "knowing what we know".

When we see with our senses, we can become fearful or filled with doubt.  Remember Peter getting out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus?  He was brave to step out of the boat, to take a risk when everything in the natural world was so unpredictable.  The crashing waves, rain and wind were hard to ignore.  He was doing well until he took His eyes off of Jesus.  Getting out of the boat did not seem to stop the storm from raging around him, but it did stop the storm raging within him............until.............Until he took His eyes off of Jesus.  When He looked away from His source of safety, he panicked and down he went. 

There is much to be learned from this Biblical story.  Like Peter, we need to keep our eyes upon Jesus during the storms that come into our lives, whether these are external storms or internal ones.  We are instructed to take our thoughts captive, harness our emotions, and see with eyes of faith.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, of course not, but we are not alone in this pursuit. The Holy Spirit has been sent to help us, and Jesus never leaves us.  Never. 

Just how do we take our thoughts captive, harness our emotions, and see with eyes of faith?  I expect it is different for everyone, but for me it starts with keeping my eyes upon Jesus, through prayer, praise and worship.......Then I attempt to counter-attack those negative thoughts with scripture,  calm my emotions with His promises, and see with eyes of hope, resting in the knowledge of how much we are loved and cared for. Once again I want to share with you the chorus of an old hymn that can give us a sense of peace as we trust in the promise that Jesus is our Savior in the storms. 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of this world will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace

I am linking up to Spiritual Sundays.

My Work Or His?

"Come all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens

and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you. 

Let me teach you for I am humble and gentle of heart. 

My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30 

Entering into God's rest. Last night I typed these words into a google search. What does it mean to enter into God's rest? This is where God has called me for months now...to trust and rest. Enter into His rest. Jesus began beckoning me last fall with Matthew 11:28-30...........and this continued on for many weeks when these verses came to me 26 times from 26 different sources. God has been persistent and I am taking it seriously.

Trust and Rest

In my search I discovered that the dictionary defines rest as being at peace, ease, or leaning into. Hmmmm What a beautiful visual....leaning into God's rest. I kept searching beyond Webster's definition. I clicked and read and clicked and read...looking for something special........and then I came across the "answer" portion of a yahoo question.....the same answer I was searching for had been sought after by others and yahoo, of all places, had posted a response that spoke so strongly I had to steady myself inside. An anonymous reply at that. Whoever wrote this response had a deep understanding that came from experience. Written FOUR years ago, in God's timing I came across it today.  Only God!

This mysterious writer shared, "Entering into God's rest is to rest on the finished work of Christ. It is an inward rest ~ a lifestyle of trusting in God's goodness and resting in the finished work on the cross." Believing and receiving. He went on to say, "When I rest He works in me and through me....when I work, God rests and I am left to my own limited resources."
I
Because of Jesus' finished work at the cross, we have salvation which includes wholeness, healing, deliverance, protection, and more.  The Greek word Sozo is used and encompasses the whole person.  It is all done for us.  We can rest in it. It is not accomplished by our hands, nor by our works. Jesus already accomplished it all, we need only receive it.  Thank you Jesus...thank you for such a precious gift.

I don't know about you, but I am one who wants to be in charge of when things happen, whether it is plans for my future or healing for my body.  I continually need to return to the Lord my God and trust Him....entering into His rest and getting out of the way so He can fulfill His promises.  I am learning that when I say "Yes, Lord" a big part of that is the trusting and the resting.  Leaning into while entering in.  It reminds me of the chorus of an old hymn

Leaning...........leaning.......

Safe and secure from all alarms

Leaning..........leaning.......

Leaning on His everlasting arms



God Knows What He Is Doing

God knows what He is doing

 

Trust Him.

  

I confess, I have difficulty at times trusting what God is doing in my life and the lives of those I love.  I seriously have doubts that certain situations will "work out for our good".  I only see what is in front of me, and at times it is scary.  I know I do not want God to remove Himself from the picture, but I definitely want to join Him in directing traffic!  He needs my help I am certain, or things wouldn't be moving so slow.......or taking what appears to me to be wrong turns. There would not be places where disaster unfolds and pain takes up residence.

 

God knows what He is doing

 

Trust Him

 

 

 Years of illness eroded the thin layer of trust I brought into my relationship with God.  The death of a son at age 25 added to the erosion along with threats on my husband's life that lasted over 6 years. Life brings with it the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Too many circumstances to name challenged but at the same time strengthened our faith over the years. Over time I learned to trust God one step at a time in every area but one.  Safety. Fear took up a lot of space within my heart when it came to feeling safe in a world where bad things happened to good people.  Where bad things happened to me. The sudden onset of PTS and surfacing memories of sexual abuse and neglect over a year ago shook my world and for awhile increased the levels of anxiety and fear.  And yet..........

And yet............when I look back and remember........when I, like Joshua, build an altar of stones that each remind me of God's love and faithfulness over the years, then I am able to step out and trust God's promises. I am able to look back and see that God is healing me from the past that was hidden deep within, so I can let go of fear and live a faith-full life for Him now. I can believe that God is working all things out for good, no matter what I am seeing in the natural. 

God knows what He is doing

 

Trust Him

 

 God blessed me with two words to meditate on this year ~ trust and rest~ it is not a surprise to me because He has been speaking to me for years on trusting Him.  Since I am going to be 65 in a couple of months, it would be an understatement to say it has taken me awhile to step out in faith and believe I am safe when I rest with Him.  He is patient, and continues to guide and bless me along this challenging path.  As I pondered Bonnie's word prompt "trust" I realized that a lot of progress has been made.  "You've come a long way baby!"  Wow!  And I give thanks to God for never letting go of my hand along the way. To God be the glory.  I am so grateful.

 

There are still circumstances that bring to the surface anxiety and fear and for a moment or a day I wonder what in the world God is doing! The difference is, I know that those old friends no longer have control over my life.  That they are really lies that the enemy wants me to believe.  I need only remember to enter into God's resting place, turn to His Word,  and keep my eyes upon Jesus,  knowing I can rely on His promises, believing that God is with me wherever I go.  Including the hard places.

 

God knows what He is doing

 

Trust Him

 

 

I am linking up with Bonnie over at

Faith Barista Jam 

 

Yes, Lord

"Does God find a resting place in you?

Where do you allow Him to rest in you?

Do you say yes when He comes to your house?  The house He created?

Today I was watching a Biblical conference and the teacher asked these questions.   They resonated within me because they connected to what I have been pondering this week with Bonnie Gray's word prompt over at Faith Barista Jam.  The word prompt was "yes".  Meditating on this word brought me to a deeper place of reflection where God made me aware that I have been struggling with wanting Him to give me the answer yes to all my hopes and dreams.   After all, God's promises are all yes and amen, right?  But maybe what I need to realize is that God's promises are not to be adapted to comply with my hopes and dreams.  Maybe instead of looking for God's yes, I need to surrender to Him with my own.

Yes

Yes, come into my house......the house you created

Yes, Lord you can find a resting place in me.

Yes, Lord, fill me...every corner of me with your love.

Yes, I trust you.

Yes, I surrender all of me

Yes, Lord I surrender my hopes and dreams in return for your

intricate weaving of my little life

Yes Lord, I trust you to have a plan for good

I rest in that plan. I rest in you.

Yes, not only do I rest in you but You rest in me. 

Yes

I  love how God uses the struggles and messes of our lives and makes them our message to a waiting world.  You need only read the comments left on Bonnie's blog to know that what she writes with such heartfelt honesty is healing balm for others.  God is good like that.  He works all things out for good even in the midst of our struggles.  Throughout Bonnie's writing on her recent journey with PTS you find a very strong thread.  Jesus is woven into her daily moments. There can be no victory without Christ.  The healing balm found at Faith Barista is Jesus.

I also stopped over and read the latest post by Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience. When a reminder of it came in my email I wondered what I would learn there today...I expected she would present her readers with a gift, a treasure we could carry on our faith walk, and I was not disappointed. She is writing on radical Christianity and as is God's way, her words, Bonnie's, the Biblical teacher from this morning, and the Holy Spirit's whispers all came together for me in the form of rest for a weary sojourner.  Yes, Lord.

I am right back where I started really.  Trust and Rest.  My words to meditate on this year.  Trust and Rest.  My yes to God is accomplished only through trust.  Resting is only accomplished through trusting.  Letting God rest in me is only accomplished through surrender and surrender is accomplished through trust.

God is always weaving His Holy Word and the words of others together, just for me. Just for you. He loves us that much.  He care about us that much.  He wants to hear our "yes" that much. 

How do you say yes to God ?
I am linking up to Spiritual Sundays
and Faith Barista

 

I Have Been Asking

I have been asking God for a sign....in the garden of my heart, during devotions, at the kitchen sink, in the quiet right before sleep comes.  But before I spoke the question with my lips or consciously in my mind I was already forming the words deep in my soul.......give me a sign, Jesus.  When you are healing me, let me s e e it.  A visible sign to take in with my eyes.  Let me s.e.e. something more healed.  One little thing visible to the naked eye.  Then it will be easier to shed the unbelief that creeps quietly into my heart and hides there.  You did it before, just do it again!  Please?

Pleading is not pretty nor productive, but I confess to it. 

And in God's true nature, He responded with His Word before I even knew I had been asking.  It was not what I wanted to hear, but it is what God wants to tell me, to teach me.  You see, it is a matter of trust.  There is that word again...........t.r.u.s.t.

Hebrews 11:1 has come to me several times in the past few days  True to my nature, it took God hitting me over the head with it to realize it was the answer to my question for a "sign".....and true to His nature it was given to me with love and patience.

"Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

This beautiful image below is one  I posted here recently and is now a daily reminder for me, as I trust the Lord and HIS ways.... 

As I link up with A Holy Experience I am so grateful today for God sending me with what I need, not what I want.

Conversations In The Garden: Trust and Rest

I have not shared much lately about my conversations with Jesus.  These morning meditations take me to a garden (of my heart) where I believe that the Holy Spirit uses my imagination to speak with me.  I lean back, close my eyes and ask the HS to put a hedge of protection around this time so I only hear the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and nothing else enters the Garden.  I also ask the HS to control my thoughts and open my heart to what God is telling me.   I want to emphasize that I believe it is the Holy Spirit that uses my imagination and my gift to visualize, to speak to me.  I am often surprised by what Jesus tells me or shows me during this quiet time.   These are special times when we have a good talk. It is one of the ways Jesus calls me to be his beloved.

Recently when I entered into the Garden, Jesus took my hand and we went for a walk.  We were soon at the shore standing in water up to our ankles with the ocean beyond.  I looked down, disappointed to see the water lapping over my bare feet, because not too long ago I had drawn a line in the sand in this same place, determined to trust God on my quest to walk in healing from sickness and PTS.  Part of trusting for me, is believing what I am not yet fully seeing.   Having my feet in water made me realize I was struggling with this once again.

All of a sudden Jesus was out on the water beckoning me to come, just like with Peter.  He reached out his hand to me and I had to make the conscious decision to walk towards him and grab his hand.  As I began moving forward I started to look down to see where I was going.  He said, "Do not look down..........do not look back........just keep your eyes focused on Me.  I took a few steps and looked down again because as I walked the water disappeared and the sand came up to meet my feet.  He said a second time, "Do not look down and do not look back.......just look at me."  It then came to me that He was asking me to trust Him.  If I could trust Him enough to walk forward on this journey, each step would become that firm foundation I needed to strengthen me and release the fear, allowing me to rest in Him.

Trust Me.  You are my beloved.

Trust Me.

Yesterday in the Jesus Calling devotional I read these words...."Come to Me and relax in my Peace. I will strengthen you and prepare you for this day, transforming your fear into confident trust."  The scripture to go with this message was found in Matthew 11:28-30.  These verses are never far away from me.  They follow me or I follow them.  Either way God continues to teach me as I meditate on His words for me this year........TRUST and REST.

Then Jesus said,
'Come unto me all of you who are weary
and carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you
because I am humble and gentle at heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.'" (NLT)

"My yoke is easy
and my burden is light.'" ( NIV)

Matthew 11:28-30

Trust and Rest

It was one year ago this month that my husband was healed overnight from Lyme Disease, CFS, arthritis, hypothyroidism, and more.  Just like that he went from being on disability to freely being able to go back to the work he loves~ his calling as a pastor.  To say we were amazed and grateful would be an understatement.  This put us on a quest for my own healing from Lyme Disease that went undiagnosed for at least 23 years and kept me viewing life from my sofa.

My journey really starts in November of 2011 when I began having repressed memories of sexual abuse surface 57 years after they occurred.  Throughout the past 14 months, a walk in the park at dusk, a show on TV, something I read in a book, or just out of the blue, episodes of PTS shake up my world.  As time goes by, these events have lessened in intensity and number because of the healing taking place. I am very blessed to have my husband's full support, a counselor, and now Sozo ministry sessions helping me to walk into the freedom that Christ died for~ "It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."  Gal. 5:1

As I struggled to understand and accept what was happening, Jesus would often whisper in my ear, "Trust me".  I did not want to be at this place, I wanted to be healed physically overnight just like my sweet husband.  I had so many plans.......places to go......grandchildren to hug.  I am seeing that kind of healing take place as a process and I am doing more than I have in years, but I know that the way to my complete healing is through the emotional trauma that surfaced.  God has a plan for good, and I am so thankful He continues to show me the way, bringing me encouragement and insights through devotionals, teachings, Sozo, and writings like Bonnie Gray's over at Faith Barista.

It is a matter of trust, and in this area of my life there is a "trust deficit".  In one of our morning devotional books Pam Kidd shared that God had brought to mind the words "trust deficit" in response to the fear she was experiencing from all the changes in her life. She reflected back to the blessing her husband ended every service with in the congregation he served for many years, and how she was now finding herself in need of hearing it.

"Go out into the world and fear nothing!"

TRUST

I felt God leading me to use the word TRUST as my word for this year to meditate on........and yet.....on the other hand, God has sent me the word REST so often in the past 4 months that I cannot deny its importance. Matthew 11:28-30 almost has its own heartbeat within me now, as the living Word,  because it has come to me at least 25 times from 25 different sources.  Over and over again I have been hearing from God~ "rest in Me",  and I am still learning all that it means.
 

REST

 
 

Then Jesus said,
'Come unto me all of you who are weary
and carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you
because I am humble and gentle at heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.'" (NLT)

"My yoke is easy
and my burden is light.'" ( NIV)

Matthew 11:28-30

 

So two it is!   TRUST and REST. 

In December God "highlighted" this verse for me and then confirmed it when someone praying for my healing told me that God shared it with her. I have decided to meditate on this verse for the year as a good reminder of God's desire for me to TRUST in the LORD with all my heart, and REST in HIM.  It is found in Isaiah 30:15.
 

"For thus says the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel,

In returning and rest you shall be saved

In quietness(rest) and trust
 shall be your strength."

Isaiah 30:15

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

I am linking up today with Bonnie over at 

Faith Barista

 

In Quietness And Trust

In the past I would make a list of New Year's resolutions or intentions for that coming year, only to forget about them by February or March.  So last year I decided to join the many who, in place of resolutions, prayerfully meditate on one word for the 365 days.  I found it so powerful I decided to continue on with this practice. 

I have been praying for God to give me a word to meditate on for 2013.  Last week I was was drawn to the word TRUST, and then the last couple of days the word REST has come up again and again.  These two words seem to be intertwined in my life.

In one of our morning devotional books Pam Kidd shared that God had brought to mind the words  "trust deficit" in response to the fear she was experiencing from all the changes in her life.  She reflected back to the blessing her husband ended every service with in the congregation he served for many years, and how she was now finding herself in need of hearing it.

"Go out into the world and fear nothing!"

It was just 6 months ago that I grabbed hold of those words when I read another Pam Kidd devotional with the same blessing ~ Go out into the world and fear nothing.  It seemed I was being brought back full circle as a reminder of the places I, too, had a "trust deficit".

TRUST

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops;

then your barns will be filled to overflowing …”

(Proverbs 3:5-10 NIV).

 

On the other hand, God has sent me the word REST so often in the past 4 months that I cannot deny its importance.  Matthew 11:28-30 almost has its own heartbeat within me now, as the living Word.  Over and over again I have been hearing "rest in the Lord".

REST

 

Then Jesus said,
'Come unto me all of you who are weary
and carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you. 

Let me teach you
because I am humble and gentle at heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.'" (NLT)

"My yoke is easy
and my burden is light.'" ( NIV)
 

Matthew 11:28-30

  

 So two it is!  I am wondering what more God will teach me about trusting and resting in Him. I must have much to learn as He certainly has been bringing these two powerful words to my attention the past few months. 

 In December God "highlighted" this verse for me and then confirmed it when someone praying for my healing told me God shared it with her.  It is found in Isaiah 30:15.

 

"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

In returning and rest you shall be saved

In quietness(rest) and trust shall be your strength."

 

Isaiah 30:15

 

 

Linking up with Spiritual Sundays.