What rest means to me
Hello lovelies and welcome back to the maytrain! before I get to my topic, I want to address 3 things:
1. I have failed to post since August of this year and honestly, it's because I've had one of the craziest semesters ever! (which I will elaborate on more later).
2. I know my last blog noted that I was going to post about a banana bread recipe next, but soon after that announcement, my phone completely died and all the pictures I took for the blog got erased :( sad day. It will come up on a later blog though, I promise!
3. In case you were wondering, the jean dress I am wearing is from Old Navy. It's super comfortable. I am obsessed. they have the best sales right now. That is all.
Now grab your coffee and let's talk! Today, I wanted to elaborate on what rest means to me. There are many definitions of rest from all sorts of philosophers and deep thinkers along with many ideas on how it is supposed to look like, but today I just want to share how I have found it to be true in my life. I used to think rest was sitting at home, curled up in a blanket, with a box of pizza and Netflix all day. Although that is fun for a few hours, I found it to get boring really fast and I started feeling useless, but one day I heard a sermon. I don't even remember who was speaking, but I remember them saying, "rest is not sitting around doing nothing, it is a refresher or a re-starter in order to do what The Lord has planned for you," or something like that. Imagine my excitement when I found out that rest was completely different than what I thought, and so much better than what I had experienced!
This past fall semester of 2016 was one of my hardest ones yet. I suffered from anxiety for the first time in months, almost failed a class, and had to drop another. Needless to say, I needed a break. Looking back at my semester, being able to shift gears from all the negative things I went through to all of the breakthroughs and growth I experienced, ultimately came hand in hand with my rest. I realized that my grades ended up being way better than I expected, and brought up my GPA by .30 points, which made such a difference! I also discovered that I have actually grown a great deal; I can feel myself becoming a real 20 year-old woman stepping out of the teen mindset. Along with the growing pains, comes the victory and that feeling you get similar to when you know you worked really hard on a paper, and you end up getting an A. you're like, "Yeah! I did that!" that's how I've felt becoming an adult. I also cry myself to sleep a lot, but I think that's just a part of being a college student.
I pondered a lot on what my Christmas break was going to look like and if I could sum it all up in one word, it would be: refreshing. The amount of time I have spent in The word, listening to sermons, and reading good books, has been such a breath of fresh air. I feel like I am catching up with a friend after being apart for months. I don't mean that I never read my bible or spent time with Jesus through out the semester, but it hasn't been nearly as personal as it has been during this period of rest. I feel renewed and ready to take on this next semester. If I could illustrate it in any way, it would be like when you wind up one of those old school dolls, and it starts walking again. Yep. That's how I feel.
What I'm trying to say is that my rest is found in Jesus and I am so blessed He is who I've chosen, because as a result of that my perspective on life and the work that is put in front of me completely changed, and I am instantly reminded why I am in college studying the major I chose. I have a calling, and my work is for The Lord not for me, so I am encouraged once again. Don't feel guilty for needing constant encouragement and motivation, because we are created that way in order to rely solely on The Lord.
Thanks for reading :)
love,
Ericka