R.E.S.T. and J.O.Y.

Thank you so very much for hanging out with me last Sunday.  It was a blessing for me to have you all over as we explored Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."     

Christ invites us to come and take His yoke in place of the yoke offered to us by sin and this world.  For the yoke of the world leads to slavery, but the yoke Christ offers is easy and it leads to R.E.S.T.  He offers rest for our weary and overwhelmed souls.  

                                                  

These last few years have been unimaginable for all of us.  We could not have predicted what we all lived through with the pandemic and the debris that followed.  The yoke of fear, discouragement, and overwhelming disappointment barged in, with no invitation, to try to enslave us and demand our participation.  

One night as I asked the Lord to bring rest to my tired

soul, I suddenly felt His voice.  He whispered to my Spirit how to find rest.  It was, what I believe, a breakthrough for me.

R - Release all that is overwhelming to me.  

      Give it to me, and then let it go.

E - Enter and abide in my presence.  True rest and 

      fullness of joy can only be found in Me.

S - Settle and Surrender ~  Settle what needs to be settled and then, surrender to my sovereignty

T - Then, TRUST ME, for I am trustworthy.  

R.E.S.T. was my word for 2023.  Release, Enter, Settle and Surrender, and Trust.  

 Galatians 5:1 says, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Key word:  again ~ After we find rest in Christ we must stand firm to protect ourselves from getting all yoked up and enslaved again.  "Resting" in His presence protects us from yoking ourselves back into the places He rescued us from.  

Now we are in a new year and the Lord gave me a new word, one that will help me R.E.S.T.  My word for 2024 is J.O,Y.  

Joy is not something you can conjure up in your mind with determination, will power or well intentions.  We cannot buy enough, experience enough, or control enough to produce joy.  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is not borne of our best efforts.  It is borne only of the Spirit." (She Read Truth, pg. 1980)  The fruit He wants to bloom in me this year is J.O.Y.  And, how do I activate J.O.Y.?  

 J - Jesus

O - Over

Y - You

 Making Christ the protagonist of my story, regarding Him as the   Controller of all things me, frees me to be free.  

This year, let's R.E.S.T. and activate J.O.Y.  

SAVE THE DATE:  April 7 is our next Bible Journaling meet up.  I hope you can come.  💛