I felt incredibly tired and worn out last week and despite all efforts to ‘rest’, I still felt exhausted. It reached a point where I had to ask God to ‘give me strength’ and in providing His strength, He also renewed my understanding of REST.
Rest is not supposed to be this thing that you collapse into after an exhausting day or season. Rest is supposed to be your starting point. We should start from a place of rest.
There is so much comfort in knowing that our Lord and Saviour Jesus, walked and didn’t run. He lived an unhurried life, yet His purpose and mission were unquestionably fulfilled. Take home message: Busy does not equal to purpose.
Another renewed perspective that I received about ‘rest’ during my quiet time, is that I have permission to do nothing. I have permission to say ‘no’. I have permission to be strategic with my availability. For when I say ‘no’ to something, or when I leave a margin of rest in my day, week, month or year, I in turn, open myself up to start from a place of purposeful REST.
Finally, remember how I said I asked God to ‘give me strength’. The Holy Spirit quietly reminded me that my prayer for Him to merely give me strength belittles His power at work in me. God doesn’t just give strength, He IS strength and He is in me.
Will you join me in choosing to start from a place of REST.
Will you join me in changing our prayer from ‘Lord give me strength’ to ‘Lord, you ARE my strength so I will embark on this task from a place of strength‘.
My prayer for you is that you will gain a new understanding of rest. That you will be intentional with your time, economical with your ‘yes’ and strategic with your availability. You will give yourself a margin for resting, with the assurance that purpose can still be fulfilled without compromising on ‘rest’.
Love, K x
Scriptures to read: Psalm 73:26; Isaiah 40:31; Isaiah 41:10; 1 Chronicles 16:11 and Psalm 18:1-2.
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Published by Kanayo Dike-Oduah
Kanayo is a Multi-award winning, Author and Senior leader in education whose experience ranges from being a Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Head of Psychology and Lead Practitioner. Kanayo believes that these 3 elements are the driving force of her ministry and career. D.I.G; Drive, Integrity and Grace.
Having a psychology degree provides me with a broad scope to experience many industries and fields of work. Although, my main aim is to continuously learn and also to share my knowledge and experience with others, within and beyond the constraints of the psychology community. Hence my pursuit to teach!
Hopefully, the readers of this blog will find that it is infested with a scope of psychological knowledge, with the intention of conveying psychology in such a way that it is interesting and understandable to those who aren’t studying it as a discipline. In addition, you will find that I heavily cover various topics aside of psychology such as, Christianity because I am a Christian. I draw both passions together, Psychology and Christianity, observing how they complement and sometimes clash! This blog is where ‘Psychology meets Scripture’.
As well as teaching Psychology, I know God has called me to do something far greater in this world. My passion is for His Word and to encourage others to read the Bible, fall in love with it, but most importantly…fall in love with The Author! My role of teaching is not limited to psychology. I strongly believe God is stirring up the ‘teacher’ office of the Five fold ministry in me.
I’m a doctor by virtue, healing and performing heart surgery with words of encouragement.
I am extremely driven and passionate about getting everyone; both Christians and non-Christians to read, understand and live out the word of God. To achieve this, I’ve created online Bible Challenges, whereby people around the world via social media, read a book in the Bible, one chapter a day and share what they have drawn out from the text. I have numerous Bible challenges, all accessible from my blog (www.doctorkanayo.com) and the YouVersion Bible App where over 250,000 people have completed my devotionals around the world. One Bible Challenge at a time, I aim to change the skewed perceptions of the Bible being irrelevant and to show the true reality that the bible is ‘juicy’, tremendously relevant, fun and easy to read. My one prayer is that my teachings and writings from His word, will touch at least ONE person. That would be a serious mission accomplished to the glory of God!
If you have anything you would like me to blog about, do let me know by either commenting, or contacting me via my contact form.
Thank you for visiting my blog. With love, Kanayo x
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What a purposeful post.
So good Kanayo, the Lord is our strength!
Reblogged this on Living a Meaningful Life and commented:
Kanayo wrote down all my thoughts in this post!!! This is a very solid post and I encourage everyone to read it. I take retreats from people and social media twice a year. Just had one and wow I would say it was very much needed. We get so busy planning the next big accomplishment that we don’t stop to enjoy all that’s been accomplished and just do nothing. In the process, hear clearly from God and gain uncommon wisdom to plan for our next levels.
So relevant to my life right now. Perfectly put, God bless you. In times where we as youth feel that we must be active on our ‘grind’ 24/7, remembering quiet time and rest is essential.