“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
                        (Matthew 11:28) NIV

Someone gave me a devotional book for Christmas entitled “What a Great Word!” It emphasizes a different word that you focus on spiritually each day. I started it on January 1, but when I got it I leafed through it and one page jumped out at me — or should I say a word jumped out at me. That word was rest.
To be honest, Jesus had been hammering me with that theme for quite a while but I just couldn’t/wouldn’t hear Him. Or maybe I heard Him, but I was working to rest. As in doing everything I could do to rest or chastising myself when I failed to rest — and growing tired of trying so hard, because that’s what I tend to do. But that’s not what this verse has in mind.
Was it a coincidence that that theme word appeared just as I was pressed into rest by testing positive for Covid? It just so happens that I was so tired, I had thrown up my hands in defeat.
As a result, I’m enjoying a lot of genuine rest. Later in this passage, Jesus describes His rest: easy, light, gentle, and humble. I would also add peaceful. It’s not lazy rest but an internal sense of peaceful ease — going with the flow, so to speak.
I guess I am sleeping in more, but I’m just really a lot more restful in my mind and actions. But the results are encouraging. Some of the things that I had been mentally and physically toiling over seem to be falling into place and unfolding with ease. I could really get used to resting in You, Jesus. Is this what You meant all along about giving us rest?

Faith Step – Pick a problem you’ve been working on and apply this verse by stopping whatever you’re doing. Let Jesus have it while you rest.