Learning to Rest + Sabbath

Hello everyone! I’m back with a new blog post about something that God has been teaching me so much about lately!! 

In the middle of the craziness of everything that is the World Race, God has been teaching me a lot about the importance of rest. Here on the field, on Sundays we have Sabbath, which is just a fancy way of saying that we do nothing other than rest. We are encouraged to sleep in, resist the temptation to go do things in groups, and spend time reading the Word, journaling, and praying. The concept of taking a whole day to rest was hard for me at first, because at home I’m the kind of person who never takes the time to rest well. The first thing I would do when I woke up was text my friends to see who wanted to go hiking, swim at the the river, get coffee, or go for a drive. As a result, I spent this whole summer feeling drained, no matter how much sleep I had gotten or how much coffee I had had to

drink. So, much to my surprise, Sabbath has become my favorite day of the week. I sleep in, spend time in the Word, cook my own meals, and recharge for the coming week. It’s the one day of the week I don’t have to go anywhere, set an alarm, or plan out some part of my day. The first few weeks here, I spent a few hours during my Sabbaths either at coffee shops or bussing into San Jose to go shopping or out to eat. Even though I didn’t feel like going out for a few hours was a big deal, I was still going into Mondays feeling a little tired. As a result, I felt like God was asking me to take my Sabbaths here at the base, and not go anywhere. At first I wrestled with this, because my first instinct is always to go somewhere and do something, otherwise I feel like I’ve wasted my day. Thankfully, God has been shifting my perspective, and showing me that His original intent was for us to take a day and really and truly rest, so I’m trying to embrace that and intentionally rest well on my Sabbaths. 

While Sabbath has become my favorite day of the week, I am learning to carry over my Sabbath habits into other parts of my week as well. Sometimes, this means napping instead of walking to the store for snacks. Other times, it could mean leaving the living room halfway through a movie on a weeknight to make sure that I get enough sleep. Our whole team listened to a podcast on resting last week that encouraged us to not think of sleep as the end of a day, but the beginning of a new one, pulling from the Scripture that says “and the evening and the morning were the first day”. Choosing to re-wire my way of thinking by considering a good night’s sleep to be the start of a new day instead of the end of an old one has been so cool to me, and I’ve noticed that I’ve been choosing to go to bed earlier since I heard this teaching. Creating habits like these have been invaluable for me in making sure that I’m not over-extending myself and that I’m operating from a place of rest. I really believe, though, that the most important habit that I’m forming when it comes to rest comes from our morning devotionals. Every morning except for Saturday and Sunday, my whole squad meets in the common room at 6am to spend time with God together. No one talks, but we sit together for 45 minutes while we read our Bibles, journal about what God is teaching us, and listen to worship music. Now if you know me at all, you know that I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve always hated mornings—I take every opportunity to sleep in, and I avoid meeting people anywhere before noon as much as possible. However, waking up early for devotionals has surprisingly become one of my favorite parts of the day. I get up at 5:30, see the sunrise behind the mountain on my way to the outdoor bathrooms, make my bed, pick out my outfit for the day, and make a cup of either coffee or tea before devos even start. Spending almost an hour with the Lord before 7am, and before even eating breakfast, has been so life giving for me. Starting my day early and spending time in the Word feels so much better to me than sleeping in until 10am (or later, not even gonna lie) like I did during the summer, and then feeling rushed to accomplish everything that I needed to do that day. Even though I’m waking up consistently early more than I ever have in my life, I feel more rested than I ever have. I think that when we give our precious time in the morning to God, He gives us energy to sustain us for the rest of the day. 

Sorry for the late post, but opportunities to get wifi have been rare! Thank you so much to everyone that has been praying for my squad and I, and keeping up with our journey! 

Until next time!

-Nicole