It's Not Lazy, It's Holy!

Happy Monday everyone! First, let me start by saying I hope you woke up today with a smile and ready to start your week. If you didn't wake up with a smile, surely looking at picture above will give you one. :)Second, I have some cool news! I have been attending a church here in Atlanta for a little over a month now called Grace Midtown. Let me just say, it is amazing. The presence of God there is so real and you can feel the love and the passion that the members have for worshiping and serving. I came upon this church by chance after researching some local churches on the web and after a couple of people even suggested Grace, I felt like God was sending me there. So I went. Probably the best decision I have made living here in Atlanta thus far. If you visit Atlanta and need a church to attend while you're here, I highly recommend Grace Midtown!After some prayer and debating over the past couple of weeks, I felt like God was telling me this is my new home, this is my new family.

So yesterday I made the plunge and became a member. Although I don't know anyone (yet), I have a feeling God has bigger plans than I could ever imagine for me at Grace (including maybe some friends? haha! Here's to hoping! lol).So, today I just wanted to quickly share a couple of things that have really resonated with me in the sermons so far at Grace Midtown.

At Grace we are in a series called the Source. It is all about getting back to our source and connecting with our Source which is none other than God. He is our source of life, breath, food, drink, rest. The past two Sundays have been about rest and although I have been attending church and have been a Christian for the majority of my life, I have never understood what "rest" actually means to God until now.

#1. BE STILL (Psalms 46:10) This doesn't mean be still and be on your phone. Or be still while laying in bed watching Netflix. When I have a day where I say I am going to do "nothing", I am still doing a million things whether that's checking Instagram, pinning, or even just thinking about what I need to be doing. How often do we take time to put the phone away and to be still in God's presence. To really soak in his creation, his love, his blessings, his peace? I can't tell you the last time that I truly experienced being still. But if I am never still, how am I supposed to fully experience God and what he has to say? To rest in God is to be still. To stop worrying, to stop thinking, to just rest and TRUST in the fact that HE IS GOD and HE IS IN CONTROL. 

#2. GOD IS OUR SOURCE OF REST (Matthew 11:28) As humans we work and work and work. We produce, we strive, we succeed. I am extremely guilty of measuring my worth by the amount of what I produce and my successes. Matt, the Pastor at Grace, told us last Sunday that the definition of a slave is someone who's value is based on what they produce. Our value is based on WHO PRODUCED US, not on what we produce. I am not saying as people we shouldn't work. We all have bills to pay and some of us even enjoy working but that is not the only part of our life worth anything. We are weary from constant work and measuring. Are we amounting to anything? What are we producing? How much are we producing and how quickly? We are not slaves, but sons and daughters of Christ. We were not created to work our lives away but to enjoy God and all of HIS WORK that he has already done for us. Rest in this.

 #3. REST IN THE LORD (Psalm 62:5) God created the world in 6 days, he worked and labored and when he saw on the seventh day that His work was finished and it was good, he rested. The work has already been done. He created the world put it in orbit and sent his son to take care of our humanly sins. That is why God tells us to rest. To rest in his work and to rest in him, knowing that we are taken care of and the work has been completed.For the first time, all of this made sense. Rest is a gift from God because he has taken our burdens, our worries, our sin, the entire world and placed it upon HIS SHOULDERS! It is not our job to constantly produce for the world. We are to follow Christ and be the best disciples and lovers that we possibly can be. That is what God cares about. Not how much money we make per year or how many awards or promotions we get. Those things are great and God is proud of hard work but we also need to take time to stop and to fully rest in Him and know that He is who He says He is. By being so absorbed in the world sometimes I realize I haven't been able to rest because I haven't put my full trust in God alone. But He tells us in the bible multiple times, come to me and I will free you, I will give you rest. 

My hope and encouragement to all of you and my goal for myself is to find time to rest. Rest in the Lord and all that He has done and all that He is going to do. We aren't the savior of the world (what a relief!), so don't try to be. Allow Him to do the work and enjoy the work that has already been done. REST! ENJOY! BREATHE! LIVE! GOD WANTS US TO!!!

*This has been paraphrased from the Source sermons but I highly suggest watching them all here. It will speak volumes into your lives! I hope you all have a wonderful day and week and find some rest in your hectic beautiful lives! :)