Four reasons why a resting period with God is important

A friend of mine once told me this: "the world has conditioned us to think that if we are not at a certain place at a certain age gaining a number of experiences then we are failing or falling behind.  But, our measure of success should not be based on society standards, but on the story that God has written for our lives. It is not what it looks like but behind the scenes that count; focus on how things lined up for you in this time of your life. If you know that you are doing everything that God has told you to do then trust that you are exactly where he needs you to be. Value the season you are in and continue to trust in the process that God is leading you in this season of rest."

It's been a while since I blogged, but between trying to figure out my career and the direction God is leading me in my life, I decided to take a break. In the past couple of years, I've been in a resting/waiting period when it comes to my career and the overall direction of where my life is heading, which has been the hardest thing I've experienced. But, as Romans 5 says, "because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope" (3-4), there is purpose in those hard experiences. Being in a resting/waiting period for so long can start to feel unproductive and lifeless. However, through this long period, God has been doing great things in my life and spiritual walk with Him, and preparing me for whatever He has in store for my future and the new beginnings of this year, 2022. 

During this time, I have spoken to friends that have experienced or have been experiencing the same things in different areas of their lives to help me compare, share and find out what we have each learned in this season of life. I even turned this season of my life into episodes with guest speakers on Instagram to help encourage others. So, through this long period of resting and speaking to friends who are experiencing the same thing, I've learned the top four reasons why a time of resting in God (if intentional) is important. See down below...

Having a resting season: 

1. Helps you establish a closer relationship with God

Let's face it, the movement of life can always be a big distraction that diverts our attention from God. We get distracted by work, school, marriage, family, travel, children, social media, etc., and the little time we do have left of our day and time is when we might decide to give it to God. Our busy schedules can limit us from establishing a true relationship because we are not spending time getting to know our Heavenly Father. For this reason, God will sometimes slow our lives down so that we have no other choice but to look to Him. Our Heavenly Father would much rather we spend time in His presence than always busying ourselves away from Him. Jesus expresses this very desire for quality time in Luke 10 when he went to visit the sisters Mary and Martha. When Jesus visited their home, Mary chose to sit at his feet while Martha busied herself in the kitchen, which upset Martha as she said; "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me." Then, Jesus replied, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed... Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." In the situation of Mary and Martha, Jesus shows us that there is a time to rest and a time to work. We should not busy ourselves in vain when the Lord is calling us to just spend time in His presence because there is value in resting and even more value in just simply abiding in Christ.  

2. Gives you time to discover who you are

Once you start to get to know Jesus and establish a relationship with him, you start to get to know yourself, as our identity is found in Christ. We all need time in our lives to do a bit of soul searching to answer the question of, "Who am I?" There are a lot of people in this world who do not know who they are, which leads to an identity crisis, and there is a lot of that happening in today's society. The only way to avoid having an identity crisis is when we go to the source itself, the word of God, and find out what it says about us. A lot of the time, we tend to put our bible on the back burner because we do not have the desire to pick it up, and the time we do decide to read it we end up falling asleep! This is why we need to pray and ask God to give us hunger for His word because we need it. The bible is so important because it is the roadmap to our self-discovery which we can obtain by spending time in the word, and what better time to do so than in a season of rest! When we know who we are in Christ, we can start to live our lives with confidence and purpose, which can lead to our success in what we are destined to do. 

3. Gives you time to discover your purpose

What follows after this question of "who am I"?  Is, Why am I here"? "What is my purpose"? Sometimes, we find ourselves going with the flow of life and not really stopping to think; is this job what I really want to do? Am I going down the right path? What do I really want to accomplish in this life? Life does not give us the time to sit and reflect because we are expected to know what we want to do from high school before going to post-secondary, and then into the workforce without so much of a pause and if we do pause, we are judged. But, we serve an unconventional God and we are His children, not a part of this conventional society. Therefore, our lives must be 'out of the ordinary,' 'unconventional' and as late Dr. Myles Munroe puts it, "we should not be here only to work a secular job, pay bills, retire and die, we are should be doing so much more"! As Dr. Munroe says, "we did not come here to make a living but a difference." We just need to figure out what that "much more" looks like. In this resting period, God gives us the time we are not lotted to figure out our purpose and what God is calling us to do. As we spend more time with Him in the secret place, He will reveal what our hidden gifts and talents are, which will give us clarity of our purpose and what we are called to do.  

4. Helps you prepare for the next season of life 

A season of rest is also a time of preparation. It is a time for God to prune us and remove the things that hinder us from truly being like Christ and fulfilling our destiny. It is a time to prepare us spiritually as we have time to go deeper in his word, prayer, and presence. It is also a time to prepare us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for what he has for us. For instance, look at Jesus in the wilderness, he had to go through a long period of isolation with God before he could go forth in his ministry. He needed a season of resting in the Heavenly Father and letting the Father prepare him to go out and do His works. The wilderness was Jesus' transitioning period into his purpose, what he was called on the earth to do. If we did not have this time of preparation and if God gave us the things we desired before the right time, we would probably ruin it because we were not ready for them or ready to do what He has called us to do.

I will end with this, as my friend, Andrea said in one of the episodes, even God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. It is a valued and known principle, so to you, my readers take that intentional time of rest because there is much value in it!