Be Still

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

A lot of my life seems to be to-do lists. For those who know me-I like to be organized. I love post its and making lists of things to do, things that eventually need to get done, things I want, things I need to remember, etc.

I've been thinking a lot about how the Bible talks about rest. I've also been attending a bible study on the gospel and how that pertains to living for the King in our daily lives. So often people approach religion as a to-do list. I have to be a certain way, follow certain rules, do a set number of things and then I'll be good. More often it's Christians who have this approach-people supposedly who got save because of the gift of God's Son as a sacrifice for us-not earned by us at all. We are always busy busy busy doing for God. The Bible says it doesn't earn us anything, so why are we striving, why am I striving to have it all together and make things happen for God? If I've learned anything (or should have learned anything) it's that God doesn't need my help to get His will accomplished. In fact I often make a mess of things when I'm trying to "fix" stuff. I keep hearing echoed in my head "Be still and know that I am God."

Now that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing stuff (the horses would not like me very much if I just stopped feeding or brushing them), but I'm going to stop (or try to stop) letting my worry or anxiety or my need for acceptance, my fear, my pride (the list could go on) drive why I'm doing what I'm doing. I need to listen to what God is saying to me before running in another direction trying to do it all for everyone else. This is hard because of course I want the horses to look good and the barn to stay clean and for us to be moving forward, but all that at the expense of killing myself mentally and physically and spending no time on my relationship with Christ? It all comes down to what am I doing it for. I'd like to say it's always for God, but it isn't. A lot of it is for me. A lot of it is for my pride and self esteem, for my desire to be successful or to please others. I'm learning I'm pretty selfish and it's not always a nice feeling when you realize you are wrong.

God lets me get tired running around doing stuff, all the time waiting for me to come back to Him and say I need help. And when I ask Him, He gives me the rest I need and the strength I need to keep going. I still may be doing all the same tasks, but there is a lightness in my heart when I know that God is in control of the future and what I'm doing matters, but not so much that I'm going to die because I didn't do something exactly right or on schedule. By all means this is easier said than done and I pray that Christ continues to work on me in this area.

-Ashley

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”