3-15-2024
I feel like the Lord has been continuously deepening my knowledge of what true rest in Him is and how that affects every aspect of our lives. So in this blog, I want to reminisce on what each country has taught me about resting in our Heavenly Father so far! Here we go!
Before the race, I knew how to rest but I don’t think I took advantage of what true rest really looks like in the Lord until the race.
At Training Camp (which feels like literal ages ago), I began to not only see but also taste the fruit of what truly resting in the Lord looks like. This didn’t only happen on Sabbath, but also continually through the week. So often, we as Americans don’t take the full ownership over our authority of resting on the Sabbath to set us up for a week of success-and then we wonder why we are so tired and failing miserably on our own.
Transitioning into Cambodia, it taught me a lot about rest in other cultures and how we can have an unhealthy balance of rest. I think my team, including myself, struggled a lot with feeling tired. It was hard to get out of bed in the morning and we even wrestled to get through the day without a nap. That is not natural. But the root of this question is, was I using my rest wisely? The answer is no. Now don’t hear me saying that this was just a poor use of our rest because there was a lot of spiritual warfare in Asia, specifically Cambodia but a lot of it for me personally tied to not finding deep rest and taking full advantage of the time I had to rest.
Shifting into Thailand, I think God hit me upside the head with how deep a pit I had fallen into between Training Camp and Thailand and after that, I was determined to make the most of my time with the Lord. This included early mornings diving into Scripture up on the roof of the coffee shop we lived above and ending the night on the same roof worshiping and praying over the people of Chiang Mai, my team, our whole squad, and all of our different ministries.
I remember one of my teammates saying she only remembers seeing me in bed twice because I would go to bed after her and get up before her. But do you want to know the funny thing? I can honestly say that I was much better rested spiritually and physically because of my continued and deeper surrenderance to the Lord in every aspect of my life-including the use of my Sabbath and my sleep. It’s all about how deeply we are in tune with the Father and what your mindset is behind your own rest.
In South Africa on the other hand, I think it changed from month one to month two in this beautiful country. Let’s set the scene for the first month. I’m having crazy dreams that weren’t scary or anything, they were just wild and made no sense. I would go to bed late and get up early, but I had a harder time reading the Word of God.
Month two: We moved locations of where we stayed and there was definitely a different spiritual atmosphere. I dreamed deeply prophetic dreams and spent more time in the Word but I had a hard time processing all that, so in turn I got into the bad habit of staying up late reading my Bible but also sleeping in late because our ministry started at 11am, unlike some of the other teams that were going to ministry at 8am.
This has definitely made me reflect on how each culture values rest. Cambodia deeply values their sleep and rest, and I think that we in turn learned to idolize our sleep. Thailand made me realize that the Lord will teach you how to rest properly if you only let Him, and South Africa awakened me to the realization that even though God is our Father, He can’t baby us all our lives and we have to continue to walk in the Spiritual disciplines and foster a good relationship with them. Life with the Lord is a daily yes and laying down your wants and desires, whether that be a few extra hours of sleep or less time with others around you so you can have more time with Him. He is worthy of every second of every day, so why aren’t we realizing this?
Stepping into Guatemala, I hope that I, and everyone around me, takes the full advantage of living life and life abundantly with the Father and truly dedicating every aspect of our lives to Him!
I hope this blog makes you think about what you are priotizing in your life, and if you are really taking the full advantage you have to grow in a deeper relationship with the Lord each and every day!
Blessings in Christ,
Gracie Yoder
P.S. I definitely didn’t write this in the bathroom after having 4 cups of coffee.
