Rest to Reset

Gosh, I am SO thrilled to pop into your inbox today to say…

I’M BACK!

Now, you may or may not have noticed, but it has been a while since I’ve last chatted with you. In fact, I’ve been pretty much entirely unplugged from social media and the virtual space ever since we flipped those calendars on over to 2021.

Gosh, Rachael, where have you been?

Well, it’s kind of a long story.

And I intend to share more about the “why behind” and “what I’ve learned from” my time away. (Because I think you’ll likely relate to some of the struggles I faced and may find value in the lessons and insights I gleaned through my emotional wrestling and “deep internal work” with God.)

But for today, here’s the long story short: the past couple of months I’ve been in…what I’ve been describing as…a “cocoon” phase. A God-inspired, God-motivated, and God-directed season of rest.

Now, let me be clear: this break for rest was one I definitely didn’t see coming, certainly didn’t plan for, and 100% didn’t ask for. 

In fact, when I initially heard God ask me to step into a time of rest (sometime mid-December), I was…somewhat hesitant.

Okay, let’s be real: I hardcore resisted.

For one, I felt like I couldn’t rest.

Rest? What do you mean rest? I can’t rest, God! I’ll get NOTHING done if I rest!

Rest felt like a luxury I couldn’t afford. It felt like the enemy of forward progress and growth, something I deeply longed.

And for two, I kinda feared rest.

I mean, if I stopped, would I ever be able to start up again? If I didn’t keep pushing forward, wouldn’t I fall behind?

I’ll be expanding upon those two points in my upcoming newsletters.

But bottomline?

God’s call to rest sounded unproductive and ludicrous. Yeah, that’d be nice; but surely, God has to be mistaken, I thought. 

I mean…

• How could I possibly step away from the ever-pressing, ever-growing list of to-do’s?
• Hello, what about that “very important” mission He had placed on my heart? Did he really want me to step away from the work He had called me to?
• What about making forward progress toward my goals? What about making those dreams and longings He had placed on my heart a “touch it, see it” lived out reality? Didn’t he want that for me? Didn’t that mean persevering ahead rather than slowing down to rest?

I didn’t want to rest. 

Rest meant disruption.

Rest meant slowing down for a pause. 

And I didn’t have time for that nonsense, I argued.

Yet, God held His ground.

Rest = A Need (Not a Luxury)

Back in December, God’s command for more rest in my life was persistent and unmistakably clear. As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew deep down it was what God had prescribed.

God always has our best interest in mind. So, after a few more huffs and puffs (and a whole bunch of “but I don’t want to’s”), I obeyed His request for rest, even though it felt completely counterintuitive (at least, at the time).

As I mentioned, I will be expanding more upon the lessons gleaned from my time of rest in coming weeks–things I believe will be helpful for you in your own journey, as well.

But for now, here is a quick video to give you a small taste of what drove me into my recent “time-out” with God.

Simply click the image below to have a listen.

PS: Be sure to check out the self-reflection questions below as well!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachael St. Germain (@rachaelstgermain)

Your Turn: You Do You