Life In Flux? Remember This Truth

“Everyone here loves you,” my boss said, “and I don’t know if you know what has happened in the last four to six weeks, but we’ve lost a ton of business,” he continued, before explaining that I was being laid off because there was no work for me to do.

I had experienced this before, so I knew what I had to do. I had to keep my emotions, pray, and get to work. Literally and figuratively.

I just need to buckle down, update my resume, boost my skill set, and figure this thing out, I thought, as I left the unexpected video call.

“I’m going to cry, pray, and obey,” I told a friend.

“Feel what you feel,” she said, “but you never know what God wants to do.”

Even though I was shocked and a little scared, I didn’t slow down to process any of that. I found my resume and started updating it.

“You may not have to work,” my husband said, calculating our income and expenses.

“Maybe,” I said, half-heartedly as I scoured LinkedIn and Indeed for new opportunities.

Two days after receiving the news, I had submitted seven to 10 applications. “Just submitted some applications,” I proudly told my husband.

“Nice, but take a week or two off and just rest,” he responded.

“Rest, what’s that,” I joked. “But seriously, I will. I just want to submit a few more first.”

That’s my MO. Resting after finishing—as if I were the creator and finisher of all things.

Is Your Life in Flux?

I repeated the pattern of resume refreshing and application submitting. When I wasn’t doing that, I was talking about cleaning, cleaning, or throwing myself into some freelance gigs I had going on. I also canceled all my subscription purchases. Hello Spotify ads. Bye-bye luxurious sleep app that measured the amount of light, deep, and REM sleep I got every night.

By the time the second Sunday after the news came around, I had submitted about 15 to 20 applications.

The Sunday service, like usual, was exactly what I needed. The worship team sang “Good Plans” by Red Rocks Worship and the pastor taught out of Revelation, which I had been studying in a Bible study group with friends. We were studying the seven letters, and he spoke of the seven bowls of wrath in chapter 16. Instead of focusing on the wrath, he focused on one key phrase repeated throughout the chapter: “did not repent.” Wow, despite everything happening, these people refused to repent.

That struck a chord with my own circumstances. No matter how hard I tried to make things happen, nothing did.

I tried to write. The words didn’t come.

I tried to read. My mind couldn’t focus.

I tried to clean. My body couldn’t muster up the energy to get it done.

I booked a trip to the mountains. The little town we traveled to had very little to do. I went outside and gazed at the once-in-a-lifetime-view. It was heavenly. The mountains and the crystal clear blue lake below.

You’re such an awesome Creator, I thought as a song from church popped into my head.

Everything I need

Everything I need

My Father has it.

My Father has it

And every single time

The Lord will provide

My Father has it

Yes, my Father has it.

So seek first the kingdom and its treasures

Everything else it will be added

All that I’m needing

Yes, I know the Lord will provide

That’s when it dawned on me—I thought I needed a job. God knew I needed rest.

God Wants to Help You—Just Give Him Room

Earlier this year, my husband’s work car was broken into. A few weeks later, he fell at work and injured his shoulder. When the pain didn’t subside, he was told to get an MRI. After visiting the doctor a few weeks later, we found out he would need surgery for that shoulder.

Right before that surgery, a family member told us some shocking and mind-blowing news that left us feeling betrayed. And now, I was laid off from my job.

Obviously, God was right—I needed rest. And not the shallow type of self-obsessed rest we call self-care. I needed rest for my weary soul.

I needed to be reminded that like Paul said, although “we are pressed on every side by troubles, we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8).

That’s the type of rest I needed—rest that reminded me I didn’t need to despair. And that rest can’t be found in the spa or on Amazon or even on a trip far away from home.

I knew where that rest was found—in slowing down and meeting with the Creator of all things.

As my mind finally figured out what my soul already knew, the words of Louie’s message lingered in my heart. And the people did not repent. Then Jesus’s words to the church in Ephesus reoccurred to me. You have lost  your first love.

Rushing around, trying to fix my problems in my own strength, caused me to forget to turn to the one who can actually solve my problems and provide me what I truly need. I was ashamed, but then I remembered who God is.

He’s merciful. Kind. Compassionate. Forgiving. And slow to anger.

God wasn’t mad at me; He was just missing me. And I was missing him too.

I logged out of LinkedIn, closed the computer and sat with God. And I’m not exaggerating when I say, I have and continue to experience peace that surpasses understanding.

Nothing in my life is peaceful but nature, but it is well with my soul and I am at peace.

I don’t know when the breakthrough will come but I am content and satisfied knowing that everything I need, my Father has it.

Why We Can and Must Rest
  1. We can rest because we aren’t actually controlling anything.
  2. We can rest because God will finish the good work He began in us.
  3. We must rest because burnout negatively affects our God given sense of wellness.
  4. We must rest because when we don’t, we risk forgetting our first love (church of Ephesus).
  5. We must rest so we don’t want to miss the good thing Mary found sitting at the feet of Jesus.
  6. We must rest so we learn to rely on God not ourselves. That’s how our faith grows deeper.
  7. We must rest because refusing to do so disobeys God. (John 14:15)
  8. Resting in God is the peace we’re looking for and what we truly need (Philippians 4:7).

With that said sis, rest and repent with me.

Let’s repent of our desire to try to do it all. And let’s rest in the fact that our Father has good plans for us and everything we need, He has. Rain will come and winds will blow, but Christ is our firm foundation.

We can rest.

So let’s come to Him and find rest for our anxious and weary souls.


Feel like you can’t catch a break (or your breath)? Psychotherapist and relationship coach Dr. Zoe has some advice: “Ask Dr. Zoe – I’m a Stay-at-Home Mom Who Never Gets Rest. What Do I Do?” 

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