Is rest possible for moms?
You dream of a calm, orderly home environment and cooperative children. You pray and plan for peace and simplicity. You work hard to serve your family and teach them to serve others.
However, your reality is filled with physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, and emotional overwhelm. Perhaps you are plagued with fear that you’re not really enough for your children. Perhaps there’s minimal margin in your life, no space to breathe. Perhaps factors beyond your control prevent the rest you desperately crave.
Sure, you know what the Bible says. God created us with a need for rest and modeled rest on the seventh day of Creation. In the Ten Commandments, He commanded His people to honor the Sabbath. Jesus encouraged Martha to be like Mary, offered to give rest to those carrying His yoke, and even slept in the midst of the storm.
The truth of the Bible speaks one message, but the reality of your life screams another. You feel trapped between your call to work to serve your family and your call to rest as daughter of the King.
You are not alone.
If you’re tempted to believe rest is impossible, you’ve come to the right place. I face that temptation frequently, often countless times in a single day. But I refuse to give in to the temptation. I’m on a journey to relentlessly pursue the rest Jesus offers. My unexpected writing career starting with a simple instruction: Tell your story. So that’s what I do. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. God has delivered me from many struggles, so I have many stories to tell. My stories are wrapped in His Word because He is my source of restful victory.
My desire is to help you cultivate victorious rest too. Not the superficial rest of taking a mere break, but an all-consuming, deep-in-your-soul confidence that God is always victorious. My blog posts, devotions, and resources are all designed to help us cultivate victorious rest. You’ll find encouragement for parenting, chronic illness, homeschooling, depression, leadership, anxiety, classical education, and much more. I share the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of my life – the struggles I know are shared by many of you.
But I always point us back to Jesus, our source of victorious rest.
Chronic Battles
My family has homeschooled for ten years. I could tell that story simply through the disruptions and struggles we have encountered through the decade: my years with autoimmune disease, one child’s struggle with learning challenges, a raging war in my mind with depression and anxiety, a near-fatal pregnancy, my mom’s battle with cancer. Not to mention the daily sibling squabbles, messes and mistakes, and tearful tantrums (and it’s not always from the kids). Yes, life is full of chronic battles, but I refuse to surrender to them.
Tenacious Worship
I have found one strategy to cultivate a restful heart in the midst of the constant struggles. Tenacious worship. The real battle I’m facing is spiritual, and only Jesus is victorious. So I will praise Him. I will magnify His Name. Tenacious worship is not pretty. Tenacious worship is painted with tears and crying out to God. This is my way of refusing to surrender to defeat. I will trust that Jesus is victorious. As I worship, my focus shifts from the battle to my all-victorious Jesus.
Victorious Rest
Only Jesus brings victorious rest. I still struggle, but I’m living proof that His rest is real. My heart is slowly being transformed to trust and rest – in the midst of the battle. Jesus offers rest to you, mom, in the midst of your battles.