R…REAL “Sabbath talk” is popular right now…to talk about resting (taking time away to be with your family or just alone), but it never really happens. We are always e-mailing, texting and using helpful stuff like facebook, iphones, and ipods. The icing on the cake is constant running around to activities…for nearly all of this, this is distracting and contrary to rest.

Personally, I just cannot HEAR GOD if my rest is not real. I need a TRUE turning from the world to stop. I have to stop repeating the mantra “I need to rest”, by actually doing it. Because I am immature, often God has to teach me by allowing sickness where I HAVE TO REALLY REST.

E…ENERGETIC Actively doing “something”…the word “DECOMPRESS” is a verb. I love this concept that as I rest I am actively growing in my faith. The  discipline of rest will show its fruit quickly. I always thought of “rest” as passive but when it’s done as a “spiritual discipline”, it is extremely active and purposeful.

It’s ACTIVE because confession to God energizes, reconciliation with God inspires, and wisdom from God awakens your soul- powerfully! Your mind is clearer, your spirit refreshed and you are drawn to God, not away from Him. You are on the move.

S… STILL This happens in quietness and solitude. You are listening…fasting from noise. Silence can be unsettling. For most women, (unless you are accustomed to it), it can be unnerving.

Ask Yourself  truthfully, “Am I afraid to be quiet? Alone? Not doing something others see as “important”? Here’s the glory of this…once you move through that realization and sit with God, peace will slowly steal over you.

SO MANY of us are afraid of the silence because we know we have to either face God or turn away from Him. I can listen or ignore. This is probably why we have to be brave and jump in and look GOD straight in the Face during these times of stillness. I Have to ask Him for cleansing and for the enablement to be still. We want to grow.

One of my favorite books is Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence...a monk who cleaned pots and pans, yet worshiped GOD fully in every moment. I want to live like that.

T… TIME For many, this is the hardest discipline of all….time that will never be returned to you and that connot be shown to others to validate.

But God will see and He is the REWARDER of secret disciplines. By faith, I trust the LORD to “do” the important tasks that I think are needful and important. In the words of my husband and a friend, you choose “who you disappoint”. I give time to an invisible God , perform secret service in my primary jobs with my husband and children, and taking quiet care of myself-spiritually, physically, and emotionally. If these areas are healthy, my life is rich and overflowing….and I am HAPPY.

Tristie Fisher, Grace Bible Church, January 2010