I know you think I have probably spent too much time on the lake fishing to come up with this title! However, this is exactly what God has been teaching me this year, especially this summer as I wait for the contingencies to come off our house sale and wait for a home to come on the market that we like in Bend, Oregon.

In this season as so many in my life I need to:

Catch the promise for my need,Release the need to Him and thenRelaxwhile I wait in confidence for Him to lead and provide.

“Relax” means “to become loose or less firm, to have a milder manner, to be less stiff.”

What happens when we worry? If you are anything like me you tense up. I carry my tension in my neck and shoulders. When I have pain there I know I am “carrying” something I shouldn’t. I have to consciously loosen my grip on my problem. However in order to do that I need to substitute my worry for the truth of who my provider is and what He promises.

To rest, we have to trust that God will take care of things for us.

For the Christian, the ultimate rest is found in Christ. He invites all who are “weary and burdened” to come to Him and cast our cares on Him (Matthew 11:28;1 Peter 5:7

We must chooseto depend solely on God, to trust Him implicitly, to yield totally to the promises of God. This is what He wanted the children of Israel to do who followed Moses out to the dessert and away from captivity in Egypt. But they did not rest. Instead they murmured and complained and sort of freaked out over what they left behind and what they could not see. God considered their lack of faith as rebellion.

Hebrews 3

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

    on the day of testing in the wilderness,

9 where your fathers put me to the test

    and saw my works for forty years.

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

    they have not known my ways.’

11 As I swore in my wrath,

    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

Rest or Rebellion, it really is that simple. Our loving father desires that we trust Him.

In Proverbs 3 we read:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh[b]

    and refreshment[c] to your bones.

When you go on vacation and really relax don’t you feel refreshed? That same refreshment, that revitalization comes to us right in the middle of our homes and work places when we catch the promise, release our hold and relax. When we trust God and obey, even when it does not make sense in the natural we will find healing and refreshment in our bodies, mind and spirit.

This week as I asked God for a word to still my anxious heart he gave me Psalm 37:3-5 and 37.

“Trust in the Lord and do good: Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord”

Trust in Him also and He will do it.

34 Wait for and expect the Lord and keep His way,

And He will exalt you to inherit the land.

Trust, delight, commit and wait with expectancy. This brings relaxation and peace. Your situation is different than mine. However for every situation and circumstance that causes us stress exchanging the problem for the promise, releasing it to the Lord and relaxing in His arms will serve us well.

Blessings,

Irene