rest Archives - Kristin Saatzer

A Time to Rest and Refuel

March 21, 2023 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

Lent looks different for me each year, but I always find my way to rest. Rest from the pressures of life, from social media, sugar, rest from my to-do list.

Sabbath. A beautiful word in the Jewish/Christian tradition from the Hebrew word Shabbat, which means to stop.

The Lenten season points us to the cross, a time to bring more of God into our hearts and minds. A season for our souls to pause for breath and catch up with our bodies. A beautiful break to refuel for the future.

It sounds lovely, doesn’t it? But of course, it will only come about if we put the brakes on our schedules, take some things off the calendar, say no to commitments, and intentionally make space for it to happen.

Purposeful rest requires purposeful action and intention.

After taking things off the plate, we can ask what fills my soul? For me, it is getting outside with a book, walking in nature, and laughing with my family. A Sunday afternoon with nothing scheduled. A morning without the alarm ringing. Beautiful moments in life to savor and cherish.

Room for Rest

April 6, 2022 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:30 and 31 NIV

This season, I am looking at Lent differently. Many in the Christian faith choose to observe Lent by fasting from something (meat, sugar, TV, social media…) in the weeks approaching Easter. I have often done the same. But this year, I have chosen to fast from my “to do” list. I am making room for rest, exchanging busyness for some time in quiet contemplation. As the pandemic numbers go down and the world opens up, it seems life is speeding up faster than I want it to.

I am weary. As I write, I am recovering from an illness that has hung on for eighteen months. I am learning to accept what my body can and cannot do, build margins around my health, and allow others to pick up my slack. I don’t like it, yet invincible I am not. So, I lean in. I transfer trust in my strength to my Savior’s.

In God’s word, we read how the Messiah repeatedly made room for rest; it was a priority in His ministry. He took His men away from the expectant demanding masses to recharge and He often got away by Himself.

We find an example of this in Mark, chapter 6. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to minister to the people of Galilee. He gave them His divine authority to preach, heal, and cast out demons. They returned to Him with accounts of their triumphs and the stories of God’s achievements. The crowds clamored to get to the Master and His men who needed rest and care after a busy time. So, the Savior insisted that they steal away together to refocus, recover, sabbath, and spend intimate time as a group.

I love that Christ implores us in His word to come to Him for rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIV. It’s like a holy permission slip. In fact, Jesus called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8.

Hebrews 4:9-10 NIV says, “There remains then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their work, just as God did from His.” This Lenten season is the perfect time for us, the people of God, to take as much off the “to-do” list as possible, follow the Savior’s example, and cease striving. Let us sit at His feet and fix our eyes and hearts closer than we ever have before on His death and resurrection.

Let us lean into God’s Sabbath rest.

“To enter our Sabbath rest, we must come to God in humble submission to His truth and in complete dependence on Him. In order to cease striving, we must transfer our trust away from our own abilities, our own accomplishments, our own strength, and place it on His provisions.”

Charles Swindoll, Jesus: The Greatest Life of All

Reflection:

Are you weary? Do you need to cease striving and take some things off your “to-do” list?
Write down ways you will build margin in your life this spring.

Thankful for Shingles?

November 26, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

Furiously working on a talk for a women’s retreat, I felt a weird sensation on my neck. The retreat was sixteen days away and I would be presenting five messages. This was talk number three. I loved the content: recharging through prayer, recharging by getting away, recharging by silence and stillness. Ahhh.

The next day, after returning from a walk, I noticed a red spot underneath my baseball cap. Thinking it might be staph (going around my son’s football team), I visited the doctor. Shingles was diagnosed. Shingles? I’m not old enough. Evidently I am.

Praying as I drove home from the doctor, it occurred to me that this bout of Shingles was most likely caused by stress and my lagging immune system.

This fall has been crazy. Non-stop. My spiritual cup hath runneth almost empty. The wonderful content I was focusing on for the upcoming retreat had become almost non-existent for me. Ironic. I was barely praying, nor was I being still in God’s presence. Instead, I was running around like a crazy woman. I wasn’t getting enough sleep and had an obnoxiously long “to-do” list.

I am usually intentional in this- remaining balanced and purposeful with my days, saying “no” sometimes, wanting to live deeply instead of wide. But this Fall, I’d let myself get spread too thin and pulled myself wide. So wide that it landed me in Shinglesville.

Yet, when I look back on this last month. I am filled with immense gratitude. Yes, Shingles is painful and draining and it stinks! But God and His mercy met me there in my need.

On the Fringe

October 14, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

With a writing idea brewing in my brain, my fingers touched the keyboard. I paused, asking God to speak to me and through me as I usually do.

Breathing deeply, I sighed as I looked at my screen.

I’m tired. Spent. Oversensitive and on the fringe between functionality and a semi-catatonic state. Maybe I’m not alone? Thus, I’m feeling like the Lord wants me to share about this today instead of my original idea.

My schedule and that of my people’s is cooking this fall. On top of this, three of my sons have been sick, one with a funky infection that almost landed him in the hospital. My output exceeds my input and it shows.

Do you relate? Are you on the fringe of your own? Tired? Too busy?

Let this verse speak to you – breathe it in:

Jeremiah 31:25
“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

To get off the fringe, I’m going back to the basics. I go back to Him who refreshes the weary and satisfies the faint. I take the time to rest and go to bed earlier. I check my schedule and take out what I can. Delegate. Simplify.

Let this verse sink deeply. Let it travel to the place where peace and rest awaits.

Examine your plate and I will do the same:

~Is it overflowing with too many “to do’s”?

~What can I take off my too-full plate?

~How can I invest in more time with God to study His peace-giving Word?

~What changes can I make in my time budget to get more rest?

~Is there a friend whom I can share my burden with? Someone who can pray for me?

I would love to pray for you, friend. Feel free to leave your request in the comments of this blog or message me through my website.

Let’s join hands, breathe deeply and step out of the fringe together.

Synonyms for fringe: periphery, edge, rim, verge

Antonyms: center. inside, stable margin