TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. (Exodus 20:9-10a NKJV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Recently, on Instagram, Max Lucado summed up the command about the Sabbath this way: “God’s message is plain: If creation didn’t crash when I rested, it won’t crash when you do.”
I just love the way he words things!
Learning to rest has been an important lesson for me this year… not necessarily because I think the world will crash if I do, but because 1) I genuinely like to work and 2) there’s always something that needs to be done.
After years of working seven days a week, I have been taking Sabbath days for almost six months; It’s a lesson that has tied in beautifully with my 2022 Word of the Year, “Worship.”
This brings me to a decision… I’m going to rest from My Grace-Full Life for the rest of the year. With very few exceptions, I’ve written every day for almost six years. I am hesitant to call it a “sabbatical” because I believe that term applies to ministry leaders. Nonetheless, what I have been thinking about is a time to recharge and study and regroup. So it’s similar to the idea of a sabbatical… and I need to do that.
It felt like a really selfish decision. But this feels like a good time to do it… For the same reason as needing to recharge, I’ve recently resigned from my writing role at the community magazines for which I’ve been writing for the last 15 years, which includes the “My Grace-Full Life” monthly column I’ve been writing since 2017… the goal from that resignation is to rest, regroup, and move on to a different kind of writing — some ideas that I want to begin working on later next year.
I’ve been so fortunate that I have a career I love. My day job is truly my dream job, and my personal business is something I absolutely enjoy doing. And I love My Grace-Full Life… which is what makes resting so hard.
But I’ll be back on January 1st.
Until then, I pray you will have a wonderful Christmas season with your family and friends. I hope you, too, will reflect on the blessings God has given you and truly ponder what the birth of Christ means… the perfect infant born to be the perfect sacrifice. Christmas is here because Easter is coming…. The birth of Jesus was our loving God’s first step toward the cross so we can have eternal life when we give our lives to Jesus Christ….
And when we do, He has promised to give us rest.
Today, as you pray, thank Jesus for the chance to rest. Thank God for designing the Sabbath because He knows what we need even more than we do!
And please know that you’ll be prayed for on my end, and I look forward to “seeing” you in 2023!
SHARING ••• My Grace-Full Life is written by Denise Heidel. You are welcome to share anything I write, but please credit my writing and graphics accordingly. Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. Subscribe through my website to have My Grace-Full Life delivered to your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the NKJV translation.
