I took my own advice from last week’s column. If you missed it, in last week’s column I talked about how to enter a new chapter in your life. Change comes to all our lives in various ways. I offered a few thoughts about how to walk through those changes.

            One of my pieces of advice was to rest. When we face change in our lives, we often find ourselves burning the candle at both ends. We are running here, going there. How can we effectively and efficiently make the new changes if we are worn out? If we can rest before the change, that’s great. But I believe that many times we need some time to rest after a major change in our lives.

            Think about it. We take honeymoons as newlyweds. Mothers and sometimes fathers are given some time off after the birth of a child. We also take time off work when we lose a loved one. We need time to deal with the change in our lives.

            So I disconnected last week and allowed myself to rest. I gave myself permission to rest. It’s hard to give ourselves permission because there is so much that needs to get done. I got some extra rest. I discovered something by the end of the week. The smoldering coals in my life had been gathered together. Then I felt God breath on them. The coals came back to life. There was a little flame. It wasn’t a roaring fire, just a little flame of renewed life.

            When I felt this little awakening happening within me, I discovered something else. I was hungry. You know how you feel when you first wake up. I was hungry for the Word of God and the presence of God. Although I had been maintaining my quiet time daily, there was a deeper hunger for more.

            I have plenty of Boy Scout experience with a campfire. If you can find some smoldering wood, you ought to be able to coax it a little and get the fire going again. You have to gather all the warmest embers together and then you blow very gently on them. If you do it right, they should begin to glow. As the heat gathers around the embers and you continue to gently blow, there will be small flame that develops.

            You have to be ready for this moment. You have to have some dry kindling ready to add slowly as you get the first flames. The little kindling catches fire easily, and if you are patient and keep the kindling coming you can slowly add bigger pieces. It takes a little while, but if you are patient you will soon have a roaring fire going once again.

            I believe it works the same way with our body, mind, and spirit. We keep pushing ourselves through the big changes in our lives. Our bodies can put up with some abuse for a period of time, but then we have to give ourselves a chance to rest. We need the opportunity to recuperate and become refreshed.

            Reading a good book, watching a movie, or going for a long walk are all things that allow me to rebuild and feel renewed. Each of us does that process differently, but we all know ourselves and what helps us find the place of renewal. We have to get the embers started and allow Him to breath on us.

            I felt the fire beginning to stir and made a mistake. I started to push myself again. I forgot my Boy Scout training. Rekindling is a slow process. I want to get moving, but God isn’t finished helping me rest. I want to get some deeper insights from heaven, but He wants me to be still and know that He is God. He wants me to be filled again with His love. I need to let His Spirit envelop me, to hold me close and renew me.

            I want to encourage you to stir up a hunger in your spirit for more of God. It’s hard, but sometimes we need to slow down and rest in His arms. His plan is for seasons of rest, to allow His Spirit to refresh us. He does have good plans for our future, but they include resting and getting ready for what He has planned. We aren’t missing something by slowing down, we are getting something. I know it’s hard to rest, but it’s important to be obedient. We need to let God refresh us so we can fulfill His purposes in our generation.

Contact Doug at doug@dougcreamer.com