RestPost

Sounds good doesn’t it? Right about now, after almost a year of pandemic restrictions, I’m sure we could all use a rest —rest from incessant cleaning, hand washing and mask-wearing; rest from social distancing and not being able to see family and friends; rest from trying to keep the kids on track at school. You probably have your own list of additional things from which you would like to have rest.Rest was one of the words God gave me just a few weeks before all the COVID-19 restrictions started last March. At the time, I couldn’t really figure out why He had put that word in my mind and heart. Throughout 2020 I pondered it every once in a while, still wondering why God had given me that word. All through this past year, what kept me going was the thought that God was in control, and Jesus was in the darkness of the storm, right there in the boat with me, even when I couldn’t see Him. This was a truth we had learned in the Tuesday Morning Ladies Bible Study a few years ago. And I clung to that truth, along with the knowledge that family and friends have been praying for me and my dad on a regular basis.

Rest was one of the words God gave me just a few weeks before all the COVID-19 restrictions started last March. At the time, I couldn’t really figure out why He had put that word in my mind and heart. Throughout 2020 I pondered it every once in a while, still wondering why God had given me that word. All through this past year, what kept me going was the thought that God was in control, and Jesus was in the darkness of the storm, right there in the boat with me, even when I couldn’t see Him. This was a truth we had learned in the Tuesday Morning Ladies Bible Study a few years ago. And I clung to that truth, along with the knowledge that family and friends have been praying for me and my dad on a regular basis.

But since the new year 2021 started, I, like most other people, have been suffering from COVID fatigue. This has been exacerbated by the increasing challenge of caring for my father, who is 96 and suffers from dementia. Some of you will understand exactly what that is like, but for those of you who don’t, it kind of like caring for a child who is continually regressing instead of progressing. And in the midst of all this, I began to wonder, “What peace, Lord? How can I possibly have peace through all this?’

Our God is a gracious God, and He answers, even when we ask questions like that. His answer to me began with a hymn written back in the 1800’s. It was a hymn that had resonated with me when I first heard it at camp as a young teen. Here it is:

Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart
Thou has bid me gaze upon Thee
And Thy beauty fills my soul
For by Thy transforming power
Thou has made me whole

O how great Thy loving-kindness
Vaster, broader than the sea
O how marvelous Thy goodness
Lavished all on me
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved
Know what wealth of grace is Thine
Know Thy certainty of promise
And have made it mine

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus
I behold Thee as Thou art
And Thy love so pure, so changeless

Satisfies my heart
Satisfies its deepest longings
Meets, supplies its every need
Compasseth me round with blessings
Thine is love indeed

Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee
Resting neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory
Sunshine of my Father’s face
Keep me ever trusting, resting
Fill me with Thy grace

As I read through this hymn again, after so many years, the first thought that struck me was that I can only find the rest I was longing for in Jesus, not in any of the circumstances of my life. This is something we all know, at least in our heads, but it’s something else when a truth like this hits you between the eyes and says to your heart, “You MUST find your rest in JESUS.”

The next thing I realized from this hymn was that rest is inexorably linked with trust. To rest in Jesus, I MUST trust in Jesus. To trust in Jesus IS to rest in Him. And Jesus is completely trustworthy. The hymn reminded me that He is beautiful, able to transform me by His power, filled with loving-kindness for me greater than the deepest ocean, He lavishes goodness on me, He offers me a wealth of grace, He gives me certainty in His promises, He loves me with a love that is pure and changeless, and that satisfies the deepest longing and need of my heart. In short, He is all I need.

There are days when I forget, and look at my circumstances instead of resting in Him. But the prayer of my heart is “O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him. Lord keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with Your grace.”

By Virginia Gilbert

Virginia Gilbert has attended CompassPoint (when it was part of Park Avenue)from the age of 10 until she began her teaching career. She returned 11.5 years ago after 28 years of teaching.

She has recently served as a leader in Tuesday Morning Ladies Bible Study.

She has enjoyed singing in the choir and being part of worship and music ministries over the yearsand also fondly remembers serving as a Pioneer Girls guide.