Devotionals for the Heart: Rest

We Need Rest
A devotional by Heidy De La Cruz

The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 

–Exodus 33:14 (NIV)

As I was preparing to write this devotional, I kept thinking of different topics to address, and then I remembered that lately, I’ve been seeing “rest” or hearing about people taking time to rest.

There is a writer I follow who is taking a sabbatical for July. There is a Christian author and podcaster who is removing the Instagram app from her phone for the month of July to rest from social media. And a friend recently sent me a video on Instagram about the importance of rest. So, I started thinking, is God trying to tell me something?

Scripture talks about rest in different areas of the Bible. We know Jesus rested plenty of times during his time on Earth, and He even told his disciples to rest too. Let’s read Mark 6:31 (NIV): “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.”

As I mentioned, the concept of rest has been arising these past few days, so I’ve decided to organize my side-projects/business schedule and intentionally included two days out of the week to rest. My schedule will now look like this (outside my daily work schedule, by the way): On Mondays, I’ve declared my writing days. Whatever project, article, newsletter post, devotional, or client work I need to write will be done on Mondays. Tuesdays are dedicated to promoting my podcast. Wednesday is for the internship I’m currently doing, Thursday is a rest day, Friday is for editing my podcast, Saturday is a rest day, and Sunday is content creation day for the week.

Building or running a business, building a brand, podcasting, and writing takes a lot of energy, and our bodies get tired. We must remind ourselves to take a break, rest, and recharge. Our bodies need it! And if we don’t, our bodies will force us to take a break. We must follow the examples God gave us.

My encouragement today for you is to reevaluate your schedule. Check if you have rest intentionally scheduled in your calendar and if not, schedule it. We cannot always be on “go mode” because we’ll burn ourselves out. So, make sure you spend time resting!

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, I thank you for all the eyes reading this today. I pray that if there is anyone who may need rest, they are encouraged to rest today. Lord, thank you for our bodies, our gifts, and the talents that you have provided. Thank you that you’ve made rest for our bodies to recharge so we can continue the good work. I thank you so much for everyone reading this, and I pray that they find the rest they need. In Jesus’s Name, we pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest)” by Kari Jobe. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Heidy De La Cruz is daughter of Christ, a wife, and a mother. 

She writes poetry and encouraging spiritual blog posts.

Heidy shares her faith and life in hopes of encouraging women. She hosts the podcast, "The American Dream in The Eye of Immigrants" where immigrants share their stories about moving to the United States of America.

Heidy holds a master's degree in Healthcare Administration and bachelor's degree in Psychology. She works as a Medical Coding Specialist.

In her free time she enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, watching movies, and spending time with her husband and two kids.

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Connect with Heidy:
Blog: https://heidyreynoso.wordpress.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidy.delacruz13/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heidyreynoso13
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/intheeyesofimmigrantstheamericandream