How Sabbath Rest Restores Us Physically and Spiritually
Welcome my friend, Rachel Fahrenbach to the blog today. Rachel has been on a journey to discover what true rest looks like for her and her family. She just wrote a book about it. Rest and Reflect, a 12 Week Guided Sabbath Journal is the help you didn’t know you needed. The journal takes you through weekly prompts to help you understand your identity and the beauty of Sabbath rest. You guys, rest was God’s idea!!! It’s okay to rest!
WORN OUT
I can’t remember what shoes I was wearing, but I do remember the clutter on the floorboard of the truck at my feet: the plastic bag of items to return to Hobby Lobby, the wrappers from the Lara bars we had eaten quickly on the way to church stacked in a pile to be tossed later, and my purse tossed into the truck with my frustration. They are clear in my memory, as clear as the memory of the clutter of emotions I felt that day.
I had stormed out of our small church angry with every person sitting in the pews and retreated to our truck to wait for my husband to emerge from the congregational meeting. The sun had warmed the passenger seat, but instead of relaxing into that comfort, I continued to sit on edge mulling over the ways I felt overwhelmed, stressed, taken for granted, rejected, and forgotten.
Eventually, the warmth from the sun did it’s trick and I fell asleep. Because the truth was, while I was angry with a decision that had been made by our church’s leadership, I was mostly just tired in more ways than one.
Unfortunately, that moment was just the beginning of a three-year-period in my life where I lived in a constant state of exhaustion, and that exhaustion robbed me of a stabilizing peace and joy. It would be easy to blame my exhaustion on having three kids under 5 (one of which was an adopted newborn), but the truth was that life just got hard from that point on. I was exhausted in every sense of the word. Mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
I was a mess. A tired, worn out, joy-less mess.
SABBATH REST
From time to time, I would get moments to myself. These times of self-care and soul-care helped, but they were always over with too soon and only sustained me for so long. So, when the conversation about Sabbath was brought up during our small group (at a new church we had finally settled into), I was more than ready to have it. I felt the need to stop and rest in my very bones but I didn’t know how to do it. The world seemed to be falling apart in seven days, so how in the world was I going to keep it together with just six? I was barely holding it together as it was, if I stopped even for a moment, I thought that I would become so far behind it would be catastrophic.
Listening intently the answers my small group offer to the question of “how do you rest?” I was struck by the fact that they were hesitant to take a day to rest as well. We talked about the difference between self-care and soul-care and our endless to-do lists. We discussed what qualified as restful and if that was “spiritual” enough to qualify for a Sabbath rest. And then I felt a stirring in my spirit that questioned “What if we’re missing the point? What if there’s more to rest than just taking the day off?” This question prompted a deep dive into the scriptures, traditions, and various opinions about Sabbath.
I began to see Sabbath for what it truly is, a desire by my Creator to spend time with me for my good, and everything changed. My family started practicing a weekly rhythm of stopping, not perfectly but with intentionality. Recognizing that God seeks to love and care for the whole individual, we sought to include various aspects of self-care and soul-care into this practice.
What I didn’t expect to happen, but what I believe God has known all along, is that when I stopped to rest weekly, I leaned into trusting God with my life and in doing so regained a piece of my identity: intimately known and cared for by my Creator. I noticed a shift in my heart, bitterness falling away, and joy returning. And then others started noticing it as well.
Life didn’t get any easier, in fact in the time since we started practicing a weekly rhythm of rest and reflection, we’ve lost my mother-in-law, we miscarried, and then the world shut down with a global pandemic. But, that stabilizing peace and joy that I was missing five years ago? It hasn’t gone away. It has only deepened with each Sabbath rest.
While it seems counter-intuitive to stop, it is wisdom given by God for our well-being. It is a gift wrapped up in a commandment. Perhaps, it’s time for you to receive that gift in your own life. Perhaps, it’s time for you to stop and rest.
Let’s pray.
Dear Papa, Thank you for the provision you’ve made for me to rest. Even You rested on the seventh day. You placed rest there so I could learn from You. Thank You for the gift of rest. Renew my mind and reveal truth about rest. Help me let go of the limiting thoughts I have about rest. Open my heart and help me lay aside the striving so I can be refreshed by you. Amen
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RACHEL FAHRENBACH is a storyteller learning to embrace her unique design. She invites you to do the same by using the gift of Sabbath as a guide for discovering your sense of identity, purpose, and belonging. Rachel offers encouragement and resources for implementing a weekly Sabbath practice and growing in your identity in Christ at rachelfahrenbach.com. Rest & Reflect: 12-Week Guided Sabbath Journal is Rachel’s first publication and is designed to help you implement a rhythm of rest and reflection in your week. It is available for purchase on Amazon. Rachel and her husband live in the Chicagoland area with their three kiddos.
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