Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

Genesis 2, 1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all of His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.

Welcome to the Bridgeway Christian Church Daily Advent Devotional for Tuesday, December 10th. My name is Morgan Ritchie, and I serve as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for Soul Care Counseling Leadership at Bridgeway. Today I'm going to talk about peace through rest.

And on the seventh day God rested. But what do you think He did when He rested? Was He simply not working? Is He taking a nap? Is He listening to classical music? Is He ordering out so that He doesn't have to cook and do dishes at night? As humans, resting is complicated. It feels like it should be the easiest thing that we do and the thing that comes most naturally.

But nothing can be farther from the truth. As a mom and wife and therapist, weekends or keeping a Sabbath is often challenging. On weekends you can find me getting my toddler ready for church, thinking about the emails that I have to reply to on Monday, passively thinking about treatment plans, and desperately trying to focus on being intentional with my little family to soak in the precious moments.

No wonder rest is a challenge. Even as a therapist, I wonder if I'm doing a good enough job at practicing what I teach my clients, which is to rest and be present in the moment. Please tell me I'm not alone.

How many times have we been sitting at home all weekend or taken those vacation days just to feel at the end no more rested than when we started? It can be a very demoralizing feeling. There are so many different types of rest and different ways each fill those different categories for rest. There's physical rest, emotional rest, spiritual rest.

It can be hard to know what helps us feel rested in our body, mind, and soul. In the season of Christmas, it's easy to feel our battery getting zapped, whether from feeling the pressure to make it the season as magical as possible, or because of our season of life we just feel like we're trying to survive it. Rest is something we often try to create on our own with white knuckles, to feel an ounce of refreshment and peace.

Leaning into the words of John 15 5, If we hear those words and the necessity behind them, then true rest is also something apart from Jesus we cannot do. which all other forms of rest have a chance to take root. So for a moment, I invite you to sit back, take a sip of your coffee or tea, close your eyes, and take three slow, low breaths.

Drop your shoulders and relax with me. With your eyes still closed, I invite you to visualize sitting by a body of water on a bench. Beside you on the bench is Jesus.

Taking hold of the hand of your Savior, he says to you, Come sit with me. I see you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11 28-30 With a long, low, slow breath, in and out, and in and out. Open your eyes. My prayer for each one of you listeners is that you spend time with your Jesus, abiding in him.

In the season of merry and bright, that rest for your soul would be a blessing that sits on your lap like a present, just waiting to be unwrapped and accepted as a refreshing gift. That whether you need physical, emotional, or spiritual rest, that you would know that there is a God who beckons you to rest and models that rest for you, so that you may be filled up with his goodness and your strength renewed through him. Amen.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai