By Rodetta Cook

Rodetta Cook has been a pastor’s wife for over 40 years. She and her husband, Ron, have actively served the Lord together in ministry during the entire time and are co-founders of Care for Pastors. She understands the expectations, loneliness and how hard it is to find balance in ministry as a pastor’s wife. Rodetta also leads the pastor’s wives initiative at Care for Pastors called The Confidante and ministers to hundreds of wives each week. She strives to share blogs with other pastors’ wives that will help them in their ministry walk.

Posted by Rodetta Cook

Topics: Balance · For Pastors' Wives · Resources for Pastors' Wives

It’s Okay to Rest

Monday, February 02, 2015

I would like to share an excerpt from Holley Gerth’s book If We Could Have Coffee. Oh, how we as pastor’s wives need to not only be reminded of this, but need to put it into practice.

It’s okay to rest. It’s even more than okay—it’s essential. I know you can feel as if there is so much to do, and a moment of quiet can feel like a dessert stolen and eaten in secret before anyone sees. There’s so much depending on you. How can rest be anything but selfish?

Yet rest is exactly what enables you to love well for a lifetime. I struggled with this for years until a friend gently laid her hand on my heart and whispered, “If you never get refilled, how will you be able to pour out?” You are not infinite. You are human. You have limits. Acknowledging that is not selfish; it’s worship. Rest says to God and to the rest of the world, “I know I’m not in charge. And I trust the One who is.”

Rest comes in many different forms. It can be quick snooze on the couch or a full night of sleep. It can be reading, laughing, or playing. It can be an attitude of your heart that chooses not to strive and worry even when you’re in the middle of a busy season. In all of that, you can honor God.

God doesn’t need you to complete your to-do list. He created the world in seven days simply by speaking. He doesn’t have any trouble getting things accomplished—with or without us. But what he has chosen for you and only you to be able to do is this: to love him, those around you, and yourself. Part of loving well is resting well.

We can find ourselves going at a frantic pace and never stop to ask, “What is driving me?” Often it’s fear, and that is not what God has for us. Instead of being driven by fear, he invites us to be led by love.

So pause, take a deep breath or even a nap if you dare, and in doing so show the world that you serve One who is kind and loving to those who belong to him. Because he lets them rest. He invites them to peace. He takes their to-do list and trades it for a to-be list that leads to joy.

You have permission to rest today!

I pray you will take this to heart today and remember we can’t pour out, if we don’t get refilled!