rest

Rest for Weary Women’s Ministry Leaders + Podcast guest

/ Heather Davis Nelson / Leave a comment

I was honored to be featured on two great resources recently: an article at The Gospel Coalition and as a guest on Christine Chappell’s Hope+Help podcast. I’m including the links to both below.

As a women’s ministry leader, you’re an event planner, a teacher, a mentor, and a counselor. You’re on call when a woman is in crisis. You’re meeting with new moms, empty nesters, and women of every life stage in between. You’re developing discipleship programs to reach single, divorced, widowed, and married women. You’re planning Bible studies that are accessible for women whether they’re at home full-time or in the workplace. And added to all these ministry demands, you have your own responsibilities and cares.

The idea of rest isn’t new to you. You’ve probably encouraged other women to follow rhythms of rest, and you may have even organized a retreat on the topic. You’ve likely pointed women in your church to Jesus’s promise of rest in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But do you follow your own counsel?

As a ministry leader, you likely have more people leaning on you and looking to you for care than you have people who are caring for you. This reality can subtly reinforce the false belief that your needs are less important than those of the women you serve. But in your role’s unique demands on your time, energy, and inbox, you’re “heavy laden.” Christ’s invitation to rest is for you, not just for the women you serve. So how can you practically look to Christ for rest amid ministry demands? [to read the rest of the article, click here]

To listen to my podcast with Christine Chappell on “Hope + Help for Soul Refreshment”, click here.

How to Rest: Remember the Lord’s Goodness

/ Heather Davis Nelson / Leave a comment

Isn’t this good news for your soul this weekend? We can expect God’s gracious and compassionate welcome into the rest he has prepared for us, regardless of how frantic or hurried we’ve been throughout the week. Come join me on the journey of rest by reading along in my 31-day devotional, Rest: Creating Space for Soul Refreshment.

This meditation is taken from Day 18, based on Isaiah 30:18 (NIV):

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

The Beginning of Rest

/ Heather Davis Nelson / Leave a comment

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 

Genesis 2:2–3

Excellent stories have compelling beginnings. The story God tells in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, has a very good beginning. There is nothing, and then there is everything. Over six days, God speaks the entire cosmos into being—it is the most productive workweek imaginable. But what happens next is striking. God stops. Into his pattern of daily work, he weaves an entire day of rest. It’s a holy pause. 

Did God stop because he was tired? The work of creating an entire universe exhausted him, and he needed to catch his breath? Absolutely not. This is the God who needs “neither slumber nor sleep” (Ps. 121:4), who is all-powerful and all-creative, who possesses a well of infinite resources and strength from which to draw for all eternity. No, God rested because he knew the creatures he had made in his image—including you and me—would need rest. 

[To read the full article, click here to be redirected to P&R Publishing’s blog.]

My book is now available at Amazon in print, audible, or kindle editions.