Category: God’s truth

Walking Each Other Home (Valentine Giveaway)

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It’s Valentine’s week again.  

As I consider the hype surrounding America’s most romantic holiday, I wonder how many of you find yourself disenchanted with love itself.  

After the freshness of romance has worn off, sometimes before the honeymoon has ended, we are left with dashed expectations, hopes, dreams. 

Sounds lovely doesn’t it?! 

Lowell and I will celebrate our 23 anniversary this year.  And while the years have definietely been filled with a lot of hard, we are super blessed as well!  

I could prattle on and on about what I have learned and where I have failed in my marriage. 

I won’t bore you. 

It’s quite simply boils down to this…

Marriage is the daily process of laying down self, our expectations and how we think things should be. 

It is taking up God’s agape love for our spouse. 

I recently heard Agape love referred to as “the process of walking one another home”.  Isn’t that a neat thought?

How do we do that well?

I’ve had several conversations again lately that have reminded me how much we as married couples have in common.  

Our struggles may differ in intensity, but we all struggle.  

I haven’t met a marriage yet who claimed to be stress free. 

Also, I am convinced that there is strength in community when we can be open, honest, vulnerable with others about what we may be experiencing in our marriages. 

James 5:16 says “Therefore confess your faults to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  While James may not have specifically been referring to marriage, I see this as perfectly applicable to the state of our unions. 

If your marriage is in a good place, use that time to pray for others who may need healing and completeness in their marriage!  

After 2 plus decades of learning all about the nitty gritty of marriage, the one defining thread woven through all stages, has been the reminder and motivation to pray for Lowell. Godly women I admire have stopped me in the midst of grump sessions to ask me the tough question, “Have you talked to God about this?”

GIVEAWAY TIME!

In honor of this blessing, I am doing a giveaway here!  Stormie Omartian wrote a powerful book called “The Power of a Praying Wife” .  If you’d like a chance at a copy of your very own, simply leave a comment here on dorothymiller.com telling me a favorite way your spouse blesses you. 

I will draw a winner on Valentines day. 

I pray blessing on your path as we all walk each other home.

Thankful for the Locusts

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So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.  

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,  And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you;  And My people shall never be put to shame.  

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:  I am the Lord your God and there is no other. Joel 2:23-25 NKJV

I have always loved writing and began blogging as a means of recording “God sightings” in our family’s day to day moments. Those who know me well, know me as the hopelessly addicted to picture taking, post to social media freak.  I have always said that’s proof of the good times. 

After grief came, I wondered if the sun would ever shine again. Would good times grace our lives again?

We’d walked through infertility.   

Grief visited then too, but in a different way. 

I grieved what I perceived as wasted years.  

Afterall, didn’t God put the desire in me to be a mommy? 

Seasons changed.  

I always picture God giggling as He blessed us with 4 babies in 4 years. 

I was finally living the life I was destined for.  

His plan however was different than mine, when he called our Abby back to heaven unexpectedly after 3 short years here.     

My knowledge of grief was suddenly obsolete. 

I struggled with remembering God’s goodness when grief came.  From my point of view, the locust called grief destroyed all the joy we had known, leaving life bland, empty. 

As I have thought more in depth about the locusts, Job 2:10 kept coming to mind.  I love how it reads in the amplified Bible. “Shall we indeed accept only good from God and not also accept adversity and disaster?”  Job had just lost everything and I mean EVERYTHING, his home, his livestock, his crops, his kids.   Now Satan was attacking his physical body as well. His wife, bless her grieving heart, advised him to curse God and die.  (There’s a whole nother lesson for another day…) The verse ends with an admonition that still issues challenge for us thousands of years later.  “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” 

He trusted that the God who had blessed him richly would take care of him during hardship and extreme adversity and loss. 

Same for me.

Despite my wrestling and many questions, God stayed close, constantly revealing himself as the faithful God he is.

Since then, my goal has been to make the best of messy, and to focus on God’s restoration of joy, even in our broken and to encourage others to do so also. 

Times & Seasons

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“And the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10 NIV”

Today is not only the start of a brand new day, but a brand new season for me. Through an extended period of illness for me, we made the decision as a family to put both our daughters into the public school. Having known nothing else but the homeschooling I have done for almost a decade, I feel a little lost when I get up in the morning, even though I still home school my 7th grade son.

As I look back on our journey, I see very clearly how God’s divine hand led us to and through the places we’ve been. I did not set out to home school. But after many years of infertility and also having worked as a teacher’s assistant I went gung ho into the process.

It was indeed the best yes for our family’s season as we grieved the sudden loss of Abby. Grief can not be hurried or placed on a time table. We were able to putter about and do what needed doing in that time.

Back to the present…I have always loved writing and for as long as I can remember have written. I come from a heritage of writers. My grandfather was a devout Amish man who from my earliest memories sat holed up in his office pecking away at a manual typewriter writing for the Family Life magazines he founded or the Amish newspaper, the Budget. As a young child I pondered how one could possibly spent all that time tucked away.

I get it now. It’s in my blood.

My uncle Ira is soon releasing his second book after his first called “Growing up Amish” became a New York Times best seller. Along the way I’ve picked his brain and he’s always been super encouraging.

Both men are my inspiration.

Over the years, I have had much encouragement to write. As I have spent time exploring God’s call on my life, it has become apparent that writing may just be a piece of that puzzle.

Though I don’t yet know if me writing is for the greater good, or simply for my own healing and encouragement. I do know God has offered me the gifts of time, a support network, and a small platform where I can make my mark on my world, all gifts I can not refuse.

Our guest speaker at church yesterday, John Troyer, spoke directly into my vision. He talked of being plucky and asked us to raise our hands if we saw ourselves as that. Only one or two did. He then went on to explain that plucky is defined as “having or showing determined courage in the face of difficulties” I was to intimidated to raise my hand but after church my sweet husband questioned me about if I had raised my hand. At my reply, he stated quite abruptly that plucky defines me perfectly.

John explained how we are all pretty much created fully and completely average. Reassuring, isn’t it? But then we all have an assignment from God that is not limited by those around us. He finished by challenging us to remember that pluckiness keeps going and how each of us must allow God’s dream to be planted in us.

So, today, with my dream in hand I set out on a new adventure. It may seem a little scary and a whole lot intimidating, but I have a finished manuscript that has already passed several editing processes and just needs me to be brave enough to write an actual proposal, so I can get it published. I choose to embrace my new season with joyful anticipation because I know who’s with me.

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged….Deuteronomy 31:8”

And If Not

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I’ve been sitting on these 3 small, seemingly insignificant tittles of our English language for quite some time. Continued notions zoom by as I have played them over and over intertwining them with the plaguing unanswered questions that seem to be on constant replay.

I have noted myself to be a person of contrast, sometimes gullible and easily swayed, yet firmly grounded in what I have found to be truth.

My parents taught me about prayer at a young age, a gift I cherish and enjoy to this day. They showed me God’s personal side, and his love for us, his beautiful creation, and how very much He pays attention to the small details in our lives.

As I have grown older, I find myself somewhat callous and honestly, at times, questioning. Do my prayers matter? Is God really who he says he is? Is Heaven real?

The heavy load of grief has saddled many a dear soul close to me, including my own.

Sometimes I find myself wondering why we even pray for healing, financial miracles or restoration of a marriage.

Did I just say that out loud?

Recently though I was reminded of the why we do exactly that.

A sweet friend recently lost her husband to a brutal brain tumor. On the post announcing his passing, the one line caught my eye. Through my tears, I have gone back to it several times. “although our hearts are broken, we rejoice with him that our prayers for complete healing were answered…”

God did not close his ears to the prayers of healing for this man, he just answered them in a different way then hoped.

Heaven is perfection, complete healing. Whereas staying here presents the reality of continued pressures, problems and pain.

While seasons may bring us to different places in our thought processes, the reality of our foundation is God’s faithfulness and knowledge of what we truly need most.

He invites us to ask the most difficult questions with the assurance that his shoulders are big enough to handle them.

His call to us is simple yet profound.

In Matthew 17 he says, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

He, sweet friend, is bigger and more capable then the what we see as unanswered prayers and every “and if not” moment we face.

All I Want For Christmas

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This past year I enrolled in a fabulous writing course which has opened up a whole new world for me. As I have hungrily devoured each lesson, repetitive encouragement has been to “find my voice”. As I have started to find bits and pieces of that answer, fear has intimidated my inner soul.

What if people don’t like “my” voice?

What if my story is not unique enough to make a difference?

What if I am not able to be true to the calling God has etched in my heart?

The past 2.5 years have seemed to play out on repeat. As I peruse the stuff I’ve penned in that time much of it has similar tones of questioning, sickness and pain. But in the masses of words, I also see the promises of a better tomorrow and of God’s faithfulness.

We are in a season.

Since grief came, I sometimes wonder if the seasons of hard stuff will ever cycle around and bring happier times again? According to the Bible it’s got to. Ecclesiastics says “to everything there is a time and a season…”

The past weeks have had me wondering if the season of sickness for me will ever end. For the 3rd year in a row, my illness is preventing our Christmas trip to see my family in the sunny south.

Day after day I continue to feel poorly, fight fevers and infection and miss out on things I really want to be apart of. It’s made me quite grumpy really. Ask my family.

As I think about finding my voice and ultimately honoring God with my life, I keep coming face to face with the compelling reality of speaking about God and his love for me, even when the season is long and hard and boring. After all it’s not my words that need saying, but His. And His words will not go out void.

So as I pen out my thoughts, I must align them with His. Instead of wallowing in self pity, I must instead reflect on His blessings. This thought process changes my perceived needs.

While I could write a list a mile long of all the things I think I want and even need, I will chose simple instead.

Help me to cherish the moments.

Help me to be truly thankful.

Help me to be smack dab in the center of your perfect plan for me.

What Matters Most

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2019 has been a year of changes in our household.  

Many have been major and more life affecting then we could have ever imagined. 

I must confess that I care too much about what others think about our life, so my anxiety has heightened in the process. 

I’m learning change isn’t always bad.  Sometimes it is the healthiest of choices. 

A plant can not become the beautiful green we see without change. 

Growth isn’t easy and is definitely not pain free. 

Leaving our church home of many decades topped the list of difficult change.  Lowell has referred to the process as more difficult than death. It has been a type of death, of life plans and dreams. Issues still unresolved bring harsh reminders, but God gifted us with His beautiful peace and strong awareness that our family is exactly where He wants us. 

My health has continued to be a challenge. I ended up with a hysterectomy, a partial thyroidectomy, continuing sinus infections, and will end the year with dentures (yes…at the age of 44) all of which are major changes. What really matters is that I am much better off without the diseased parts. The dentures are the most challenging, but I have been told the long term teeth issues are most likely at least part of the reason for the ongoing headaches and sinus infections. Even though, I haven’t felt the greatest and am back on meds that mess with my gut majorly, God continues to be faithful. 

Most recently we made a family decision that will change our lives dramatically.  The girls decided they want to go to “real” school and mom and dad decided to oblige.  Having homeschooled our whole family life and anticipating doing so to the end, threw me for a loop.  With the learning struggles our children have all had, my emotions have vacillated between anxiety at the job I have done as a teacher and not having them where I “want” them and joy at seeing their excitement. While I am sure there will be stresses yet unseen and hurdles they’ll have, I am blessed they have a good place where they already have friends, for them to start this different part of their journey even though it means mom has to learn a whole bunch of stuff she knows nothing about like bus schedules and lunch accounts.  What really matters is that my girls have had some really cool relationships that have readied them for this season. And they have God and his care and love guiding them. 

Another funeral for a younger (50ish) man from our church has reminded me again of how short life is.  All of us face difficulties and stresses. While I may sound like a broken record, each day is a gift. Living it to the fullest and doing so for the God who created it and us is what really matters most. 

5 Tips For Cultivating Gratitude

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In a study noted at Harvard, psychologists found that giving thanks can actually make you happier. They also found gratitude helpful for people focusing on what they had, instead of what they lacked. 

As fall turns to winter, shorter amounts of daylight breed depression for many.

Instead of succumbing to the negative, why not try gratitude instead?

#5. Write a thankyou note to someone who has made a difference in your life.  

A real honest to goodness stamped envelope or postcard in the mailbox is an extra treat in a society bombarded with instant everything. 

Thank your hairstylist for the great cut you get each month.  Compliment your pastor for the time he spent on last week’s sermon. Tell your child’s teacher how much you appreciate the extra time they spent helping Johnny with a harder concept.  Look up someone from your childhood who made a difference for you during those tough preteen/teen years. Your parents, spouse, children and friends are excellent choices as well.

#4. Thank God (out loud) for the green light and the open parking spot.

Our children hear us loud and clear.  The vocal grumping at the slow poke driver in the fast lane needs to be balanced by thanks for the non irritating parts of the day.  Or, you could try thanking God for the slow poke. 

#3. Keep A Prayer Journal.

Sometimes writing out requests helps our focus become less selfish.  Charting answers to prayer can provide a faith boost. The Harvard study also stated that people who pray and meditate are more grateful. 

#2. Start a “3 Things” Tradition with your family. 

At the end of each day, whether at dinner or at bedtime, have each family member name 3 things they are grateful for.   It can be the good supper mom made, or the play date with a best friend. We live in a warm house and our shoes don’t have holes in them. You get the idea. 

#1. Be intentional.

After Abby died, I found it a chore to get out of bed each day. 

My sweet friend Sara introduced me to the idea of taking pictures and making an Instagram post each morning about 1 thing that brought me joy or that I was thankful for. What started as a 30 day challenge, ended up being a year plus of daily posts.   Even though the time included hospitalization with a scary illness, there was still always something good if I chose to look for it. Being intentional takes work but is so rewarding!

Psalms 9:1 says,  “ I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” He has blessed us indeed.  The least we can do is live with a heart of gratitude!

What are you most thankful for today? I’d love to hear your list!

Magnificent Adversity ~ Finding Purpose in Pain

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His face seemed sad as he sat quietly beside me. I could tell he wanted to chat, to tell me the thoughts currently plaguing his mind.  

I struggled knowing the right questions to ask, though I could guess exactly what was coming.  

I had urged him to go to an overnight multi church event, telling him it would be fun. 

He’d been hesitant, but agreed to go. 

Since his little sister died 5 years ago, sleep has been an issue, so I obtained permission for him to bring his audio book and a noise machine our family has found to be helpful, pushing back the worry that it may be another way to set him apart. 

Sure enough.  

I watched my son, with tears in his eyes, explain how he had been the object of jokes and how the other boys had told him in plain english that he just wasn’t cool enough to be with them.  

Ugh.

I’ve thought as he’s grown, that boys are so much less drama than girls.  

How incorrect my assumption!   

I know my son is different.  

He’s left handed, dislexic, and big for his age.  

He prefers entertaining younger children over playing games with his peers and still, at age 12,  loves Thomas the Tank engine. 

He’s never been into playing ball or sports of any kind, thought we’ve offered to get him involved. 

Despite the list of things he’s not, he is a mastermind at fixing things. 

He is my troubleshooter, fixing anything from my broken food processor to the tv remote. 

Reading the hard copy of a book is not his strength but he has devoured close to a hundred full length, age/grade appropriate audio books in the past few months. 

Parenting has had many surprising twists and turns. 

I did not anticipate the sheer amount of drama that presents its ugly self each day. 

I remember some drama as a kid but the stuff my kids have experienced makes me contemplate moving the family to a deserted island. 

Just kidding of course.  

In all seriousness though, I long to protect them and just make things be ok. I wish life would treat them kindly.  Not that we need a pass for doses of extra kindness, but from my vantage point, grief pretty much made their playing field uneven, rough at the edges.  

I pray for Godly, kind friendships for each of my children and that they could be kind as God is kind, loving the unlovely and the unpopular. 

Mostly, I hope that I am not making them into feeble, frail persons who as adults will embrace a victim mentality, holding on tightly to every hurtful situation.  

As I continue to observe their stories unfolding, I am made painfully aware of how much I am just like them, insecure, awkward, unsure of who exactly God made me to be. 

This past year has been a real exercise in reminding myself almost daily that I am not the sum of what people have said and surmised me to be.

The pain of being labeled and defined by one’s weakness and past can squeeze the very life out of a hurting soul. 

It’s especially difficult when the most hateful of actions and words come from those professing the name of Christ. 

My teenage daughter spoke complete truth from one of our family’s lowest points this past summer stating simply that if the actions we have seen represent Christianity, she wants nothing of it, no part!

What then is the basis of living like Jesus, learning what God is trying to teach us and finding the good in our adversities?  

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says very simply “Encourage one another and build each other up”….

How do we do that?

The start may simply be understanding that God created each and everyone of us with meaning and purpose and treating those around us with that awareness. 

I recently sat through a super fun, community class where the main focus was studying personality differences.  We looked at our own strengths, weaknesses, joys and needs and then evaluated which other natures we get along with the easiest and how very important it is to remember the need for each and every personality God created. 

While some of the hard times in life revolve around more than simple personality differences, evaluating the reactions of others based on how God created them may help us extend grace much more freely. 

Maybe our focus is key?  

I am hoping that my children will see me work through my own pain, insecurity and awkwardness in healthy ways and that they will find the courage to seek and find God’s unique purpose for each of them and offer that grace to others. 

Finding My Place

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Before I begin,  I want to emphasize:

*1. I am writing in the spirit of Proverbs 11:14 where it says “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; In the multitude of counselors there is safety”  

I am hoping to spark a discussion on a subject that has been kind of taboo.  It may not be an issue in every church and community but it has long been causing controversy, pain and division in my circles.

*2. I could journal privately…some say that may be better.  Words can’t be unsaid. However, this post has been brewing for many months. I released it last fall, and in typical Dorothy fashion caused a stir so I took it down, prayed and edited more. SO thankful for Godly mentors who have been a part of the journey to the re- release.

*3. I am not a radical secular feminist.  I believe God has distinct roles for women. He loves us and created us to bring glory to Him. 

That said, I do believe that Christianity through the centuries has fueled the fires of the ugly side of radical feminism by treating women as “less than” and allowing heinous abuse to continue under the guise of “Godly” male leadership thus encouraging many groups to succumb to embracing a shame culture…

I have bumbled about in my writings and have sometimes posted what some consider to be controversial. I’ve been told I make people squirm and feel uncomfortable, like when I posted on my own blog,  something very personal that happened to me in a 2014 blog, titled “The value of women in the church”. Can be found here: https://dorothymiller.org/2014/01/

The downside of what I have been told are my giftings are the facts that I can be bossy, overly dramatic, pushy…overbearing.  That is not my heart. 

  A while back, at a roundtable discussion of a Christian organization I belonged to,  the moderator read an anonymous comment from someone apparently irritated at how women were becoming “noticeable” in the workings of the group.  While the discussion that emerged didn’t necessarily agree with the comment, other females in the group (myself included) began to question if we were truly stepping out of place. 

This questioning  brought old yuckies out of the dark closets of my being. Part of the comment questioned if women should be “allowed” to pray out loud in public settings.  

Suddenly, I was back in time a few years, cheeks burning, wishing I could fall into a hole in the ground. I had just requested prayer for a female friend who was in a tough situation. As I turned to sit down, the group leader handed me the microphone and asked if I would stand in the gap and pray for my friend.  (Up to that point women in that group had not been asked to pray in public so I was unsure what to do.) I stood there, hands trembling as I watched the next few seconds unfold. It seemed what I had been asked to do was not proper “politically” in that setting, but I felt God’s strength and stood ready. Soon though, amidst mumbling and convo I couldn’t catch, the microphone was snatched out of my hands and a man was praying. It was ok.. but the humiliation was enough to want to make me bury myself for a thousand years.

As I continued processing the questions,  I felt hurt, devalued, a little angry maybe, and now even more unsure of my role and place in that particular group.  I began praying fervently that God would help me find HIS truth.  

After another sleepless night, I got up and started diligently searching the scriptures.  They are packed full of tidbits of wisdom and truth and are filled with all manor of commands, to love, to exhort, to be like Jesus and how that looks.  Now bear in mind that I am not a Biblical scholar by any means, though I do enjoy a good word study. This is where I came out at.

The 2 passages that have often been the basis for the role of Christian women, focus on what women can not do and from what I understand, basically refer to women not teaching or preaching to men in a church setting.  1 Corinthians 14:34 says “the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says”.   1 Timothy 2:12 says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet”

There are many more instances in the Bible, especially in the New Testament where women are mentioned in a positive light/what they CAN do and showcase the fact that women were indeed involved in the early church.  

In Acts 16 Lydia is mentioned as one of the first to come to Christ and upon her conversion openly used her gifting of hospitality and invited Paul, the famous missionary to stay at her home. 

In Acts 18, Priscilla is mentioned along side of her husband Aquila as an example of people who actually mentored the Apostle Paul.  

In Romans 16, Phoebe served as a deacon (imagine that!) and supported the work of the church through seeing the needs of the saints.  

Acts 21 mentions the great evangelist, Philip and his daughters who were prophetesses (not a real quiet or perhaps socially pleasing calling…) 

Women in traditional Christian settings typically serve on food and sewing committees and occasionally teach Sunday school,  all of which are worthy needed parts of what makes organized church happen.  

But if we are going to say that we take 1 Corinthians 14:34 literally, then are those “offices” even ok? I may sound fanatical in asking that but really…

Passages like Romans 12 speak of the many parts of the body working together to make the Body of Christ what it is.  Are women not a part of the body?

Quite frankly I’m thinking my husband is NOT wishing to be more busy in the work of God’s church, but if women are to be quiet and only speak at home he may have to.

I don’t want to be guilty of pulling out scriptures and making them say what I need them to say.  

I fully understand that as women (and men too) our giftings and the way God created us must be tempered with his love, grace and the constant infilling of his spirit so that things will always be done to bring HIM glory. I am trying fervently to understand what God wants women to be in his church and how that really looks?

So I write here, and as I said at the beginning, am hoping to spark discussion that will shine the light brightly on God’s truth.  I thought incorrectly that when I got to the ripe old age of 40 that the Bible would be more clear and that stuff wouldn’t be so murky. 

I am finding that seeking the truth is imperative to my survival as a daughter of God. As a mother of a 13 year old female who asks many of the same hard questions that I do and who mirrors in sometimes scary ways my own nature, I must find what God really says so I can help her find her foundation in Him.

There is no doubt in my mind that each and every one of us is specially designed and created with value and purpose!

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Choosing Rest

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Exodus 33:14 NIV  The Lord replied, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest

 

 

Who among us really gets enough rest?  

I’ve been engulfed in the hustle and bustle of raising children for nearly 14 years. 

Rest has not been high on my list of priorities.  

In the midst of normal mommy life chaos, my most recent years have been filled with my own unexpected illness, week long hospitalization and multiple surgeries that have forced me to sit and rest. 

This has been quite a stretch for my extroverted, type A personality.  

After all, there are meals to be cooked, meetings to be attended, windows to be cleaned, playdates to be had, people to talk to….

I most certainly don’t have time to rest. 

As the season has continued however, I am learning the value of rest and am finding that my forced pause has actually taught me to crave quiet and rest. 

Another gift of my repose has been more time for God’s word.

Did you know that rest is mentioned over 200 times in the Bible?

Exodus 17 tells of the Israelites going to battle with Amalek.  Elderly Moses sits up on a hill overlooking the battle. When he holds his arms up, Israel is victorious.  When he gets tired, his arms drop. Israel begins to lose the battle. He needs rest. Finally, his good buddies Aaron and Hur roll up a stone for him to sit on and take a stance at his sides, each holding up an arm.   Israel prevails. God’s blessing through Moses resting gives Israel victory over their evil Amalekite neighbors. 

King David spoke of needing rest as he grieved the rebellion of his son Absolom.  Psalm 55:6 ESV says “Oh that I had wings like the dove!  I would fly away and be at rest.”  Wouldn’t we all like to do that at times? 

Even Jesus, our divine, yet also human Saviour spoke of needing rest.   Mark 6 unfolds the time period around him choosing his disciples and hearing of his cousin John’s beheading.  Near the end of the chapter, Mark 6:30 NIV, he invites his disciples to “come away with me to a quiet place and get some rest”.  He understood the need for physical rest and modeled it well for his disciples. 

The story of Mary and Martha (Luke 11) showcases Mary choosing rest, quiet at Jesus’ feet, gleaning from Him what she could while he is right there in front of her. 

We are not put here to be lazy.  I am learning however, that my list of accomplishments grows when I am intentional, taking the time to rest, both physically and at the feet of my Saviour.