– May 1, 2020 –
For some, this crisis has created a season of action – pivoting business models, engaging with the community, etc. – and for others, this crisis has created a season of rest. For me, after much internal struggle because I wanted to rise up in action, I realized the Lord was gifting me a much-needed season of rest.
For the past nine years, life was all about hustle. Working through college. Ministry on campus and with non-profits. Grad school. New job, new city, new church. Launching KIROS Young Professionals. Traveling around the country for my dream job. These were all good things aligned with my God-given gifts, skills, and passions, but I had become BURNED OUT. I had taken Philippians 4:13 completely out of context:
-
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
I had used it to justify pursuing every good opportunity that came my way, and trusting that God would give me supernatural strength while I hustled and dug myself in a hole with less and less time to sleep, only to find that without Sabbath rest, I had hustled myself into survival mode. A lot of my identity was wrapped up in achieving numerous well-defined goals so I could be seen as successful. To me rest meant having a lack of things to do (which never happens), or grabbing coffee with friends instead of working, or watching movies alone instead of hanging out with friends. Yet through all my routines being disrupted by COVID-19, I arrived at a new perspective.
There is physical rest, and there is the Lord’s Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-11a):
-
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.”
The Lord’s rest is intentionally, rhythmically hitting pause on all my routines so there is time and space to hear the Lord, to dwell in His presence, and to breathe and reflect. Physical rest may rejuvenate my BODY, but as I’ve accepted the invitation to call on the Lord during this season, I’ve found that Sabbath rest rejuvenates my SOUL. While this COVID-19 crisis has disrupted just about everything in our lives, I invite you to see it as an opportunity to hit reset and re-evaluate where you have placed your identity and are storing up your treasures. Something I’ve been praying through in these last few weeks – and I encourage you to pray as well – is, “How do I be ‘me’ (the way God created me with my skills, gifts, passions, and personality) in a more sustainable way that allows me time to truly abide in the Lord and have fully present, deep relationships with my family, coworkers, and community?”
Jessica Zistatsis
KIROS Young Professionals Chapter Director
