Finding Rest in God During Exile

How do we remain happy in God or recover our happiness and rest in God through difficult circumstances? When things are bad (as you know, life is pretty gnarly right now on planet Earth), I would assert that it’s an essential foundation to our spiritual formation in Christ to find rest and joy in God. We simply won’t make it in these days without it. Like Psalm 1 says, we need to be those trees planted by water whose roots go deep so we bear fruit even in these seasons.

We moved to Sacramento, California about five years ago to start planting a church there. For three years we did that. I worked full time as a middle school teacher. We had church meetings in our living room and made friends with just about anybody that would talk to us. In the midst of that, we added babies numbers four and five. Then after three years, it seemed like it was time to press the gas and get the church into a public meeting place and my soul was very depleted and I had a wife who was willing, but also tired. I think we could have made it over that hill into a public meeting space. We had gathered a great core of people, but I just didn’t want to risk my families’ well-being for the sake of me planting a church, so I laid the church down.

It was a brutal decision.

The sum of my vision was being there, and it started a pretty disorienting year for me. I started questioning my ability to hear God. I questioned my leadership ability. I questioned my future. I was faced with circumstances I was not happy with… circumstances I did not want and my whole vision just disappeared overnight. I realized my happiness and joy in God was plummeting without something productive to do and a mission to accomplish.

What Has Guided Me:

a.)     Psalm 116:5-7

b.)    Dallas Willard, Renovations of the Heart “If we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must have and must implement the appropriate vision, intention and means. Not just any path we take will do. [Without these] Christ simply will not be formed in us.”

Two Guideposts

1.)    Our souls were made for rest, but they tend to wander frequently and forget that we were made for rest.

2.)    Not any path we take to recovering rest will work. It has to be intentionally sought after.

We Need Vision:

What does life look like when I am happy in God?

This isn’t something you’ve never had – it’s something to recover and lay hold of. Remember, separate from your role as a leader, what does life look like when I am happy and in rest in you, God?

This is not self-determination.

We Need Intention:

“The pursuit of joy in God is not optional.” – John Piper, Desiring God

It’s a gift we receive. We are people of grace. It’s like the branch determining to bear fruit apart from the vine. We receive this abundant life from God. To be at rest and joyful in God is not optional. That’s the type of intention we need. If the intention and the vision are clarified, the means are almost irrelevant.

How do we get there?

This is not a prescription but meant to stir up ideas. The list starts with ideas that are quick and easy and gets progressively more difficult as it goes on. This is what has been working for me:

1.)    The one-minute pause app on your phone. It has been a rescue to my soul. It interrupts me a couple times a day. It’s free and beautiful.

2.)    Get outside every day to breathe fresh air.

3.)    Put your phone to sleep at least an hour before you go to sleep.

4.)    Play worship music in your home. Let worship filter throughout your home throughout the day. It’s good for your soul.

5.)    Try to journal your thoughts, feelings and emotions at least once a day.

6.)    Sit by a fire – a real one!

7.)    Show gratitude by writing thank you notes to people.

8.)    Set screen limits and down time on your phone.

9.)    Read a good book of fiction before you go to bed.

10.)  Pray and enjoy God early in the morning.

11.)  Plant a garden.

12.)  Exercise. Find something you like doing that makes you sweaty and do it!

13.)  Don’t consume caffeine, sugar, or alcohol when you’re stressed and tired.

14.)  Carve out weekly time for face-to-face connection with people you like/enjoy.

15.)  Pray the Daily Prayer from John Eldredge (see Wild at Heart app).

16.)  Practice a weekly sabbath (no normal work, good food, worship, limit screens).

17.)  Take a solo, silent walk for two hours (preferably somewhere beautiful).

18.)  Turn off your phone one day a week.

19.)  Memorize a whole chapter of the Bible – causes us to slow down and feast on the word.

20.)  Quit social media. Completely. Delete the account, not just the app!

21.)  Turn your phone OFF for A WHOLE WEEK!

22.)  Plan two consecutive weeks of vacation.

I hope these stoke some means for you to be able to get to that happy life in God. Life is challenging and when circumstances are tough and tiring, it’s hard to make these decisions. Decide to lay hold of this happy life in God. We join the psalmist in commanding our souls to return to rest in God. Make these decisions now before the storm hits in order to pursue a life happy in God.

It’s been a do or die season for me over the last 2 years because I wanted to make it. I didn’t want to wither. I had to go to God with this depletion I was feeling. I write to you as someone who is on the journey with you. I have not arrived. I am on the way. I hope today to stir up vision for your life in God, separate from your life as a leader. I’m hoping to stoke up a vision for your life in God so you will make it to the end and be people that finish well.