Rest

Thinking about my last post, I realized that there was more that I could have talked about.  First of all, if you haven't read that post yet, it was about cow comfort and cows resting.  A lot of things can help contribute to cow comfort, like a swinging cow brush.  But that's not what I wanted to say.

A man at our church often says that, when we are at rest in our spirit, that is when God can use us the best.  I think that being at rest does not mean that we are never in a tough situation, it means that we are trusting God in that situation and resting on Him.

I also think that resting and being comfortable are not the same thing at all.  So many people in churches all over the place become comfortable with their routine of working and having fun all throughout the week and then going to church on Sunday because it's what they're "supposed" to do, and not even taking joy from being there.  I think that when we become comfortable Christians, we expect everything to go our way, and when it doesn't we feel like we have to rely on ourselves to "save" us from the situation. 

That's been a struggle throughout these first years of our marriage.  We live on a dairy farm and that is our source of income.  But the dairy industry has been in a slump, and finances are tough.  But God has been providing for us.  And I have been learning that I need to rely on God, his timing is perfect. 

In Mark 4, Jesus and his disciples are in a tough spot.  They are out in a boat on the middle of a lake.  Jesus is asleep and a big storm comes up and the disciples, even though a lot of them are experienced fishermen, can't do anything to save themselves.  They are terrified, so they wake Jesus up, demanding that he does something.  It's like they knew he could save them but they had to have it right NOW.  So Jesus calms the storm, and asks them, "why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?"  Personally, I don't think they really understood that Jesus had power over all things, they had just seen him heal people up to this point, they didn't know he could control the weather too.

Maybe God is trying to teach us something by not "saving" us right now.  I don't know what that lesson is yet, but I am trying to be at rest, trusting that God knows what he's doing, and not panic about everything.  When we are at rest, that is when God can use us the most.