Are You Going Through a Dry Season? It's Time to Rest in Jesus

Are you going through a dry season?

Are you feeling tired and burnt out?

Have you just been feeling distant from God and you don't know why or how to get out of it?

Trust me... I've been there

In today's episode, I want to talk about rest, specifically resting in the Lord and how we can do that. I'm will be pairing this with scripture, a story time, and 4 ways to rest in Jesus.

First, I want to say a quick prayer: "LORD, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Holy Spirit, consume me and move me to do the will of God the Father. Use me as a vessel for your work, LORD, and work through me to make an impact in other people's lives. LORD, I pray that the person who's reading this right now finds rest in you, Jesus. Just wrap your arms around them and let them know that you're right here with them, always. LORD, I pray that whatever each person is supposed to receive from this episode, they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."

So if you've been keeping up with my podcast, then you may have seen some episodes I've done before on resting in the Lord. I actually had a series about resting in the Lord. But lately, it has been so heavy in my Spirit that I just need to rest in God and just give everything to Him. I normally always try to post one episode a week on here, and lately, if you haven't realized it's been more like every other week and maybe not even that often. Over the past couple of weeks, I've just been kind of in a little bit of a rut. I have been putting so much pressure on trying to come up with content for this podcast, and just kind of feeling a little bit like a failure because I've just been spiritually dry lately. I still go through all the motions every day of reading my Bible and praying, and doing the things that I do on a daily basis to try and stay connected to God. But sometimes we go through these dry seasons, and they really help us to realize our need for God.

So as I'm blogging this, last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. I wanted to be able to record some episodes so I could batch them out and get some episodes going every week, but I had no idea what to record. A lot of times in the past when I didn't know what to record, I would just ask the Holy Spirit to give me the words to speak, and I would just record anyway and end up just doing an impromptu podcast and having the Holy Spirit guide me. This past weekend, I just really felt uninspired.

Monday afternoon, I was sitting outside on my back porch, and it was so beautiful out. I had my Bible, and I was just talking to God, and I was trying to come up with some content ideas, but I also just felt so drained. So I just kept praying and praying, and I was trying to come up with ideas, and I just kept feeling in my spirit that the Lord was telling me to rest in me. I just kept thinking, "I don't need to worry about this. I don't need to try and come up with this content. I have to come to Jesus and I have to rest in Him, because He's the one who sustains me. He's the one who provides everything that I need." It is good to come on here and help you guys with your God led journey, but if I'm not being poured into, if I'm not resting in Jesus, if I'm not having that close personal relationship with Him, then everything else is useless.

So after I kept feeling that in my Spirit, I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to let it go. I'm going to let go of trying to come up with podcast ideas. I'm going to let go of just putting too much pressure on myself." I just kept praying to the "LORD, please give me strength. I don't know how to get through this, but I know that You will get me through it," and just trying to rest in the LORD. So when I was sitting out on the patio, that was Monday, so it's been two days, and this morning, whenever I was journaling and doing my devotional, I kept thinking, and I've been thinking of resting in Jesus. I kept thinking of it and thinking of it, and I just started writing things down. I went to the verses in Matthew that I thought were the ones about resting in Jesus. I ended up going to the wrong verses, which was no coincidence because the Holy Spirit directed me to them. It led me to another topic that I'm going to talk about in another podcast episode. I just kept scrolling through. It was the craziest thing. It was like the Holy Spirit was like, "Go here, go here, go there." And I was just scrolling through the Bible, and I've come up with the next seven episodes for my podcast. After that happened, I was just bawling and crying and saying "Thank you so much, LORD, you are so incredible." The LORD gave me all my ideas, I just had to take a couple of days and rest in Him. I just had to completely let go and just give it all to Him, come to Him, and let Him give me rest. He sustains me.

He provides for us. He gives us everything that we need. Whenever we are working for the LORD, when we are doing things for His glory, He's always going to provide in His perfect timing. Sometimes I feel like we go through these dry seasons because we have to be humbled and remember that it's not by our works, our minds, and our power that we do anything. It's all from the Lord and what the Holy Spirit gives us. The LORD provides everything that we need, and we are nothing without Him.

Now let's get into some scripture:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

-Matthew 11:28-30

Whenever I was writing ideas down for this podcast this morning, I specifically wrote, "Come and Rest." Getting rest from Jesus does require one thing of us, and that is coming to Him. He loves us so much and He wants to help us. He wants to give us rest. He wants to provide everything that we need. He's also a gentleman, and He wants us to come to Him and seek Him with all of our heart. I think whenever we go through these dry seasons, we forget to just come to Jesus, give everything to Him, let go and say, "LORD, I cannot do this without you." He will give us rest. He will teach us, and He will provide everything that we need.

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake." -Psalm 23:2-3

"Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him."

-Psalm 62:1

Okay, so you may be thinking, "I need to rest in the Lord, but how do I do that? What are some ways that I can rest in the Lord?" So the very first thing is we have to come to Jesus and we have to give everything to Him. We have to come to Him with all of our hearts, and He will provide that rest.

Here are 4 ways to rest in the LORD:

1. Rest in prayer

Pray to God throughout the day. In these dry seasons or in these seasons where we need this rest desperately, specifically pray to Him and just give it all to Him. You can say, "LORD, I cannot do this without you. I don't know what to do. I don't know where I'm at in life. I feel so lost. I feel distant." Or whatever you are feeling at that moment. Just be open and honest with the LORD. He loves you so much, and He already knows your thoughts. He knows everything that you're going through, but He wants that open communication with you. So in these seasons in life, when we're having the dry seasons or we're just tired and burnt out and we just don't know where to go, just pray to God, give it all to Him, and let Him know what you're going through.

2. Rest in His word

Study the Bible and just go through scripture. Before you read the Bible, pray and ask for knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that you're reading, and wisdom to implement it in your daily life. I always ask the Holy Spirit to show me the truth and to consume me, move me to do the will of God the Father, and to help me know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth.

3. Rest in His presence

Be still, sit with Jesus, and just be in the moment with Him, with no distractions, just you and God, and opening up for Him to talk to you. Just say, "LORD, I'm here. Speak to me. Your servant is listening." Just being still, resting in His presence, letting Him speak to you, letting Him guide you, and letting him give you that rest.

4. Rest in His teachings

In the Bible in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see all the teachings of Jesus Christ, and we can implement all of those teachings in our daily lives. As Christians, we want to seek to live and have a heart like Jesus. He shows us exactly how to live and have a heart like Him in his teachings in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

So if you've been going through a dry season or you're just feeling tired and burnt out, or you've just been feeling distant and you don't know why, you don't know how to get out of it and you've just kind of felt defeated, it is time that you get some rest from the LORD. You have to come to Jesus, lay it all down at His feet, give everything to Him, and He will provide rest for you. He will teach you. He will provide everything that you need. He will give you the strength to grow through every aspect of your life. You just have to come to Him, pray to Him, seek answers, and seek truth in His word, rest in His presence, and implement His teachings in your daily life. The LORD will always provide everything that you need in His perfect timing. This season is not wasted. There's a reason why you're going through this season right now, but you don't have to keep feeling tired and burnt out. The Lord will give you rest. You just have to come to Him.

So I hope this episode helped you guys to know the different ways that you can rest in the LORD and why it's so important for us to rest in the Lord. Next week we're going to be talking about storing up treasures in heaven, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

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Scripture taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.