Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. (Matthew 11:28-29)

Ponder It.
When have you had a busy season? What was it like?
How easy is it for you to rest in God’s presence?
What brokenness do you need for God to heal?

Receive It.
Have you ever pressed too hard while using a crayon? It doesn’t take long before—snap!—one long crayon that fit fairly well in your hand becomes two small pieces that don’t. Sometimes, God breaks things within us because He knows we need work. We need to let Him heal the broken places, and we will be stronger because of it.

Other times, we create our own brokenness. We push too hard. We’re too intense, too busy. We don’t rest enough. We do life at our own pace instead of God’s. Sometimes, we even rationalize our busyness to serving Him. We say, “But I know God wants me to do this and this and this, so I’m sure He’ll give me the energy.” Yes, He will…if what you’re doing is truly His will and His timing.

Let’s not get into the trap of a blame game, beating ourselves up with what we could have, should have, and didn’t do. Don’t assume all brokenness is your own responsibility. But at least consider it. Are you doing anything that is coming between you and God? Perhaps it’s sin, an attitude of stubbornness, or unwillingness to examine what’s going on in your life or consider what God wants for you. What can you do to invite Him to invade your life more? What do you need to let go of? Cling to? What pressures do you feel? Are they from others, or are you putting unnecessary pressure on yourself? Ask God to give you a reality check today, then take one step toward healing with Him.

Live It.
Take a five minute pause during a busy part of the day. It might feel as if you don’t have time, but just call a “time out.” Retreat into God’s presence. It might be difficult to focus with everything going on around you. Don’t check out from everything, taking a nap or something. Intentionally retreat into His presence. Ask for a reality check. Ask Him to reprioritize the priorities you’ve set in place so that you can follow and honor Him more than yourself.