A Journey of Rest {Come to the Well}

This promise is one of my favorites:

“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

And yet I don’t seize it daily. I’m not sure why it is so hard to master. Why my feet get stuck in the quicksand of fear or regret.

Friends, I’m over at 5 Minutes for Faith talking about this very thing and the new perspective gained while reading a very familiar New Testament account. Stop on by, will you? Simply click on the image below!

I’m honored to be over at 5 Minutes for Faith through Monday. We normally do Music Mondays around here, but not to worry — I shared a song that speaks this message better than I ever could over there as well. In case you don’t have time to stop by, here it is. It’s a great place to start us on our journey to rest….

Come to the Well

by Casting Crowns

How about you, friend? How do you leave it all behind and accept His rest? I’d love to hear.

Thanks for sharing your time with me.

Simply striving,

Nikki

Do I Know Him?

I’ve read this endearing passage hundreds of times. The act of grace willingly given to one so unworthy despite knowing her for who she was: The Promiscuous Woman of Samaria. I snuggle deeper into my bedroom chair as I begin to read it once more. Excitement starts to bubble within as I know how it ends…Grace abounds.

That’s when it hits me. Five simple words stop me from turning the page, from reading the conclusion. The words appear highlighted, larger than the rest, and that’s when I know; Jesus is no longer talking to the Samaritan Woman. He’s talking to me.

…we worship what we know. (John 4:22b)

I read it over and over. Just those words at first and then the entire paragraph. Repeatedly. Hoping to ease my unsettled heart.

We worship what we know.

Questions start flooding my mind. I find myself writing in the margin:

Do I Know Him?

Do I know Him and not just know of Him? Do I know Him enough to truly worship? Am I truly worshiping? Am I bowing down to the One I know?

Now I’m digging. Frantically flipping through my journal for something jotted down while reading “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. Ah, here it is:

“Every moment I live, I live bowed to something.
And if I don’t see God, I’ll bow down before something else.”
(One Thousand Gifts pg 110)

Do I know Him enough to see Him every moment I live?

I go back to the Book of John, hoping to finish the Samaritan story while sorting through my thoughts. The woman is now revealing to her acquaintances that she’s met a man who truly knows everything about her (and still offers her grace). I smile and think to myself, “Yes, He knows you and loves you regardless. He knows you like He knows me. He knows me and yet He loves me.”

He loves me enough to know me. Not just of me. The real me. Oh, how I want to love Him like that. To know Him fully. To become completely familiar. For in that journey, of seeking Him continually and involving Him in my everyday, I will worship what I know. Thank You, Father, for speaking to me through Your Word.

Yes. I will worship what I know.

To God be the glory.

How about you? Do you know Him and not just of Him? How do you worship? How does He speak to you? I’d love to hear.

UPDATE: I wrote this post before I had even opened up my blog to the World Wide Web. My thoughts on this have resulted in a series of posts since. You May find the other few HERE.

Thanks for sharing your time with me.

Simply striving,

Nikki

I’m linking this up to The Gypsy Mama’s “One Post”…