Rest Is Holy.

I used to think rest was what you did after everything was finished. The problem is, for a woman like me, everything is never finished.

I am an overachiever. A go-getter. A fixer. A woman who can turn a vision into a plan, a plan into a project, and a project into seventeen new tabs in my brain before breakfast. I know how to produce, lead, serve, anticipate, organize, and make things happen. What I did not know how to do was sit my Squiggly Diggly down.

Even when my body stopped, my mind kept managing. I would sit on the couch while mentally rearranging tomorrow, solving somebody else’s problem, or feeling guilty about what I was not doing. I treated rest like a reward for perfect productivity. Since perfection never came, neither did rest.

But Scripture has been teaching me something different: rest is not laziness, weakness, or a lack of ambition. Rest is holy because God made it holy.

What does biblical rest mean?

The biblical picture of rest is richer than sleep or a day off. In Genesis, God rests—not because He is depleted, but because His creative work is complete. The Hebrew idea behind Sabbath, shabbat, carries the sense of stopping or ceasing. Another Hebrew word connected to rest, nuach, conveys settling, remaining, or being placed in peace. In the New Testament, Jesus invites the weary into anapausis—rest, relief, and refreshment for the soul.

Biblical rest is the intentional decision to stop striving, receive our limits, and trust that God remains God while we are no longer producing. It is not merely inactivity. It is a posture of confidence in God’s care.

What does God say about rest?

Rest confronts the belief that my value is measured by how much I carry. It reminds me that I am a daughter before I am a leader, a servant, a strategist, or a solution. My worth does not clock in when I start producing, and it does not disappear when I stop.

Three ways to make rest a rhythm

1. 1

   Name what you are ceasing.

   Rest becomes practical when “stop” has a definition. Choose one recurring window and name what will cease: email, errands, problem-solving, nonprofit work, studying, or being available to everybody. Begin with two protected hours if a full Sabbath feels impossible. Put it on your calendar before other demands claim it.

2. 2

   Choose what restores you.

   Not everything that distracts you replenishes you. Ask: What helps my body exhale, my mind quiet, and my spirit notice God? Your rhythm might include worship, a slow meal, a nap, a walk, doodling, reading for delight, laughing with family, or sitting in silence. Rest should include joy, not only recovery.

3. 3

   Practice trusting what remains undone.

   Before your rest begins, write down the loose ends and choose when you will return to them. Then pray: “God, I release what I cannot finish today. You are still working while I rest.” Expect discomfort at first. The urge to get up and do something is not proof that rest is wrong—it may be proof that your soul is learning a new rhythm.

A prayer for the woman who is always “on”

God, teach me to receive rest as a holy gift. Help me release the lie that everything depends on me. Quiet the part of me that confuses exhaustion with faithfulness. Show me how to work with excellence and stop with trust. Remind me that I am loved when I am producing and loved when I am still. Establish a rhythm in my life that leaves room for Your presence, my healing, and the people I love. Amen.

Continue the practice

• Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer — a guide to apprenticeship to Jesus through intentional spiritual practices and a rule of life.
• Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith — an exploration of seven types of rest and how to recognize the rest deficit beneath our exhaustion.
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer — a practical invitation to resist hurry and recover a slower, spiritually grounded life.