As you can see, I decided to not write a blog post this week.  Actually, for the last few weeks, I’ve decided to not write a new post.  And then I listen and see if that’s really what I’m supposed to do or if it’s just what I want to do (or not do rather…).  And then the timing of an old journal entry or Facebook post is too timely and that turns into a blog post.

For last week’s post, I wrote the whole thing and then tried to schedule it to be posted…but it wouldn’t work!  All of a sudden, I was missing some of the features that have been there for four months.  So, I saved it as a draft and decided to come at it from a different screen – and then the whole post disappeared!  Not only could I not publish it, I couldn’t even find it!  Thankfully I had copied it into Word and could paste it into a new post, but reformatting it and adding images took more time than I had planned.

In place of a post this week, I decided I needed a rest.  “You’ve been telling me for years, God, that I need to rest more, so this week I am taking a break from the blog and resting just like You’ve told me to do.”

And so I rested last week. And I rested over the weekend. But I kept checking in to see if I was supposed to write. I even texted a friend last night to see if she liked getting weekly blog posts and was able to keep up with them or if I should post every other week instead. After a few messages back and forth, I ended with, “I’ll have to see what God says tomorrow.”

This is what God said this morning when I opened my calendar to the new week:

I had trusted that if I felt I needed to rest, then it was because I needed rest. I had trusted too that if I was also supposed to write a post this week, He’d let me know.

After I read that paragraph on my calendar (and laughed), I also heard, “By the way, this is your blog post topic for the week.”

Come So Alive isn’t about living with epilepsy.  Or even a how-to for dealing with health issues in general.  Everything on the website is about coming alive in whatever place you find yourself.  Sad. Overwhelmed. Tired.

Music has probably been the thing that most consistently kept me going through the storm (which is why I’ve shared so many songs with you).  But there are other things – books & Bible studies, walks, photography – that have also been balm and strength to me.  Of course, those are all “doing” activities and sometimes the most important thing is just “being.” 

So, this week’s post, this week’s lifeline in the storm, is the reminder to myself that, to come alive, sometimes you need to rest.

And maybe that’s the message you need this week too. 

sunbeam through window
Resting on my couch in a sunbeam