I’m incredibly grateful for how my parents modeled what it looked like to grow up serving the church from a young age. For as long as I can remember, I watched them arrive early, stay late, and step in whenever a need arose.
As I entered my college years, I often wrote down this passage from Ephesians 1 to remind myself of the undeserved identity I have in Christ. Even though I accepted Christ’s love and the gift of the Gospel in my elementary years, I found myself striving harder and harder to “earn” God’s love — doing good works, helping people in need, and always trying to be the strong one for others to lean on. The unconditional love and grace described in these verses were difficult for me to embrace.
Without the constant busyness of serving, achieving, or accomplishing something for God, I struggled to believe He would still choose and delight in me. While I have much more to learn about resting in His love, I’ve noticed a profound change in my relationship with God when I choose to do nothing…literally.
Intentionally setting aside time to rest and enjoy God felt torturous at first (and sometimes still does), but I’ve come to realize that how I approach rest reflects my faith in Him and the truth of this passage. Does He really take great pleasure in adopting me? Even if I don’t feel like I can measure up? Even if I fall short? Praise God, He sure does. And as I continue to grow in Christ each day, I pray I can reflect that same unconditional love and belonging to others.