Demotivated. Unproductive. And just downright LAZY!
These thoughts consumed me after sleeping 12 hours straight. I felt completely worthless. Why couldn’t I make the most out of my time? I told myself, “tomorrow will be better,” only to fall into a second, 12 hour night of deep slumber. What was wrong with me?
Most of you have heard by now about the damage Hurricane Ian has done. This hit a little closer to home because the extreme devastation you watched on TV is REAL…and it was supposed to be us. It took two, full days to prepare for this hurricane, but then it took a turn at the last second and completely blindsided cities just south of us.
After knowing my family and home were safe, my body just CRASHED. Being stuck inside our boarded up home for one week made me realize just how tired I’ve truly been. At first I tried to fight the extreme fatigue, but eventually it became unbearable. I slept 10-12 hours every single night for 7 days straight.
Being on lock down, gave me a lot of time to think about how neglectful I’ve been to my body. The reality is, my family has been under an indescribable amount of stress and trauma over the last 4.5 years. Separate and apart from COVID, inflation, and the other worldly impacts so many have felt, we have been fighting a personal battle of lies and false accusations. The price of these lies is a hefty one and I’m sure you can imagine how tiring it has been to not only prepare and have the opportunity to tell the truth after all these years, but prove it as well. The reality is my body, as well as my family’s bodies, have been in a fight or flight response for far too long, and personally, it took a hurricane to force me to slow down.
I no longer feel guilty for giving my body what it needed.
It takes courage to say “yes to rest” in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.
So I don’t know what you are going through or who needs to hear this, but it’s okay to rest…in fact, it’s neglectful not to. Can you imagine the sense of clarity we would all have if we simply prioritized recharging our bodies as often as we do our phones?
Embracing the “crash” my body felt after Hurricane Ian gave me confidence and clarity regarding other areas in my life, like the 4.5 year long battle my family and I are facing. There’s nothing quite like having peace in the middle of the storm. What others meant to harm us, God intended for good and I am confident we will see the goodness of the Lord. We are walking into a season of reckoning and renewal and you better believe we are coming for everything that has been stolen from us. I have already seen this on the side of victory and I look forward to sharing our story of how resting on God’s truth redeemed us.
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