tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2920507061982445623.post4084624142692587138..comments2019-01-29T16:34:54.398-08:00Comments on Death Pastor: “Who Is Qualified to Advocate for Me?” – On (Some of) the Frustrations of Mental IllnessWm. Darius Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00343705324859085642noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2920507061982445623.post-41566223893922851212015-10-16T11:54:54.271-07:002015-10-16T11:54:54.271-07:00I recently preached on Sabbath... which was tremen...I recently preached on Sabbath... which was tremendously convicting. My approach to avoiding my inner life (depression, stress, whatever) is to simply over-involve myself in my work. So, here is an excerpt of what I preached to myself and allowed the congregation to overhear:<br /><br />"Lastly, we will see that Sabbath is to be…<br /><br />A rest, vv 10-11. READ TEXT.<br />8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.<br />If you think about it, it's strange that God is spoken of as resting, for God does not get tired! In fact, unlike youth who grow tired and weary and young men who stumble and fall, God "does not faint or grow weary" (Is 40:28).<br /><br />God is pictured more as ceasing from his work than resting. In Gen 2:3, the term "rested" really means to "cease" or to "stop." The idea is that God stopped created after the sixth day. He did not cease from working because there was no more work that COULD HAVE BEEN DONE, but that what was done was “good” and “very good.”<br /><br />“God rested.” Can we? The term used in this passage can mean to "be quiet" or to "depart from." Can we set aside our work? Can we be quiet? Do we ever depart from our work, or does it go with us wherever we go?<br /><br />On the seventh day, the Israelites, their animals, & any foreigner in their midst were to do no work. God, as man's Creator, knew there were times that people needed rest. People need quiet. We need to know how to “depart” and cease from labor.<br /><br />So, if not under law and there is no exact way or time in which God instructs you to keep a Sabbath, how will you know when you need to cease from work? How do you know when a rest is appropriate?<br /><br />Here’s the test of whether or not you need to rest… if you wait until you are weary, you have waited too long! If our example is God’s pattern, resting after 6 days, not because he needed to, but because what he had done in the six days prior was “good,” we need to be okay with resting regularly.<br /><br /> CONSIDER: How often do we, as slaves to the perfect, keep on working after what we have done would be called “good” and “very good” by God? Waiting to rest until we’ve done all we can is not heeding the wisdom of the Sabbath. Walk in step with the Spirit, consulting the heart of God, and you’ll know when you have done all God has called you to do! You can have a peace that comes from God, surpassing all understanding, a peace that can put your perfectionism and nagging guilt aside. You can take a deep breath and say, “It is good.”<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2920507061982445623.post-15236696826286806622015-10-12T10:02:59.860-07:002015-10-12T10:02:59.860-07:00Bill, YES YES and YES again. I don't talk much...Bill, YES YES and YES again. I don't talk much about the early years of my young motherhood life, but at the age of 24, my mother-in-law had a brain hemorrhage and ultimately because my husband's father divorced her soon after, her care fell to us. Actually, because I was also secondary care-giver for my own mother every other week or so, it meant that it fell on me to care for both moms. It meant my life as a mom of two daughters was not meant to look like my friend's lives for a very long time. I have up close and personal experience with not only being exhausted, but watching my dad's exhaustion as well when I wasn't able to spell him. So YES...of all the things I could tell you and anyone who is taking care of others, especially if they are family, is PLEASE take care of yourself! A caregiver is of no help or use if they are sick or ill or in need of care giving themselves. And I found many ways to help this happen, from good friends, in home-health care workers who would come in two to three times a week, to small miracles when God seemed to intervene with just the right person to help out. BUT in all this it is important to say one other thing when it comes to care giving for family members. A treasured health care worker once gave me hugely wise advice so I must pass it along. It is important to be my loved ones care giver and advocate for them, but it is even MORE important to just be their "husband or son or daughter or wife or ???" too. One cannot JUST be their caregiver and not totally "Burn out"! One must create enough margin in the care giving schedule to simply be, in my case, my mom's daughter and daughter-in-law. That made sense to me and although I remained in the care-giving lifestyle for almost 30 years, it enabled me to endure and even enjoy those with whom I cared for. SO YES please do whatever you need to do dear Bill to care for your self too! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com