Trying out God’s Sabbath Day of Rest

This is a scene from my last Sabbath Day of rest on Monday, April 30.  My new “secret spot”in Todos Santos Plaza in nearby city of Concord, CA.  My doggie, Mayumi and I enjoyed this tranquil, sunny spot together. Next time I’ll take a picture of Mayumi.

I’m attempting (again🤗) to have a consistent blogging journal, an open diary, for myself, family and friends.

This time I thought I would journal my weekly Sabbath Day of rest, a new endeavor to worship and walk closer with Jesus.

Past Week...
My answered prayers -
Jerry is finally encouraged to exercise and me too! I was exercising, but only yoga at the Martinez Senior Center for $64 a month. Now, both hubby and I go to the YMCA unlimited times for $72/mo. Not only that, my Yoga teacher Linda, who I really like, teaches st the Y too!  Little did I know...God added bonuses to my original prayer request of Jerry starting exercise for health. Beats my prodding and (ahem..sorry to say nagging). Thank you Lord!

Holy Spirit evidence!  My last week’s Scripture for thought was Matthew 9:13. This week’s sermon scripture by Pastor Andrew was Matthew 9:13.  I love ❤️ when this happens!

So...what defines my Sabbath?  So I decided that for me, it means spending from morning to dusk in prolonged study of the Bible, MORE focus and worship to God, disciplined and distraction-free prayer, resting my body, being still and not going here and there for errands and social visits and phone calls. And LESS time spent on self-indulgences, TV and internet surfing, cleaning and chores (which is an ongoing distraction), and making to do lists for “my own agenda”.  NO FRETTING, things can wait. For me, the Sabbath observance works best on either Sunday or a Monday every week.  A day to really pause reflect and thank God for the past week. And offer prayers for the new week.  

Rest, Reorientation, Remember, and Refresh. Thanks to a church-wide retreat topic a couple of weeks ago.

Rest, Reorientation:   I got a sudden 24-hr stomach flu bug yesterday. That always slows down a Type-A like me. But that didn’t stop me from going to a cooking class at Sur la Table, a generous birthday gift from our son Jeff and Grace. I was just getting a little rumble and queasy but managed, but couldn’t eat the food that the chef demo’ed.  Darned if I miss a class that good money paid for. It was too late to cancel.  I made it home, and the full-on symptoms ensued. By next day (today), I was much better, but weak and mobile. I had to pray and ask the Holy Spirit, my ever-present Counselor. I didn’t want to miss Anh’s ordination as new Young Adult Pastor...also, wasn’t it yesterday that I zoomed over to that cooking class without a second thought? I didn’t want to be legalistic, but the Spirit told me to go to church, and I’m glad I did.

Remember:  Today’s Sabbath did pause me to stop. I wanted to take this seriously, just for me. I had been faithfully reading and praying for years now, but I felt I needed to raise the bar because my relationship with God was getting rote and distant. After all, didn’t God himself have a Sabbath day of rest (Genesis). I know, Jesus changed things up to challenge the legalisms in human nature. But Jesus himself prayed ALL NIGHT, and immediately went out among the people after that! I’m sure he was recharged and reoriented!  And he took power naps too!  Ha ha! 

Refreshment: I feel refreshed, head clear, worry free. Ready for this week to come. Already, I am reporting to jury duty tomorrow at 8:30 AM.  Will I feel well enough to go through that kind of day?  Time and prayer will tell.

I was challenged today....sitting and recuperating, it was so hard not to go to my devices and get into “research mode” and fly around the internet today. And also, I was tempted to watch our Warriors in the NBA playoffs. (Didn’t watch—-but they won!)

So, in all, despite being sick, I had a good, good Sabbath. I’m finding out that this really takes discipline that I have to ask from God, to tame my unruly nature. Thank you Father. In your infinite wisdom, beyond human comprehension, you are so loving.  The scope and magnitude of who you are can easily crumble anyone into fear and apprehension. But that is not true, according to the Bible. Your tender love as a perfect Father/Mother parent renews me every day. You are sincere and honest, and patient even when I don’t understand a lot of things.   All is well in Jesus Christ.