Real Rest: get away with God and recover your life

“Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” ~Matthew 11:28–30

What do the words, living freely and lightly mean to you? It’s a question that I’ve been posing lately to myself. Certainly, the world has not felt free and light in recent months. In fact, if you watch the news it seems that our world is becoming more dark and less open, by the second. There is a sense of great uncertainty and human life seems to be a cheap commodity. How did we get to this place?

Just last week, I spent several days in Iceland, a country where I had never been before, but had always wanted to go. It was a life list item for me. Some refer to this as a bucket list. I say life list because I want to focus on realizing my dreams while I live, not on doing them before I die. It’s a small shift in language and a personal preference of mine.

In addition to getting away to Iceland, I was seeking real rest. I felt, somehow, that I needed to reignite a feeling of life within me and to reconnect to the One who created me. You see, the past few months were unthinkable as I lost both of my parents in January and February. They were the ones who adopted me from foster care in the United Kingdom and their exit from this world left me feeling, well, orphaned once again. It was a sensation that I did not expect. I’m a grown woman, after all, with kids of my own. This feeling of being out of control — of abandonment — did not sit well with me, and I didn’t want to face this grief. Yet, as I moved through those weeks and months after my parents died — I realized that I could not continue avoiding sorrow. I had to feel it, experience it, and be with it.

I needed to get away with God. I needed to be still and watch how He would lead me through this time of personal crisis. I needed to be with God. I needed to hold His hand. I needed to walk with Him and let Him guide me.

And, that’s exactly what I did while in Iceland. I learned of God in new and exciting ways, as He showed me beauty in moments that brought me to tears. Gentle moments like seeing Icelandic horses roam free in green fields — something I had always dreamed of experiencing. There, in those places, I began moving with God’s unforced rhythms. How gentle and graceful my Creator was as he showed me the meaning to real rest.

You see, the key to recharging, refueling, readjusting, reigniting, reevaluating, renewing … all starts with God. In Matthew 11:28–30, He invites us to be with Him. That’s a change in relationship as, all too often, we ask God to be with us. We don’t ask to be with Him.

The shift I made while in Iceland will forever change the way I move through this uncertain and unforgiving world. I’m walking with God. I’m working with God. And, I am watching how He moves and leads.

Earlier, I asked how we arrived to a place where life seems cheap and hate seems easy. My answer? I think we stopped walking with God.

I believe that if we could all start walking with God, we might actually start walking with each other. How might that change the state of the world today? You see, walking with God has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with faith, and relationship to a Creator who does not desire heaviness and darkness in our days. He offers light and freedom — something we all need individually and collectively.

God asks us to keep company with Him, to get away with Him so that we might recover our lives. In being with God, He has helped me to recover a Michelle that lived prior to the loss of both parents, a Michelle who knows she is not an orphan because she is a daughter of God, a Michelle who can feel pain but not get lost in it, a Michelle who can be sincere of her short-comings and still love the person she sees in the mirror, a Michelle who lives freely and lightly.

The miracle of it all is that you don’t have to fly to another country to make this transformation. Try walking with God today. Right here. Right now. Take His hand. Try working with Him and watching how He moves in your life. Trust Him and take the time to know Him.

I returned home from my trip feeling more renewed than I ever have, as I experienced — during my getaway — more love than I ever knew possible. I am repurposed through God because I walked with Him in Iceland. I walked with God!

And, so I ask you again: what do the words, living freely and lightly mean to you? This may be the most important question you’ll ever be asked.

Onward to real rest,

Michelle Madrid-Branch is an author, speaker and global advocate for women and children. She is the host of The Greater Than Project, a web series exploring the greatness within women. She is also the author of Adoption Means Love: Triumph of the Heart, The Tummy Mummy, and Mascara Moments: Embracing the Woman in the Mirror.

You can connect with Michelle on Twitter @LetHerBeGreater or on Facebook. To learn more about Michelle, please visit MichelleMadridBranch.com.