Hello friends! Tonight I am writing a topic that is very dear to my heart because I have lived it and constantly rely on it each and every day. This entry can directly affect you spiritually and physically, and if you heed this advice, your wellness in life will undoubtedly rise!
Isn’t the sleep cycle a peculiar thing? Isn’t it fascinating how our bodies require sleep? Don’t you wonder why we get sleepy at night and we wake up in the morning? Our bodies divinely operate on a mechanism called circadian rhythm. This rhythm releases certain hormones at appropriate times, resulting in a response in the body. In our bodies, we have a hormone that causes drowsiness, called melatonin. Due to our circadian rhythm, our bodies release melatonin in higher amounts during the night hours. For example, babies highest melatonin levels are between the hours of midnight and 8 AM.
Not only is this circadian rhythm important, but our response to its signal is as well. Our bodies function best on eight hours of sleep per night, especially when these hours are on a regular sleep schedule. As a college student, eight hours of sleep per night is unrealistic to be honest! However, I recognize the importance of listening to my body and getting as much sleep as possible. Not only will our minds be drowsy, but our body systems decrease their efficacy when sleep is lacking. Therefore, I encourage you to sleep often and regularly! Try to get AT LEAST six hours of sleep per night and on a schedule if possible! For example, I go to bed between midnight and 1 AM most nights and wake up to my precious sister’s phone call at 7:30 every morning to start my day! Be creative and realize that your body’s health is at stake!
On a more spiritual note, rest is a topic often mentioned in the Bible and one that is essential to our faith. Ps. 62:5 states, “Find rest, o my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.” Our peace and rest can come ONLY from the Lord. Matthew 11:28 declares, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” What an incredible promise this is. What would it look like if we lived this out? What would it look like if we embraced Christ’s rest each day? Traffic would no longer be stressful. Tests would no longer seem ominous. Deaths would no longer cause dissention in our souls. Relational issues would be overcome with the peace that passes all understanding. The future would no longer be fear-filled. Our lives would radically transform.
Go ahead and check out Hebrews 4. The author of Hebrews describes the Sabbath-rest for God’s people. Although now is not the time to get into the Sabbath and such (although feel free to comment!), some important principles can be taken from this passage. Entering Christ’s rest means entering into His salvation and into union with Him. This unfathomable rest comes with salvation. All we have to do is execute it, putting ourselves aside and embracing Christ’s powerful rest. Verse 11 says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.” Praise the Lord for His salvation and eternal rest!
As I’m writing this, I typed in the word “rest” on Biblegateway.com, and the Lord is revealing something very unique to me as I am typing. This search came up with 496 references to the word “rest.” However, more verses had the word “restore” in them than “rest.” This brings up the most key point of resting in Christ. Restoration in our lives, with each other, and in Christ can only happen through deeply resting and abiding in Him. The Lord undoubtedly desires to restore our souls completely to Him. This is imperative to understand: spiritual growth will not happen unless we are physically rested. The two are inevitably intertwined. Therefore, if your body’s physical health does not motivate you to sleep, your relationship with Jesus Christ should. So many opportunities are before us, if we only seek Him and faithfully obey. However, we must be in the right state, physically and spiritually, in order for this to happen. Sleep is sometimes the most spiritual act you can do!
This concept is so special to me because I wore myself out in high school. I did too many activities and did not get enough sleep. The ONLY way for me to get through the day was for me to rest in the Lord constantly. If I did not rely on Him or rest in Him throughout the whole day, I would be way too exhausted at the end of the day. Therefore, I exort you to not let rest only be a nighttime activity! But we can find rest all day, every day! Feel free to comment and tell me your thoughts and ideas!
In that case, I encourage you to take a few moments to rest and abide in Christ. To rest in His favor. His glory. His plan. His perfect peace. His redemption. His sovereignty. His provision. His purposes. His promises. His truth. His salvation. His Word. His people. His kingdom. His patience. Just take a deep breath and rest in His everlasting arms.
It’s pretty incredible to apply the ridiculous intricacies of our bodies functioning to spiritual truth, I love doing it, but I gotta sy i think you do it a little better than I do
but really incredible
stuff in there, I loved the part about how restoration comes from
Christ, as does our rest!! Keep on truckin bff, you’re learning some awesome stuff and bein A great teacher to the rest of us, thank you so much!! Have a great week!!
Ps. Sleep is for the weak
Wow! Thanks for the reminder and the info about rest! You are so awesome and your posts are so inspired. I really enjoyed this one…gave me alot to think about! Love you so much!
Your best post yet! What is really cool about your posts is that you’re not just posting about something that someone has taught you, you are posting about things you have experienced. It’s an eyewitness account of what God is doing in your life and who Jesus is to you personally.
Keep it up girl. Really, really, really great stuff!
Alexandra!!! I didn’t know you had an awesome blog like this?!? I love it!! Great entry : ) Hope you had a wonderful Easter!! Love you!