Month: April 2021

Rest, Recharge, Reclaim, Resurrect

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Journey Box

A Special Gift

Finding Zarephath recognizes the challenges of ministry, and the fact that women in ministry rarely get to fully experience their ministries’ conferences, retreats and seminars.  This is your chance to dive into some time with Jesus where nothing is expected of you, no check-in table, no hosting and problem solving… just time for you.  Time for you to spend with Jesus, time to be pampered by gifts specifically chosen to uplift and encourage, free time to quiet your world and relax.  Each box is personally designed, prayed over and prepared for you by name based on your registrations form (which will be sent to you upon purchase).

 

Finding Zarephath is excited to announce our new Journey Box.  These boxes will include everything you need for a deep, meaningful, retreat with Jesus experience. Each box contains worship set playlists, audio and written sessions, guided and reflective journal time, free time, and gifts for you to unwrap as you journey through the box.  The value of the gifts alone exceeds the list price of the box.

A Journey of Truth

The Crowned Box, the first in our series, will walk you through a deep look at what God thinks, feels, and says about you.  We will take a hard look at all the things in our lives that we allow to define us and distract us from that truth.  Put together by a  team of women who have served in all areas of ministry, this is the box we all wish we had had.  Something to remind us that today’s challenges are not all encompassing or eternally defining.  The box will take you on an exciting journey, through the joy of God’s promises, the hard work of reclaiming that which was lost, and moving forward.  

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Commanded Rest

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A Command and An Invitation

Forgotten rest

Rest….. for most of us it is a challenge. Coming out of Easter and recognizing the need for rest by so many women serving in their local churches and ministries, we’ve spent the last couple weeks talking about different parts of rest and restoration.  My devotions circle, the girls and I that share a daily devotional time, have been doing a 7 day study on rest, our blog posts have gotten more engagement on the topic of rest than anything else we have shared over the last year… that should tell us something.  Rest is hard.  It shouldn’t be, it was actually designed to be the opposite of that, but we live in a noisy world, in a demanding world, and the challenges of work, family, entertainment, and yes, even church, don’t often remind us of the value of rest.

“Much like our body needs actual rest to repair, so do we as people. When we push too hard or overlook our needs, we can start to malfunction and burnout. Being self-aware of what we need can be such an overlooked essential to thriving in life. I have seen it too many times that people simply don’t know how to give themselves permission to have needs or ask for help, and they end up hurting themselves and other people because of it.” -7 Types of Sabbath for our Modern Culture, Claire Harris, JH Israel 

I have pushed too hard, I have forgotten to rest… often.  As we age, our bodies are quicker to highlight the overuse and under-rested, but in my younger days, 4-5 hours of sleep was the norm, having to be among the first in and the last out in every ministry event, checking my phone messages/emails constantly, even going on vacation but making sure everyone knew they could and should call.  I spent many years not being fully present in my “away time” because I was determined to stay connected.  And it didn’t feel wrong, it felt like serving, it felt like willing sacrifice, at times it even felt like obedience, except it wasn’t.

 

 

hard truth

“When we don’t acknowledge our needs, we actually deny Christ His rightful place in our lives. It’s like if you were drowning and you told God that you didn’t need Him, that you can do it yourself. The sad truth is, that all that is, is pride disguised behind self-sufficiency.” -7 Types of Sabbath for our Modern Culture, Claire Harris, JH Israel.

Oof… that is hard to hear.  But if I shut down the defensive reaction of  “yeah, but…” I recognize the truth.  God chose us to do whatever it is He has called us to do.  He wants our service.  He has uniquely gifted us for His purposes, but He doesn’t need us.  He is God.  He chooses to use us, but He also tells us to rest.  Arrogance and pride provoke us to believe we can’t step away, the ministry can’t function without us.  Brokenness and Identity insecurity, motivate us to be needed, to be irreplaceable, to stay on top of.  That feels harsh, it’s not meant to be.  The demands of ministry feed so many good things in us, serve so many good purposes of God, challenge us to grow in our gifting, and understanding of Jesus, our faith, and our reliance on Him.  But, if not kept in balance, those same demands can easily also feed our insecurities, our need for validation, our reliance on people.

He designed our bodies to rest.  He designed our spirit to rest too.  How are you doing with that?  Has it been too long since you took a day, a weekend, or a week to yourself?  Has it been too long since you just sat with Jesus without an agenda?  Has it been too long since you powered off your electronics, turned off your phone, and made friends with the silence?

A Special invitation

Today, I’d like to invite you to do so.  It may be as simple as a day or even just a few hours of unplugging, it may be a weekend off or some set aside time with family or with God.  And it may be more. 

Finding Zarephath is releasing our first Journey Box offering at the end of this month, this box is filled with stories of other women in ministry, experiences, hard lessons learned and the life and joy that Jesus spoke over our hardest times.  It is filled with guided journal exercises, reading and audio sessions, incredible worship sets, and gifts that will speak directly to your heart as you journey with Jesus. 

The value of the gifts alone are more that the list price of the box, the value of the stories of real women just like you, shared specifically to minister to your heart are immeasurable, the time set aside to sit with Jesus and allow Him to speak, minister and heal is priceless.

The pre-order pricing of the boxes is heavily discounted, and available here today. 

Journey Box

We are a ministry that serves the women who serve their local churches.  We know this last year has been hard.  If you are in need of your own Journey Box, and simply cannot afford it, please reach out to us. We are want nothing to stand in the way of your ability to sit with and experience the amazing gifts Jesus has for you.

Contact Us

A Special Rest

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9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

– Hebrews 4:9-11

A Special Rest

I have failed at rest more times than I can count.  I have often missed the need for rest and worn myself out striving and doing and being because the world simply couldn’t continue without me.  Even in the face of exhaustion, I have taken time off from work or ministry, only to go home and chase project after project.  Even vacations away from the to-do list at home came with their own to-do list, the must see, must do, the must experience.  A friend once challenged me with the charge that He tries to live a life he doesn’t need a vacation from, and I have pondered that quite a bit over the years.

 

If you read our blog or check out our posts, it doesn’t take much to conclude I love vacations, I love to travel.  Water and sun especially speak to my heart.  I also spent most of my childhood in Germany, and so travel to Europe invites not only great new adventures, but also trips down memory lane, a coming home if you will.  When my friend challenged me to live a life that doesn’t require a vacation, I initially took that as a direct assault on my love of travel and exploring, it took me a while to realize that was not what he was saying.

Vacations, in and of themselves, are not the problem.  God filled this world with so many opportunities to see His work, His beauty, His vastness.  From deserts to mountains to oceans; cities to villages to abandoned places; monuments built at the hands of people, and monuments spoken into existence by God – travel, experiences, adventures, or lazy afternoons have their place and value.  None of these, however, will provide the special rest God calls us to on their own.

But God is calling me to more, and He’s calling you too.  To intentionally step away from our usual patterns.  Whether that means actually physically relocating away from the distractions or choosing to curl up at home and ignore the to-do list, is between you and Him.  But in that space He wants more than a push of the pause button, He wants more than few minutes of quiet, He definitely wants more for us than a brain numbing distraction.  He’s inviting us into His presence.  To lean into Him and let his breath slow ours, to let His words wash over us, His peace surround us.   

I happen to do that best in water.  If He grants me a trip with an ocean or a lake – great.  If He opens the door to a pool or a hot-tub – that works too.  A rainy day in the comfort of my home is also a rare treat, and when the weather doesn’t cooperate or travel isn’t an option, a soak in the bathtub will do.  And in that space, everything else washes away.  I am reminded of His beauty, His care for me.  I regain perspective on my life.  My world, for just a moment, is a small glimmer in the greatness of God.  It is in those moments, sitting in the presence of my God who truly knows me and loves me anyway, that I find this special rest.  A healing rest.

That special rest He refers to in Hebrews, that can only be found in intentionally setting everything else aside and quieting our world and in the quietness, resting in the presence of God.  When I was younger, that kind of stillness was hard, I wanted to do and move and strive and achieve.  Now, the physical stillness is easier (maybe too easy some days), but I still tend to fill the silence with books (in hand or audio), music, movies, TV, games on my cellphone…. Anything that distracts and entertains me.

Where do you rest like that?  As you move throughout your day, your week, this season,  I’d like to challenge you to find your resting place and spend some time there.  Everything you are currently juggling will still be there when you return, but you will be different.  God is much more concerned with our heart than our circumstances, more concerned with our relationship than our accomplishments, more concerned with who you are than what you do… I promise.   Make a date, be intentional about it, and leave the to-do list at the door, He is waiting.

An Invitation For You

We’d love to invite you to your own guided retreat with Jesus with our new Journey in a Box offering:

 

 

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After Easter

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The Next Chapter

Well, it’s Tuesday, Easter is just a mere two days behind us, but if you are like me and the vast majority of people, the Easter celebration is quickly fading.  If you work for a church or serve in a significant capacity, weeks (if not months) of prep came to a beautiful climax on Sunday as you shared the joy of Easter with a hurting world.  And now, as you settle back into the routine of planning for next week and the week after, you are already wondering, “who is going be the first to say the ‘C’ word,” you know… Christmas.

The build-up in churches to the two biggest Christian holidays are not without reason.  Aside from worshiping and celebrating the incredible life and death of our Savior, those two days bring more visitors to churches across the nation than any other Sunday; and Pastors, Sunday school teachers, care teams, production teams and everyone else working in a church, know this is their best chance to share the life and hope of Jesus with those outside the church.

But before we put Easter behind us too quickly, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about “after Easter.”  

We shared a daily quote earlier last week that has been resonating with me.  “Jesus didn’t say ‘I am finished.’ he said ‘it is finished.’  He was just getting started.”

Christ’s death and resurrection are not the end of the story, merely the end of a chapter.  The truth is, everything He has taught us in the 2000+ years since His resurrection, everything I have learned from Him in my own life, everything I know about my purpose, my life, my gifting, are a result of the chapters He has written since the resurrection.  Isaiah tells us that He came “to bind the broken hearted and to set the captives free.”  He came to restore what was lost.  He came to heal the rift between us and God, and that my friends, is not a once a year celebration, but rather a daily gift.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always walk in the freedom that Jesus gave that day.  I don’t always remember to offer him my broken heart moments and lean into what He says about them.  I certainly don’t  always (or really ever) feel worthy of the sacrifice He made on the cross.  And yet he has made it clear we are His beloved, and we were worth it.

As we walk into the chapter after Easter, God reminds me of His truths.

I am a reflection of God.
I am a masterpiece.
I am a child of light and a child of the day.
I am enough
I am created for good..
I am known. 
I am chosen.
I am divinely appointed.
I have a calling
I have a purpose.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I am the beloved.
I have great value.
I am a child of God.
I am delighted in.
I am Royalty. 
I have a glory.

Today I’d like to invite you to join me in staying in the moment, of sitting in His truth.  Jesus’ story, my story, and your story don’t end at the cross, they begin there.  On that day we were rescued, ransomed and restored.  We were given freedom, identity, and security.  Jesus wasn’t finished with us then and He isn’t finished with you now. 

“Crowned”

Are you interested in doing some serious identity work and spending time with Jesus?  He has so much He wants to say to you and we are excited to invite you to our first Journey in a Box offering: “Crowned- unboxing your identity.”