We all know how important sleep is, but getting enough sleep is easier said than done. When you do get a chance to get some extra sleep, you lie down and then your mind wanders and you start thinking about stuff. Some people can rest but still feel stressed and wake up feeling tired. Is there a solution? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today: the difference between rest and being restful in episode 20 of the Resilient Faith Online podcast. Welcome, I'm Marissa Shatterick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm a digital strategist and certified copywriter, but more importantly, a woman of faith. In this podcast, you'll find a biblical perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we let our faith shape our work to create positive change online. To connect with our private Facebook group of faith-based online entrepreneurs, go to MarissaShadrick.com forward slash faith. Do nothing, right? My husband can do this really, really well. He's got me beat. He can totally do nothing and not feel guilty, not even consider anything that needs to be done around the house. But somehow, if I'm sitting around, I start looking around, I see things that need to get done, and I wonder, you know, what can I do to be able to stop doing that? But I do get enough sleep. I do make sure that I incorporate a healthy lifestyle and I try to get plenty of sleep so I can get up early and go walk and do all those things that are good for you. But I just have a hard time just sitting, you know, just sitting and hanging out. I just can't seem to do that. Give me a good book, maybe I can, but it's difficult for me. And I always wondered, am I compromising my health by doing being that way and doing that? But I started thinking about something. And the reason why this came up is because, as you know, I have mentioned that I used to struggle with a lot of insecurity, a lot of anxiety, and God just helped me reframe a lot of limiting beliefs, a lot of things that had me all kind of twisted inside. And I realize now, decades later, how different my life is, how I'm more at peace, and I don't have that high chronic stress that I used to have. You know, life can still dish out lots of challenges and things happen, and there's different seasons in our lives. There's times when we're raising kids, and there's times when family gets sick, and there's times when you're changing jobs, and there's lots of things. You're moving, things that would create stress. But I've noticed even in emergency situations for myself that I'm still more at peace and more rested, at least living a restful life. So I started looking at this topic between rest, which when you take it for at face value, what people call rest, it's the freedom from activity. And that is important. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying not to rest. Rest is important. In fact, I'll even give you a summary from Forbes magazine. They were talking about physical rest. And rest, they equated that as being part of a person's success. If you could incorporate rest in your daily regimen, then you will obviously reduce stress and that chronic stress is not going to compromise your immune system. You're going to be more creative, you're going to be more alert, you're going to be more productive. And in another article in medical news today, they gave information from different sources like CDC and other places. And they were saying that rest helps with concentration. Rest also is a way to consume fewer calories because if you go to bed earlier, you're not going to eat. If you stay up later in the evening and get, you know, the urge to snack, you're going to eat less. And so you're going to consume fewer calories. They also said it will boost your activity because obviously, if you get enough rest, you're going to have more energy and you're going to be more inclined to be more active and perhaps even exercise or get up and walk in the morning. And they also added a few statistics from CDC saying that when you rest, it lowers heart disease. And the connection is when you rest, your blood pressure regulates itself. And so if you have higher blood pressure, you're more inclined to have risk when it comes to heart disease. But if you can lower the blood pressure, better for you. So rest lowers blood pressure, therefore lowers risk of heart disease. Then they also had said that rest will allow you to be more social and have emotional intelligence. In other words, you're not going to be so grumpy, right? You're not going to be so grumpy. And you're going to have more empathy for others because you're rested. You're going to be present. You're going to be able to listen to people and be more empathetic. But when you don't get enough rest, you're not inclined to do that because you're just not feeling well, right? You're not, you're not at your optimum. They also said that it prevents depression. There were studies in the Australian New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry that showed that people with insomnia are more likely to show signs of depression. So for those people that don't have insomnia and can sleep and get more rest, it helps prevent depression. It says it lowers also inflammation, which is a big one for health. But rest supports your immune system, which by far that's awesome if you can support your immune system and not let that get compromised. But here's the problem. We try to squeeze rest in the middle of all the busyness, right? We try to go about day after day with the pace that we have, week after week, month after month, stressed, exhausted. And then we try to cram in those three-day holiday weekends or vacations or those opportunities of maybe we can sleep in and get extra sleep on one day of the week while the other days were just going on overdrive. So that can't be healthy, right? I mean, just the sound of it sounds terrible, right? And so I started thinking simply because in my own experience, when I was really working on myself spiritually and emotionally and really connecting with God, I found that He was teaching me how to be restful. And that really changed a lot of the way I took care of myself as far as being restful. So let me explain what that means. So to me, restful goes beyond the physical. And that is something that really I believe manifests in the physical because as we work from the inside, it surfaces to the outside of who we are. So I really think when we want change, we got to start from the inside out. And I, in another podcast, I explained about just the process that I went through to renew my mind in really taking captive every thought and bringing it to the obedience of Christ because the thoughts begin to trigger emotions. And sometimes those emotions are negative, and the emotions will try to influence that instantaneous decision that we make that's almost undetectable, but we're making a decision. And that split second, we have a choice to stop and consider the emotion we're feeling, if it's anxiety, if it's fear, whatever it is, to stop and think, what are we going to choose to believe? And at that moment, that choice will lead to our actions. And so I practice this for so long. I learned it way back from Nancy Missler. Oh gosh, I think it was 30 years ago, 32 years ago, and it served me so well to be able to learn how to have a restful soul, a restful heart. And that's built into the physical as well. And it helps me to be able to see things differently and not, I never really had panic attacks, but not always go to the doom and gloom scenario. I remember one time when I was praying in the morning, I was busy, busy, busy. I was in ministry, I was doing a lot of stuff, you know, doing stuff for the Lord, you know, busy, busy all the time, and just thanking God for giving me strength and giving me health. And as I was busy going about my business, right? I just sensed his grace. And I sensed his whisper just saying, Can you give me that same passion that you have for the things that you're doing for me? It was like the things I was doing for him meant nothing to him. He wanted me, he wanted us to spend time together. He wanted me to lean into his presence and to have passion for his kingdom and the things that he wanted to whisper to my soul. And I was too busy for that. So I learned a lesson about slowing down because even when we're doing the good things, it may not be the right things. So that time I remember it so distinctly, his presence was very sweet, and and the question really wasn't a rebuke as much as it was an invitation to be a part of something that he had planned for me rather than the things that I had planned for me, if that makes sense. It was a time to enter into a season of rest with him and a season of deeper intimacy with him. I really feel that when we aim to having that restful soul, that restful heart, it can help us equip us for the things that we need to do in the physical when it comes to rest, when it comes to exercise, when it comes to those things that are going to take care of this physical body that we have. And I really think that that's what helped me anchor myself in a way that helped me with my relationships. It helped me to grow and try new things, and it helped me when I started writing and when I started doing public speaking, and when I started a business, and when I got certified as a copywriter, all of that came from learning how to rest in him, having that restful soul. It wasn't just going to sleep and getting lots of hours of sleep. I think it's safe to assume that life brings all kinds of seasons in our lives, from parenting to some type of crisis or a deadline, or as we get older, there's caregiving, there's illness, there's all that kinds of things that happen, right? That we have to navigate through. But God's affections remain constant and He carries us to the next season. God also brings us that spiritual rest, that inner rest that we need, a time to walk with him, a time to talk with him. Our hearts can ignite with passion during those seasons, no matter how difficult they may be. So if you're in a winter season, and I'm not talking climate, I'm talking the spiritual season of winter when everything seems dry and nothing is blooming. I want to read this passage. It's Song of Solomon 2, 10 through 12, and it reads like this. God wants to offer quiet comfort, and I think that's where we can really rest. So if you're experiencing a winter season, just know that spring is coming. Enjoy the spiritual growth during that season. But if it's hard and you feel parched in your soul, just know that God is there and he's saying, Come away with me. And that is a beautiful place to be when we're at that place of surrendering and giving him everything that we are. It's a beautiful place to be. That brokenness is sweet because he comes alongside us in such a special way. So I hope this helped you today. It's a different little perspective on rest. I know I've lived through this because I tried physical rest and I couldn't get away from the anxiety and I needed spiritual and emotional rest. And it really helped me to be able to find that peace I was looking for. So until next time, I hope you have a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon. I would love it if he would be able to give me a rate and review on Apple Podcasts that will help me get this message out to more people. But until next time, take care. Bye-bye. If you found this podcast helpful, then subscribe from wherever you're listening today so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. So keep them coming and share this with a friend. For more free content, go to marissashadrick.com and remember keep cultivating resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.