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Leading from a reservoir of calm

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Archives for October 2020

The Red Thread

Nancy Reece · Oct 18, 2020 · Leave a Comment

When I left the corporate world a few years ago, I made a choice to get away and seek a time of rest, renewal, and preparation for a new season of service. I decided to go through ten years of prayer journals to discover red threads of wisdom the Lord was teaching me. While some red threads were one to two years in length, there was only one ten-year long thread.  

For that entire period, and quite frankly years before, God was working in my heart to teach me about slowing down and spending time with Him. But slowing down and spending time with Him and others competed with my tightly scheduled calendar.  

Not long after discovering this red thread, I spent two and a half hours over lunch with a friend. It wasn’t planned that way, but there wasn’t anything on my calendar I had to do. We caught up, shared insights, and encouraged each other. More time helped us listen better, ask thoughtful questions, and speak into each other’s lives in a fresh way. It was the first time in my life I’d ever made that kind of time for someone over lunch. As I was driving home, I realized the many times I had cut short a conversation that was important in order to make the next meeting. I began allowing much more time for meetings, conversations, and lunch, providing space and time for God to work. And the red thread of relationship has become more important than my calendar and to-do list.  

‘Spend time with me, slow down, and experience rest and relationship. Find peace for your soul. I will give you My heart that values people over success, self, and stuff. My heart that listens, loves and encourages. My heart that deeply cares about people.’

Psalm 62:1  My soul finds rest in God alone. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. (MSG) 

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Choosing True Rest

Nancy Reece · Oct 5, 2020 · Leave a Comment

In January 2012, I returned from a 30-day sabbatical and 1400 emails had accumulated on my computer. I deleted them all with the touch of a key – never reading one of them. It felt great!  

2011 had been a tough year. The year was marked by the death of my father and my mother’s ravaging of dementia. And the difficulties continued.  While working with a client, I unexpectedly found myself in the path of Hurricane Sandy. In the midst of the storm, I heard the Lord tell me to take a time of rest. I realized that the past year had been a lot like a hurricane. His gentle love and wisdom were guiding me.  

After making the decision to take a break, I resolved not to read my email while on sabbatical and to delete it unread when I returned. It was important to communicate clearly to my clients that I would not be answering email or phone, nor would I be reading any email that came in while I was gone. In the past, I would review email while on vacation because I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by it later. I knew my myself well enough to know that if I didn’t make a commitment to deleting those emails unread, I would cheat!  And cheating would have diminished the true rest I was seeking. 

I returned from a truly restful sabbatical. The response from my clients was overwhelmingly positive when they realized I had actually deleted the unread emails. God gave me the courage and determination to choose real rest and it was a catalyst for others to do so as well. His gentle love and wisdom will give you the same courage and determination to choose true rest.

Job 11:18  Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.

Psalm 23:2-3 He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength.

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