He Will Give Us Rest

My two oldest kids are in ninth and seventh grade, so they can both attend the high school ministry at our church. One of them is not super keen on this activity, but I think it’s important to connect with other kids your age that share your faith. so I want him to at least give it a fair try for a couple of months. I have a feeling that once he connects with just a couple of new friends, he will enjoy himself and consider the time well-spent. Since our church is a bit of a drive from where we live, I decided that I will go ahead and serve with the students, too.

Before the first Wednesday, the church hosted a connect night for both new and old leaders and the new youth pastor who just came on staff. We had the opportunity to cast the vision for what we feel our youth needs (some of the youth group kids were there, too, so they could speak up if we were totally off the mark). I felt like the night really glorified the Lord, because the group that showed up had some amazing ideas to give the new youth pastor. The best one came in the plea of a father. He said that what he really desires for his kids is that they know, down to their core, that Jesus is the Savior who loves them so much that he went to the cross for them. He wants them to know that the love of Christ is real, tangible, life-giving, and peace-giving. Basically, this love is what keeps us going when we feel like we can’t go on any longer.

That is exactly the thing I want for my kids, too. When hard times come, I want them to seek Jesus and feel sure he is there with them. In every circumstance, good and hard, I want them to have no doubt that they can trust our God. That’s not to say they can’t doubt how that trust is going to be realized or what God is actually doing and why, but I hope the core of their trust in Jesus for salvation, love, and the hope of heaven is solid.

I believe we need examples of this kind of faith in order for it to truly become real to us. I didn’t become a Christian—a true believer if you will—until I was about 22 years old. Before then, I cannot remember a person in my life who shared with me or showed me what faith in the fire really looks like lived out. Certainly I have those people in my life, but I just don’t think sharing all the things was how they functioned. Also, one of them is a grandparent, and I realize now how much of her life was filled with sadness and brokenness, but also how God provided and showed up for her. Although I know more of her stories now, I have not asked her which came first, God showing up, thereby building her trust, or if she trusted first and watched the Lord work. I suppose maybe some of each is really what made her the great woman she is now.

At some point in my own journey, I had to throw myself into the fire, so-to-speak. I decided to be a travel nurse, which took me off by myself, hoping the Lord would carry me and strengthen me to be OK alone. Well, alone with him. Even with the presence of God, which was very evident to me, it was a lonely three months, but I learned so much. I made some questionable decisions during that time, even though I truly wanted to serve and seek the Lord. Looking back, I know the Lord was with me. He held me through all my doubt, fear, and shame. Then, he gave me a wonderful gift. During my second travel assignment, I lived with my best friend, whose faith was also fairly new. Sharing that time of exploration and leaning into relationship with God was huge to me, and I think that was probably the first time I realized that God cares about all the details of our lives.

Along the route of this story, I married my husband, and while he is amazing, I think our faith stories have more intertwined than inspired one another. It has been my friends and mentors whose stories of great faith and trials have inspired and grown my own. I have watched friends struggle with depression and anxiety and still trust the Lord. I have watched one have a very sick child and still trust the Lord through all the treatments and surgeries. I have watched another lose a most precious person in her life and still trust that the Lord is with her, that she is seeing him in action as she moves through her daily life. Sometimes, we even end up with a story to share ourselves, as I have after two miscarriages, which is something I thought would break me, and yet here I still am, trusting that the Lord is doing something and that I will meet my babies in heaven.

Circling back to student ministries and that initial meeting, what I realized is that God needs us all to share our stories, our victories, and our sadness–the times when we still see his hand and still walk in trust with him. I learned that faith in God is possible all the time by noticing how others trust him in all their moments. I learned that faith in God is possible all the time because other people first told me it was possible and then lived that out in their lives while I was able to watch. The students at our churches need to hear and see our stories in action. They need to know we struggled through and our faith might be a little more dogged, but still intact. We need to show them that Jesus is who he says he is and that he is faithful to be present with us.

The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and know you by name.” (Ex. 33:14-17 NIV)

When we trust that God is who he says he is and that he will do what he says he will do, rest follows—soul rest, even when the circumstances seem unfathomable. He is pleased with us. He knows our names. He will go with us, and he will give us the kind of rest that is hard to explain. I believe this, and I hope the Lord will give me opportunities to share about his goodness in my life with those who need to see his handiwork.

Carla Clemens enjoys a crazy, beautiful life with her military husband, four sons, and a daughter. A baby interrupts her homeschool days in the best ways, and she is always attempting to live with mindfulness of each moment. She hopes to look at the world and each person in it in light of our amazing Creator, and therefore, to see each moment presented as an opportunity to love and serve him more. Carla relishes time to ponder God’s Word and have quiet moments with him and her coffee. She loves doing life with other mamas and encouraging them to simply be who God has made them to be.

Photograph © Vladislav Nikonov, used with permission