Today, I want to introduce you to the wonderful Asheritah from One Thing Alone. Go read her about page and you will be in love with her and her blog. I encourage you to go check out the words on the pages of her blog. You will leave feeling so encouraged! Thank you Asheritah for being here today and for blessing us with your words of encouragement.
“Just sit for five minutes,” he ordered, gently guiding me by the shoulders to the nearby card table.
I begrudgingly complied, watching the clock tick the seconds by.
We were canning tomatoes in 90-degree weather sans air conditioning, and I insisted we get it done that weekend.
Sure, I was eight months pregnant, sweating buckets, and nesting, but something deeper compelled me.
I felt guilty wasting the overabundance of tomatoes in our garden, guilty letting the summer go by without something to show for it, guilty putting my feet up while I watched my husband work.
[The Work that Never Ends]
Guilt can be a powerful motivator.
But it’s a dangerous one as well.
Spend only 5 minutes on the internet and you’ll find enough guilt-inducing messages to last a lifetime.
Between well-wishing relatives offering friendly advice and the never-ending stream of to-do’s and warnings we get from social media, our work is never done.
- I must feed my family three made-from-(organic)-scratch meals a day.
- I must exercise regularly and dress fashionably to keep my husband’s heart at home.
- I must have a perfectly-decorated house that’s always tidy (despite my 11-month adventurous daughter).
- I must breastfeed proudly and make all my baby food at home from organic produce from my own garden.
- I must attend church every Sunday morning and evening, as well as the mandatory Wednesday night Bible study and occasional prayer meetings.
- I must work outside the home to supplement our income but not enjoy it too much or find fulfillment in a career.
- I must be quiet and demure but also witty and fun to be around.
…Just writing that list is exhausting, but I have felt the pressure to do every one of those things every day in order to be a “righteous woman.”
[I’ll Tell You a Secret]
Your list may look different from mine, but we all have them, don’t we? An internal (or external) list of things to do in order to measure up to the kind of woman we (and others) expect us to be.
Can I tell you a secret?
I’m weary.
From the moment my alarm goes off at the crack of dawn to the moment my head touches the pillow well past midnight, I’m like the energizer bunny that just keeps going even if my heart feels like it’s running on empty.
And I’m not the only one. I’ve talked to so many friends who have let their mask slip and admit they’re tired of this never-ending charade of perfect housewife.
We need someone to gently take us by the shoulders, sit us in a chair, and invite us to rest.
His name is Jesus.
[Great News for the Good Girl]
God doesn’t call us to a to-do list nor does He expect us to have it all together. In fact, all those rules and guidelines do nothing but infect our souls with despair. Because we can’t be perfect. Only Jesus is.
Hear His beautiful words:
Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest.
~Matthew 11:28
Here is the Great News: Through His death on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the demands of the Law so that you and I may rest in His finished work.
We don’t have to try hard to have it all together. It’s precisely our neediness that makes us candidates for God’s grace.
You must only believe.
That’s it.
Are you weary, dear one?
Put down the to-do list and the tomato jars. Pull up a chair at the Table of the Lamb.
And find rest for your soul.
Hi! My name is Asheritah and I’m so glad you stopped by. My hope is to inspire you to maintain a daily relationship with Jesus so you can be a rocking student, wife, mother, sister, employee, grocery shopper, or whatever else God has called you to be.
Blog: One Thing Alone
Leave a Reply