I wrote these thoughts from my devotions in Prayers of Rest by Asheretah Ciuciu. I thought they connected to lessons learned in the Healing Journey. I pray you are blessed.

Winter Rest Time – September 29

Prayers of Rest A. Ciuciu Moody 2022 Pg. 281

Psalm 147:16 NIV “He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.”

R – Recite God’s Goodness

Lord, your creativity is inspiring. To realize that each snowflake is unique, is hard to grasp. To watch those Flakes, blanket the earth. To watch and ponder the beauty each adds as they gather together in their fall even with their differences is awe-inspiring.

E – Express/Confess

Your word says you created all the world and all that is in it in six days; but on the seventh day you rested. You rested, and you blessed rest and made it holy! You built into creation rests, and you control the weather. Winter is a time of dormancy and rest for plants and even animals. Night is a time of rest too, yet that is when the beauty of the stars sparkle. Help me to see rest and sleep as a time of refreshing, renewal and holiness. Help me to anticipate times of rest with you. The older I get the more I realize my need for rest, both body and soul.

Genesis 2:2-3 NIV “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so, on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Job 37:6-7 NIV “He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor.”

S – Seek Stillness Deep Breathe What do you say?

God: Rest in me – -Behold my beauty.

Psalm 27:4 NIV “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

T – Trust

Me: Unless I pause and look up at night, I miss the beauty of your stars. I also miss your beauty and majesty when I rush through this busy life but fail to look up for you. Help me to yield to your command to rest…and keep it holy. Help me to quiet my body, mind and soul and be refreshed in the beauty of your presence and peace.

1 Peter 3:4 NIV “Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Exodus 20:8 NIV “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God”

Exodus 33: 14 NIV “The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

1 Chronicles 29:11 NIV “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head overall.”