I Will Give You Rest

Happy New Year, everyone!
Isn't it crazy that it's 2020 already? Somehow that number sounds so futuristic. ;) I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends! We had many different celebrations around Christmas time--since both Luke's family and mine live nearby now, it makes for a jam-packed schedule of spending time at different homes around the holidays. It was a ton of fun, though, and we are so thankful to have like minded family that we can fellowship freely with and not have to worry about angry dinner conversations or difficult choices on what to refuse participation in politely. I definitely don't take that for granted, because I know so many have to face things like that around the holidays!

Baby boy Orwig is doing very well, and likes to make his presence very known these days with lots and lots and LOTS of movement!! ;) He is such a crazy active little fellow...most especially at night when this Mama is trying to get some sleep. Ha! I'm 26 weeks along, so the third trimester is coming right up. In many ways it feels like this pregnancy is going very quickly, but other times (like when I am trying to get things done and feel like a three ton walrus) it seems like a very long time till he gets here. ;P I know the time will come before we know it, though!

This post is one that I've actually been wanting to write since before Christmas, but I keep putting it off because I keep studying more about the topic, and finding new verses that I love and want to include, and well...just don't be surprised if there happens to be a Part 2 to this post at some point in the future! :)

One of the biggest things God has been working on me about lately is the idea of rest. Both physical and spiritual. Physically, rest has become absolutely vital to me over the last few months, as some small difficulties with pregnancy have made it extremely hard for me to be the go-getter that I typically am/want to be. And quite honestly, as my body grows and changes with every day that goes by, physical rest is becoming even MORE important! :) Much more vital than physical rest, however, is spiritual rest. 

To be honest, I have failed at both types of rest quite often lately. Out of frustration with current physical limitations, I push myself too hard and wind up knocked over and hurting a lot more than is necessary. In a spirit of faithlessness, I refuse to trust God and His promises to me and become fretful and worried, living in doubt and fear and stressing out for no reason.

I've never really done the whole "Word of the Year" thing before...I know many friends who have really enjoyed it, but I had just never actually chosen ONE concept to focus on throughout the year. But at the beginning of this year, I realized that God had been speaking to me about this SO much, it was almost a given: my word of the year for 2020 is "Rest". 

This has been a lot of intro, I know, but I wanted to give some background into my study and how much it means to me before I just launched in. :) Here are a few things I have written down in my study journal over the last couple months. (Alliterated because I'm Baptist and that's just what we do, haha!! ;P)

1. The Preparation for Rest
"And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning." Exodus 16:23

God Himself instituted the practice of resting (specifically on the Sabbath) when He created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Later, He set up this principle for His people to follow. However, God didn't expect or require them to simply drop everything and rest with no preparation or provision for the rest period. They were to make ready in order to be purposefully still and not work. However, this did NOT mean that all tasks were perfectly complete and nothing was left undone before they rested. They made specific preparations for the Sabbath, and when the day came, they rested. Whatever was left undone could simply wait until the next day. In our goal-oriented and perfectionist society today, we sometimes have a hard time resting while there are still tasks to be done. However, there will always be something to do, something to fill our time with. The decision lies with us to let some of that go and CHOOSE to purposefully rest.

2. The Purpose of Rest
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12

God's plan for rest is that His children will be refreshed and uplifted. His thoughts toward us are of good, not evil, and His commandments to us are not grievous (burdensome or harsh). Rest is a "good and perfect gift" (James 1:17) from the hand of God, meant to bless, not harm. In 1 Chronicles 22:9 and 2 Chronicles 14:6, The Bible speaks of God giving someone rest as a gift or a blessing. When viewed correctly, rest is a valuable resource and should be treated as such.

3. The Placement of Rest
"And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee." 2 Chronicles 14:11

If you are familiar with this story, you'll know that Asa was facing terrible, overwhelming circumstances. As in, going up against a million man army with only half that many on his own side. And yet, in the midst of even that circumstance, he was able to find a place of rest in God.

You may have heard the statement made about joy that it is found in God and does not depend on surroundings or circumstances the way happiness can. Well, from God's Word, it seems to me that rest too can be found even in the middle of chaos, heartbreak, or trial...IF it is a rest based firmly upon God and His promises. It is a CHOICE, not a feeling or an emotion. True rest comes from seeking after God fervently and choosing to trust His Word. 

As I studied this out, it struck me how many things in our Christian lives are like this. Love? It's a choice and an action...though those warm feelings are sometimes there as well, they are a result of the good choices we make, not the other way around. Joy? Same thing. It's a decision we make to not allow our circumstances to dictate our attitude. It's finding our stability in God. Here's a verse that I found during this study that I thought was SO precious:

"And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about."

2 Chronicles 15:15

4. The Price of our Rest

"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious." Isaiah 11:10

The ultimate place of rest is in heaven, in the very presence of God. This rest cannot be obtained without accepting the price that Jesus Christ paid for our redemption--His own blood. Not only can we not reach heaven without Christ, but even here on this earth we will never find true rest outside of a relationship with him. The world talks a lot about finding inner peace and tranquility, and yet their version of those things are shallow and transient at best if they are not based upon The One who is the true Prince of Peace.

5. The Procurement of Rest

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass." Psalm 37:7

This point is similar to No. 3, but I couldn't figure out how to split these thoughts up exactly how I wanted, so two points it is. ;) Like many exercises of faith in our lives, the obtainment of God's rest takes commitment and a daily series of rest-producing choices. This verse in Psalm 37 speaks of waiting patiently for God (choice) and NOT fretting (yet again, a choice). I looked up the dictionary definition of "fret" and thought it was interesting:

Fret: (1) Be constantly or visibly worried or anxious. 

(2) To gradually wear away by rubbing or gnawing.

Fretting both violates a clear command of Scripture (Be careful for nothing...Phillipians 4:6), but also wears away and gnaws at my strength, joy, and hope in God.

I feel like so many times we SAY we want God's rest and peace, and yet the moment by moment choices we make contradict that desire completely. (And I'm as guilty of this as anyone.) One of the biggest things I've noticed in myself is that I hardly ever give myself a CHANCE to actually rest and be still! Every free or quiet moment is squelched by me trying to fill my time up constantly, many times with useless things like scrolling my phone for the twentieth time that day or doing some other frivolous activity instead of taking a moment to just be still. 

Sometimes all it takes to find that rest we crave is to remind ourselves of the goodness and bounty of God.  "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Psalm 116:7-8

Other times, rest can only come through chastisement and repentance/restoration. (As in the case of unrest being due to our own sin or disobedience). "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance." Psalm 94:12-14

I realize this post may seem a little incoherent, but like I said, I have just kept discovering more and more things in God's Word about rest and being still, and it's been really hard to narrow it down enough for a blog post. ;) Let me wrap up with a few more verses I found that I think sum up all these ideas quite well.

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16a

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." Psalm 16:8-9

 "For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:" Isaiah 30:15a

This year, I want to choose to rest in The Lord, no matter the circumstance or situation that I face. How about you?

Mykaela

2018 Here We Come!

Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Happy New Year!!!
Thank you thank you to all of you awesome people for bearing with me as I went MIA for such long stretches! :D What an amazing year 2017 has been. Looking in the archives on this post, where I looked back on 2016, and this one, where I set new goals for 2017, it is such a blessing to see all the ways God has worked. 

I want to quickly go through my goals from this past year, since a lot of you helped keep me accountable for them! ;) 

1. Learn Something New
Well, I definitely accomplished this one! I switched jobs, from the library (which I'd done for three years and knew well), to a Sew and Vac store, which is extremely different from anything I've ever done before. Every day I am finding new things I'm still ignorant about at work! ;P Also, I picked up watercolor painting as a hobby. I'm still at a super beginner level, but I love doing it! New mediums for hand lettering are always nice. ;)

2. Read through God's Word at least twice.
I sort of did this...I went through the whole Bible in 90 days, and I went through the New Testament at least 3 times, and the Psalms many times. So while I didn't get the whole Bible done twice, I definitely kept busy on it, which is always worthwhile. :)

3. Save money when I can.
I did ok with this one, but the missions trip made a large dent in my savings. ;) Which was absolutely 100% worth every cent, so I have no regrets. 

4. Maintain my weight.  
This stayed pretty consistent through the year, and I kept very active, so yay! :)

5. Pick up a new instrument. 
I didn't get around to this one, sadly. :( I couldn't find the right instrument for the right price. I still want to do this soon!

6. Build up my hope chest as I'm able.
This did not happen at all. :/

7. Pray much more. 
While I have SO far to go in this area, I definitely did grow in prayer this last year, with The Lord's help.

8. Write out my songs. 
This didn't happen either!! :'( Ugh...

9. Witness verbally more.
This went up and down...I did better sometimes, and other times I failed completely. Still working on it!

10. Start each day out with gratitude.
I didn't keep the gratitude jars going, but I kept on doing my daily journal of my favorite part of the day. :) God is so good!


This year I was able to fly across the globe to Fiji and Samoa, meeting so many precious friends through the miles. I also grew older relationships...Abby Geist and I spent the entire three weeks of the trip in each other's company 24/7--and didn't hate each other afterwards. ;D My awesome friend Kimberly left to live in Taiwan for 6 months, meaning that our communication was slowed considerably. :( That turned out with one happy consequence...Janan, a dear friend of Kimberly's that I hadn't gotten very close to yet, was able to talk with me a lot more, since neither of us could chat with K as much as normal! ;P As a result, our friendship grew greatly, and I am so very blessed by her. :) I was able to go to Jenny's graduation, which was awesome, as well as spend a day with her family at a lovely cabin in the woods, just before Christmas! I am deeply grateful to God for all of my sweet friends, too numerous to mention here, who love me for my weird crazy self, and don't judge me TOO harshly. ;D

Like I said above, I swapped jobs, which was a bit of a scary decision. I don't sew, and all I know about vacuums is that they suck. (Sorry, bad pun there. ;) However, I have some awesome coworkers who are so gracious to put up with me and teach me all the things I am confused on. Which is a lot. I'm enjoying learning a new line of work, though. :)

One exciting thing that has happened this year is that we have set up a plan for teaching a Bible institute in Jamaica! My dad is heading down there today, actually, and every other month someone from Bible Baptist will be heading down for a week to teach another seminar. We are thrilled that God has opened this opportunity! Jamaica is steeped in doctrinal confusion, and the churches there are in desperate need of good Biblical training. Please pray for these efforts!

My goals for the upcoming year overlap a bit with last year's goals, so I won't expound too much on them, but simply list them out as I wrote them on a slip of paper in the early morning on New Year's Day. :)

• Read God's Word at least 3 times.
• Memorize 12 chapters of Scripture-one per month, perhaps?
• Be very careful about saving money.
• Pray for at least 30 minutes per day, growing that throughout the year. If I don't set specific goals on this, it tends to slip, sadly. :'(
• Write for at least 20 minutes a day.
• Learn a new skill (trying again with the instrument idea, but it might end up being a language or something. ;)
• Spend less time on my phone.
• Cook on a much more regular basis. I bake ALL the time, but I don't make "actual food" as much as I should. ;P

I am praying that God will grow me throughout this year, prepare me for whatever comes next in my life, and teach me to live to the fullest every day that He gifts me with. Praise The Lord that He gives second (and third and fourth and fiftieth) chances, because I am so flawed! I know I'm going to mess up and miss some of these goals, but God willing I will strive towards them! :) 

What are some of your goals for this year? Do you like setting goals at all? Let me know in the comments, and as always...THANK YOU for taking the time to read my humble little blog!! :) You all mean so much to me. God bless you!

Mykaela

Growing! (Hopefully ;)

Hello, all my wonderful readers!
Today instead of an actual post, I have a few quick announcements/favors to ask of you. :) 

First off, I want to say thank you so much to all of you who take the time to read, comment, and repost things from this blog...it really means a lot to me. I don't have a huge reader base, but I didn't start this blog to get massive amounts of readers, I just wanted to be a blessing to someone! :) That being said, I have been trying lately to think of some ways I can refresh or restyle things every now and then. I want to make sure that my content is not only God-honoring, but also pleasant to read and relevant to my readers. 

So, I made a little poll on the sidebar of the blog. If you read my posts via email, (which I think many of you do), would you mind just hopping onto the web version and voting really quick? A desktop or laptop is the most user friendly, but you can do it on your mobile device as well by scrolling to the very bottom of the web page and clicking "View Web Version". It will probably be pretty small, but you can then zoom in and vote that way. It would help me out a ton! :)

Also, if there are any of you that are interested in guest posting for me sometime, I would love it if you'd contact me by my blog email: makingmusicforthemaster@gmail.com

Lastly, I just wanted to let you all know, I've been putting content on my YouTube channel a bit more regularly lately. I have had some time to record a few of my original songs, as well as a couple of piano improv/solos. I don't have a regular upload schedule or anything like that, but you can find the latest videos here. 

Again, I want to make the content on here a joy to read for you all! If at any point you feel like you just aren't getting much out of the posts, or there are too many emails coming in, or anything like that, don't hesitate to either let me know, or simply unsubscribe! I'll never be offended at something like that. ;) 

Thank you again for your time and your feedback, I truly appreciate it! Have a wonderful week. <3
Mykaela

My 2017 Goals

Lamentations 3:22-24 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

I always love the feeling of a new year beginning. It is a fresh start, a time to reevaluate priorities, and to set new ones. It's a time to begin different "traditions", so to speak, or new daily habits and routines. 

I personally don't like using the term "New Year's Resolution" at all, however...simply because it brings up negative thoughts to me. ;) I think of that term, and it means a temporary commitment that people make, and fizzle out on by the time February 1st or so rolls around. 

For me, as I start this new year, I do have goals that I'd like to strive towards, but they are just that--goals. Targets. I know that I'm going to miss the targets sometimes, and that's ok. I'll start again in the morning. :) That's how The Lord works in His mercies to us...they are new every morning! And that's how I hope to be as well. On January 1st, I spent an hour or so alone in my room, just thinking and praying about what I would like to accomplish this year, both spiritually and generally. Since I now have an answer on the full time work I applied for, (I didn't get it), I still have a very flexible job. And I don't want to squander the opportunities that creates. God is so good to give clear direction on stuff like that! Without further ado, here are some of my "targets" for 2017. (Not in any particular order.)

• Learn something new. Be it a skill, like rock climbing, (something I really want to learn), or an area of knowledge I haven't previously studied out...I want to keep learning new things, even though I'm not in school anymore!
• Read through God's Word at least twice. After doing it in 30 days, 6 months is nothing! ;)
• Save money when I can. I do plan on having some bigger output this year as far as missions giving, travel expenses, etc., but I want to be careful of how often I get a piece of clothing I don't really need, or grab a breve at the coffee shop. ;)
• Maintain my weight. While it's been a bit difficult lately due to the holidays, and some health issues I've had, I do want to continue to be mindful about this. By the middle of this past year, I was able to reach my goal weight, and while I have gained some since then, I really would love to stay close to that point by thinking about what I eat and staying active. (Both great things to do anyway, weight management or not! ;)
• Pick up a new instrument. I haven't learned a new instrument for several years now. I miss it. :) I want to watch Craigslist and see what treasure I can get. Nothing fancy, I'd just like to learn something new in the way of music! (See first point.)
• Build up my hope chest as I am able.
•  Pray. A lot. As in, about 10 times the amount I'm doing now. I need to make it a constant, daily habit!
• Work on holding my tongue. I just need to shut up for more of the time! ;P
• Write out my songs. I have a hard time staying motivated and on top of this...it's one thing I really tend to procrastinate on. However, I do need to get at least lead sheets done. 
• Witness verbally more. I have already started working on this in the past couple of weeks!
• Start each day with gratitude. I'm writing out a little paper each morning with just one thing I am thanking God for. I'm putting them in a jar, so I can look back on them whenever I want to. :) Today's was "cozy clothes". Not life changing, but when there are 11 inches of snow outside, I am thankful for soft sweaters and fuzzy socks!!

A couple things I would like to do this year, but they are not goals, more like dreams....

• See a new country. Possible, since I may be going on a survey trip to the Pacific Islands with some church members...
• Go to a concert of Dan Forrest's music. Jubilate Deo in particular!!! 
• See some of my faraway friends and family. Grandma McDowell, Kimberly, cousins... :)
• Record an album. Certain people keep breathing down my neck about this. :/ ;P

There you have it! I know some of them are kind of ambitious, some would maybe say unattainable. But hey! Again, I'm just working on them! I don't expect to achieve every single thing on the list, I just want to reach for each one of them in some way this year. :) 

Today I went sledding and probably messed myself up internally (I literally got like 2 feet of air. On a disc sled. On a hill packed into a sheet of ice. That impact can't be good for my spine. :'D). But what does that matter when you're having a great time with your family, right?? ;) How is your winter going? Do you make goals at New Year's? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! :) Have a wonderful week,

Mykaela