I get asked this question almost every time I’m interviewed about my new book Finding Spiritual Whitespace. 

Why is it so hard to rest, if we know it’s good for us?

This is what everyone wonders.

And this is what I say:  it’s easier not to think about rest.

It’s easier to go, go, go.

It’s easier to say yes, yes yes.

No one gets upset, no one gets disappointed and maybe there seems to be fewer conflicts — at the moment.

But, deep inside, the person who pays the price for putting ourselves last is… us.  The very person God loves and cares about, we somehow feel like if we choose to take care of ourselves, we are rejecting God and our usefulness to Him.

Another reason we avoid the quiet is this:  we don’t know what we’d do with ourselves if we had extra time to just be.

It’s such a foreign concept to people like us, if we’re used to defining our value by how much we can do or how much we know — versus how much intimacy we experience with God and how well we know ourselves.

How can we give of ourselves to God and to others, if we don’t even know ourselves?

Our dreams hold one of the special keys to our hearts.

God places dreams on all of our hearts, but somehow we have lost the desire or even the belief that such a thing could be spiritual or ours.  But God hasn’t forgotten them.  He has forgotten us.

Today, I’d like to share an article I wrote for Relevant Magazine: What To Do When Your Dreams Stall:  5 Steps to Take When You’ve Given Up, that became one of top 5 trending posts last week.

I’m stepping out about how we can nurture those God-given dreams, when we make space for quiet and rest.

I hope you enjoy and share your thoughts with me.  Because you have been the ones to share the quiet with me, before I knew God would resurrect my dreams, by sharing your stories.

By sharing your voice, I realized that I had a voice to share as well.

Behind every pain lies a lost dream.  It takes faith to awaken those dreams, especially the ones God is remolding and resurrecting eventhough they were once thought to be dead.

She told me that I was selfish to try to be a writer.

My mother said other people can afford to go off to become a journalist, but God gave me gifts for a reason. Not so I can do whatever I wanted. Writing was good hobby, but it doesn’t pay the bills or move us out of our low-income housing.

So, I shoved my applications to Boston U and Columbia into the garbage can. I applied to become a computer science and engineering major and stayed close to home.  I never told anyone about my broken dreams because it always felt like I was being ungrateful for the opportunities I was given to get an education.

I’m from a divorced family, without a dad. I thought. If I don’t help my family, who will?

So, I killed the dream of becoming a writer.

After graduating, I accomplished a lot of well-meaning things — for my high-tech career and even for ministry, traveling across the world as a missionary to tell others about Jesus. But, I lived separated from my heart.

I never dared to look back at the dreams that stalled, until God brought me back to them in the most unexpected way: my first panic attack.

While writing a book on rest, all the painful memories I’ve told myself as stories re-ignited into live events. I began reliving them, launched into debilitating anxiety and insomnia.

I had been living my life like a project plan, safe and controlled.  But my panic attacks told me I wasn’t living honest — to the dreams God once breathed into me.

I eventually found healing, but only after I took the painful path to re-awaken the dreams I tried to deny my whole life.

I had to learn the hard way.  Here are 5 Things To Do When Your Dreams Stall.

1) Make space for you. Confide in God.

It’s soul wearying to constantly hide your dreams. To deny our desires and the pain of loss. We feel guilty for not moving on and beat ourselves for not being thankful.

Instead, Jesus whispers –

“Come to me, all those who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

Confide in God about how you really feel. Make space to ask the hard questions. When your soul is free to be real, you can receive the comfort and strength from God to dream again.

2)  Feed your soul instead of ignoring it.

We often think of the action-figure Jesus but the Bible tells us –

“Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness for prayer.” Luke 5:16

Jesus took time to rest because nurturing his soul with his Father was more important than what He could do.

We need spiritual whitespace to feed our dreams.

Whitespace is the space on a page left unmarked in the world of art and design. Without whitespace, a composition goes from being fine art to commercialization.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s poeima — poetry translated as “workmanship” — created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”

Are our lives more like art or cluttered advertisement?

3. Make Rest Your Ambition

Rest sounds inactive, doesn’t it? I was surprised to find that rest is one of only three ambitions that God explicitly calls out in the Bible. Rest is as important as preaching the gospel and pleasing God (Rom.15:20, 2 Cor.5:9)

“We urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet (restful) life.” 1 Thess. 4:10–11

Downtime puts us in touch with our passion instead of numbing ourselves by managing our inboxes, Facebook updates, TV or achievement-oriented productivity.

Rest rejuvenated our dreams with creativity, deep relationships and adventure.

4.  Cast Your Net On The Other Side

It’s too late, you tell yourself. You’ve moved on and gained strength by helping others.  But Jesus sees the nets you’ve left.

Jesus says —

“Cast the net on the [other] side of the boat and you will find a catch” (John 21:6).

Jesus sees the empty nets.  Put out where it is deeper and let down your nets.

It’s not too late. Try something radically different.  Maybe even the opposite direction you’ve been heading.

5.  Journey To Find the Open Door

You’re ready to give up. But no matter how long the journey or how broken you feel your story has become, none of it can change who God made you to be.

The door to your dreams God has intended for you can never be lost, closed or destroyed by anyone or anything.

“I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Revelations 3:8

Sometimes, it’s easy to give yourself away, when you no longer carry any hope for the dreams you once held.

Sometimes it takes more faith to revisit dreams that have stalled than asking for faith to forget about them.

I went on to finish my book and find my voice.  I hope you will take the journey to recover yours with God too.

~~~~~

Tell us about your journey — your dreams?

Pull up a chair. Click to comment. Your voice helps me to find mine.

~~~~~ 

Today’s post photo was created by Faith Barista kindred Sandra Heska King. Click here to see Sandra’s soulful photo journal of book quotes and haiku’s inspired by my book Finding Spiritual Whitespace. Thank you , Sandra, for sharing your art to celebrate the book launch of Spiritual Whitespace.

Today’s post is part of my special Book Launch Tour Series  {21 Days of Rest: Finding Spiritual Whitespace}.  Click here to read Day 1 and the entire series on rest.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Whitespace Thursdays Link Up

Blog about your whitespace moments. 

Publish your post ANY DAY of the week.  

Link up on Thursday.  Visit & comment on the post before yours.

Use the Whitespace Thursday Linkup Badge.

Write what prompts your heart. Share your voice.

Today’s Thursday 6/26/14 Writing Prompt:  Enjoy spending time in quietness. Share what you did and what you discovered.

No Whitespace Link up next Thursday – July 4th whitespace!

Our next Thursday 7/10/14 Writing Prompt:  Take time to enjoy doing something creative or artistic. Share what you did, how it felt and what you discovered.

Other writing prompts:

* If you’re reading the book, share your discoveries. How is the book speaking to you?
(Submit your post onto my book page too: click here)

*  If you haven’t read the book yet, share your whitespace moments.

– moments of beauty and rest
– feeding your soul
– your alone time with God

* Choose your own open writing prompt.  Be you.

Thank you for using #spiritualwhitespace to share your pictures on Instagram & Twitter!
It’s fun to see the moments that feed your soul this week!

{email subscribers, click here to link up your post in the Whitespace Linkup.}

Take The Journey of Rest With Me

Take the Finding Spiritual Whitespace journey to make space to rest, despite whatever chaos and stress clutters our everyday lives.

Take the journey of self-discovery with Jesus with journal prompts for individual or intimate group exploration. Let’s live a better story of rest. Together.

Purchase a copy of my memoir-driven guidebook for yourself and your friends.  Because rest isn’t a journey we need to take alone.  We need each other.

Because some stories can’t be told on a blog.  They are so intimate, they can only echo in the sacred space of the printed page. Letters from my heart bound together for you.

Let’s be kindreds. Let’s meet between the pages of Finding Spiritual Whitespace.

Read about Whitespace from Authors You Love
{click on the endorsements below to visit my friends and read about their Whitespace}

( Ann Voskamp shares words of grace at A Holy Experience )

“Why I’m Breaking Up With My Quiet Time” by Lysa TerKeurst

“Help when Your Life Feels Too Busy” by Holley Gerth

“Finding Spiritual Whitespace” by Tsh Oxenreider