Rest. I know this is almost laughable for a mom, impossible seeming. We secretly can’t agree when we see God placing sabbath rest in the same list as murder and adultery. I think this should probably clue us into something being wrong with us and not the list, and thankfully the remedy is freely given in the gospel of Jesus.

But why is it so hard for us to rest from our work? I think it’s because we find our identity and validation in continually working, achieving and doing, and to stop working for even a day is scary, it freaks us out down to the core of who we are, because it threatens our identities, it threatens the balance of feeling like we’ve done enough today.

The gospel frees us up to rest because it is a declaration of our freedom from having to work to prove ourselves, it is embracing our identity in Jesus instead of anything else, even good things done in the name of Jesus, even being a wonderful mom and wife to please Jesus can go wrong when this becomes the source of our validation instead of Jesus.

Striving for our worth and hustling for our validation will never give us the sense of being enough apart from Jesus- HE makes us enough, He lived the perfect life we could never live and died the death we deserve to die.

Today do something absolutely crazy, take God at His word and choose to rest!

REST as a DECLARATION of your freedom from having to PROVE.

REST as an ANTHEM singing of the rest you receive when you choose to put your identity in Christ and not your hustle.

REST as a REBELLION from the voice that tells you that you will get behind or miss out on the chance today to prove your worth by just doing this one more thing.

REST in JESUS ALONE, rest in His work on your behalf, he says it is finished, and when you slow down and reflect on who you are in Him, that you are enough, I think this resting every week will radically change what our work looks like for the rest of the week.

GO AND REST DEAR MAMAS! Log out of your social accounts. Give your problems to Jesus. Open your Bible. Go for a walk. Reflect on the goodness of Jesus all around you, even if things are hard today, Jesus will meet you there. (Thoughts based on Hebrews chapter 4)

Laura DiLeonardi Founder of Agape Moms

Laura is married to her Bible-college sweetheart of almost 10 years, has three kiddos, and is a self-professed "hotmess rescued by Jesus." Laura's passion is seeing lives continually transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus radically transformed her life in high school, and sent her on a wild ride of loving God and others ever since. Since graduating from Moody Bible Institute with a BA in ministry in 2008, she's been part of various ministries, served in multiple leadership positions, and most recently, took the vision that God gave her for her local Agape Moms and put it into website form. Her mission here is inspiring moms to make disciples as they go about everyday, messy mom-life.