Into His Rest

"Let us strive to enter into God's rest." Hebrews 4:11

Strive. Be diligent. Labor. Be zealous and exert ourselves. Make every effort. So many words that seem the direct opposite of rest! 

We had our company Thanksgiving Party yesterday in gratefulness to God for the blessings of 2016. We wanted to celebrate with our employees and to thank them for all their hard work and sacrifice. Previous to the party, there was all the planning and thinking which we did since November last year. We thought that with 21 stores, we had to have a short participation from each one, a mannequin challenge! We started buying the prizes early. My sister thought of the sequence of the presentations, the game, the video, the raffle, etc. Everything had to be thought out in advance and assignments given. We had to buy a sound system so what happened last year wouldn't happen again. We had to follow up that the photo booth people would come with the right design for the picture. The different branches had to practice for their presentations, prepare their costumes, video their mannequin challenges. And on the day itself, so many had to do their assignments so it would all come together. Whew! What a lot of striving and laboring! 

Well today, I can rest! I am so happy it went well! The concept of rest in the Bible is huge, but we can think of it in the same way. We have to strive and labor now, so we can enter into God's rest. But we can also be confident that God has done everything we CANNOT do to get us into His rest. He has done His part. From the 1st chapter of Genesis up to the Gospels, and to Revelation, we are invited to come into the rest of God, to be restored. Thank You Father for the invitation. We can look forward to resting in Your love!