From Edie: Audrey Frank explores five ways Christian writers can find rest in Jesus through every season of writing, trusting God's purpose, timing, and promises.
Jesus the Word of God: The Word Speaks to Writers through Rest
by Audrey Frank @AudreyCFrank
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
The church bells here in Italy ring differently in different seasons. I don’t know why, but for some reason they ring heavy and loud in the humid cold of winter. While laundry refuses to dry on my clothesline, the bells sound weighty under metal skies.
In spring, perhaps the bells are competing with the many birdsongs. Clear and lovely, their melodies flit across trees and meadows, alighting on my terrace with joy.
I wonder if, like church bells, the great rest invitation of Matthew 11 rings differently according to the seasons of a writer’s life. For writers who follow Jesus, faith and writing are formed together over life’s journey.
Jesus’ lifetime is our teacher, progressing through three clear seasons: His life, death, and resurrection. How did rest ring for Him in each one?
Rest in identity.
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them (Luke 2:49-50).
Jesus’ life shows us that the first kind of rest is rest in identity: knowing the truth about who we are and Whose we are. We find Jesus here in the temple, at age twelve, completely at rest in knowing both.
When did you know who you are and Whose you are?
This is the first rest for Christian writers: I am a child of God.
Rest in purpose.
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal (Luke 9:1).
Jesus gave the disciples purpose, and they put their hearts, minds, and strength into doing the work He asked them to do. They couldn’t wait to tell Him all about their accomplishments.
We find peace when we know our purpose. We know Whose we are, and who we are, and then He tells us what we are to do for Him. There is a kind of rest that comes from discovering our life work.
When did the Lord call you and give you power to write words for Him? When did He send you out to proclaim the kingdom of God with His words? Take a moment to remember, and rest in the beauty of that beautiful purpose.
This is the second rest for Christian writers: I am sent by the Lord to proclaim the kingdom of God.
Rest in Rhythm
On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida (Luke 9:10).
The counsel of God is counterintuitive. It is precisely here, in the season we are most aware of working for God, that He bids us come away with him.
The disciples return from their first day of power work excited and chattering like children seeking Mom’s attention. Jesus gives us a mild case of whiplash here with His sudden pull of the brakes.
And he took them and withdrew apart.
Rest in our doing season looks like rhythm—a rhythm of engagement and disengagement. Jesus knew what working for God takes out of a person. It’s exhausting, and so many other things. Pride-inducing. Fear-inflating. Enemy-attracting.
He knew, and He showed them how to rest in rhythm. Jesus practiced daily, weekly, and solitary rhythms. He observed sabbath. He slept at night and stopped to eat. He withdrew even when it didn't make sense to the needy, the rule makers, or His loved ones.
In the purpose season, it's easy to neglect our rest rhythms.
This is the third rest for Christian writers: Live the writer’s life in Jesus rhythm: engage, disengage.
Rest in Release
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:41-42).
After life comes death. This is the next great discipleship. We have learned who we are and Whose we are. Then we go and do. Jesus knew who He was and Whose He was. He knew His purpose. And He always knew that after His life would come death. But even for the Son of Man, knowing did not make releasing easier.
No one likes death, unless perhaps you are a seed.
Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24).
That manuscript that's been rejected multiple times? Maybe it’s a seed.
That chronic illness that totally disrupted your writing habits? I wonder what’s bursting forth from its shell down there in the dark, ready to rise to the light in just a little while.
That no when you prepared so well for a yes? Maybe it’s a seed that, even now, is shooting roots across the landscape of your life, and will spring up in a surprising new place you once ignored.
Jesus knows. He knows, He knows, He knows, and all shall be well because He knows, little seed.
This is the fourth rest for the Christian Writer: I will release this seed into the soil of my season, Lord.
Rest in Remaining
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me (John 15:4).
Busy, responsible people can easily overlook this marvelous promise. The responsible doer says, “I must strive to remain in Him. Oops, I slipped! Get back on that vine!”
The branch who remains in stillness laughs, for she too was once a striving, responsible vine. But eventually she remained still long enough to discover the startling promise.
When we remain still, He remains in us.
Stillness is possible with fingers flying across the keyboard. This is a stillness of heart that bears much fruit, dear writer.
Here is the fifth rest for the Christian writer: I will be still and wait for the fruit even as my fingers fly, my mind wonders, and my heart hopes for harvest.
The Resurrected One who gives rest invites us to remain in Him until He comes (and the secret surprise is that He will remain in us and hold it all together until then).
Lord, I come. Rest me in this season. Amen.
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Don't miss the other posts in this series!
Audrey is the author of Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World (Harvest House Publishers), an outpouring of Audrey’s heart to introduce others to the God of Instead. Shame is not unique to the developing world, the plight of the women behind veils, young girls trafficked across borders; shame is lurking in hearts everywhere. Through powerful stories from women around the world, Covered Glory illuminates the power of the Gospel to remove shame, giving honor instead. Available at favorite booksellers: BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS A MILLION, AMAZON.
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