"Finding Rest in Divine Presence: Ep 9: A Journey Beyond the Burden"

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where truth speaks, healing begins, and every word is rooted in faith. Before we begin, let us go before the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for every listener, every heart, and every home represented. We invite your presence into this space. As we begin, we stand on the words of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4.10.

0:41 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, So that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. Lord, today we echo that same prayer. Bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening. Bless her mind, her body, her relationships. Her dreams, and her destiny. Let your blessing not only surround her, but transform her. Enlarge our coast. Stretch us beyond what we thought was possible. Expand our influence, our impact, and the reach of this message.

1:23 Not for our glory, but for yours. Let your hand be with us. Go before us in every conversation. Guide our words, anoint our purpose, and let every episode carry your truth with clarity and power. Keep us from evil that it may not grieve us. Shield us from harm, from cycles of sorrow, from spiritual attack and emotional heaviness. Cover us in your grace so we rise in strength, not in grief, in wholeness, not in wounds. And just as you granted Jabez what he requested, Lord, grant it unto us. Let this podcast be a wellspring of truth, a refuge for healing, and a launchpad for purpose. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

2:08 Well, hello and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. We are still continuing our When God Wants to Talk series with our faith on the go message. Today, finding rest in his presence, go with me to Matthew 11, 28. It says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. God has a plan for everything. You know, as you read the Bible, you will find out that whatever your needs and wants are, God got you covered. You don't have to worry about a thing. It says not every time God wakes you up, wakes us up in the nighttime hours or in the early morning hours is for action or revelation.

2:55 Sometimes he wants us to rest in his presence. It's a time of restoring your energy. It's like going to the gas station and filling up your car. Sometimes you'll wake up and you might feel like I don't have enough energy to go on, But yet you sit in his presence and it's like a refill. A download of new and refreshed energy or whatever you're doing. I was just doing my podcast and I was sounding and feeling like I was falling asleep. I'm like, wait a minute. Hold up. Lord, I need a download of your energy. I want to rest in your presence. I want to do your will. But my flesh is weak. I need you to give me some energy and give me a fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit.

3:39 And then boom, bam, and I got it, right? So sometimes resting in his presence is an opportunity for you to refill, refill in him. So in a world that has constant demands on us, God invites us to lay down our burdens and find peace in him. Resting in God's presence is not only physical, it's spiritual. It's about releasing anxieties, fears, and endless to-do lists that crowds our minds. Psalms 23, verses 2-3. Reminds us that God leads us besides quiet waters and refreshes our souls. So when we take the time to be with him, we experience the peace and renewal that only he can provide.

4:26 Can we get an amen on that one? Many times you think it's a waste of time to read your Bible, a waste of time to prayer, but you don't realize that that time is an opportunity for refreshing, a physical. Refreshing, a spiritual refreshing that will renew your soul, your mind, and your emotions. Because what it does, when we get in the flesh, we can get kind of filled with anxiety, fear. We can get like a baby, a little whiny sometimes. And so when you're whiny, you might need a little more Jesus. Amen. You might want to say, you know what, Lord, I'm being a little whiny.

5:07 I might miss my being in the presence of my father. So that can be a limpsest test where you can say that, you know what, I'm feeling a little whiny. I need to get in this presence. And that will be a chance where you can cast all your cares upon him. All those weary, if you're weary and burdened, and he said he will give you rest. This kind of rest doesn't always mean sleep though. It's a deep assurance that God is in control. So when you cast all your cares upon him, it's like, I'm just going to give it to you, Lord. Same, similar to Peter walking on water. Peter just says, if you say I can do it, I can do it. And he just started walking on water, right?

5:47 So when God is in control, even when our life feels overwhelming, this is an opportunity to just trust God. These quiet moments remind us that we are not alone. How about this one? We are not in control and we are definitely not God, but we can trust him with every detail of our lives, right? So let's go a little deeper. Rest as worship. Resting in God's presence is an act of trust and worship. By setting aside time to be still, you acknowledge his sovereignty and his ability to care for you. You know, there's a scripture that says, keep the Sabbath holy. Like the Sabbath, since everything is turning out to be a 24-hour event, you can go to anything, anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

6:36 And so nobody really gets a chance to rest. But there was once upon a time when stores would be closed on Sunday. Gas stations would close on Sunday. If you didn't get your stuff done on Saturday, they were closed. So sometimes you do have to schedule time to rest, time to be still, time to not do anything, and just to trust. He says, be still and know that I am God. Be still in one moment might really mean to be still. Another one might mean for you to just quiet your mind, quiet your soul, and just allow God to just, you know, take you away, like just being able to just trust, trust in him, closing your eyes and just resting in the Lord.

7:21 Number two, release your burdens. Rest requires letting go. Name the things that are weighing you down, fears, decisions, relationships, and give them to God in prayer. There was a time that I worked for the CPS, Child Protective Service, and with Child Protective Services, it's a good job, but there's deadlines. So you have to meet with the child, get face-to-face with the child within a certain amount of time. You have 30 days to close the case. You're going to continue. It depends if you're going to find anything that's supporting what the original call was, then you have to close the case within 30 days. But that's not just a simple close.

8:05 You have to go through a whole process of assessments to determine if that child is going to be safe in the future. Is he safe right now? Is he going to be safe in the future? And you're getting about four or five cases or more to do that with these separate deadlines. And I remember working that, doing that job. And I didn't mind it. It wasn't a hard job. It was just, wow. And I remember just praying and the Lord said, just give me these cases. Like, go to me. Because usually every week you had to meet with your supervisor about the cases. But before I met with the supervisor, I had a one-on-one with God. And I'll say, Lord, this is this case. What should I do with this one?

8:48 This is that case. What should I do with this one? So it was kind of like I had a heads up. On what to do with these cases because I'm working with the Lord. So the way I release my burdens instead of me trying to figure it out, because you have to, when you work in a CPS case and you're out there and you know about it, if there's a single parent, you have to find the father. They have six children. You got to find, attempt to locate the father of each one of these children. And so it's a lot of just grinding, grind work. And so, and I just had to go before the father. Father, I have this case. And all of them are not easy. Some of them are difficult. And I released each case to him every time I had them. And when I went to my supervisor for our weekly meetings, I had a piece.

9:33 Before that, I was pretty much stressed out because it seemed overwhelming to have one case. You got six baby daddies. Somebody got seven baby daddies. You know, just a whole lot of stuff going on. and you have just the drama that brought the case in the first place and the welfare of the kids. But there's a time when God says, release these burdens to me. If you've never done that, I would like for you to just try it. Just find a quiet place, go in your closet, go in your bathroom. Go into a room, close the door, and get on your hands and knees and just begin to, just like I did methodically, release the case to him.

10:13 And I would just give the names of the person and the child. It'd be the mother or the father and the name of the children. Even if I had need help locating the father or whatever was going on in that house, I just ask the Lord to help me. Because you got to understand that the Holy Spirit is our helper. And I don't think many of us go to him for help. You know, we don't really utilize our assistance. We have angelic assistance. The Holy Spirit is always there. Heavenly Father does not sleep. And Jesus didn't die on the cross just for to be carried around on a necklace, right? You know, and so it's like we have to access what is available to us.

10:54 And one thing that he did say is he want us to release our burdens to him. What is weighing you down? I want you to try that this week. We carry too much. One thing I learned about releasing the burdens is that it also releases us. A lot of your medical problems. We've been praying for healing, but we don't realize that we're carrying things that we should not carry. I had high blood pressure when I was younger. And that's something as I got older, I don't have it because I learned how to release that burden. I don't have to carry it. I'm not responsible for the next person. I'm only responsible for me. And then I'm not even responsible for me because the Lord wants to take care of me and provide for me.

11:40 How peaceful is that? And so we want to rest as a worship, that it's a worship to God. We want to learn how to release our burden, taking them to God in prayer. Once you give it to him, don't take it back because things that happen at your pace, at your rate, you just say, I'm going to give it to you. I'm not going to take it back. Take that backpack off your backpack or suitcase, whatever, boom. Give it to the Lord and let him carry it. Three, receive his peace. As you rest in God's presence, allow his peace to fill your heart. Philippians 4, 7 promises that his peace will guard your heart and mind, even in the midst of chaos.

12:20 It's so cool to know that God has everything covered. He said it was guard your heart and mind. What's the part that really gets really in a tizzy when things are out of play. It's our heart and our mind. But it says God's presence, his peace will fill. It said it will guard our heart and mind. And so when we allow that, guess what? We can stand in the middle of a major crisis. In perfect peace. Why? Because we know that God is with us and his promises will keep us.

13:02 Let's go to Psalms 46.10. Psalms 46.10 tells us that we should know this, all right? Be still and know that I am God. Stillness is where we encounter God's peace and assurance. Many times when you're feeling a little anxiety in your body, and I can sometimes, you know, I can have that happen to me. I'll take a deep breath and I'll relax and I'll just say, I just got to steal away. Inhale, deep exhale and say, Lord, I'm just going to be still and know because you are God. Exodus 33, 14, the Lord replied, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. You see how that presence equals rest? It's found in Exodus 33, 14.

13:44 God's presence is our ultimate source of rest. So when we invite him in the room, we also invite his rest in the room. And then finally in Psalms 4.8, it says, in peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone. Lord, make me dwell in safety. One thing that can get us in an uproar and anxiety is safety. Peace and safety. Us rest is both physical and spiritual, providing safety and renewal. Here are some action steps. Create a quiet space. Tonight when you wake, resist the urge to fill the silence with activity. Instead, sit quietly and invite God to meet you.

14:27 Say, Lord, I'm here to rest in your presence. Remember, it's like getting filled up again when you're on E, empty. Number two, practice deep breathing. Like I just said, use slow, deep breaths to calm your mind and body. With each exhale, release your worries to God. Those right there will put you to sleep. If you're a worrywart, you know, you'd love to worry. To some deep inhales and exhales, I would lay flat on my back. Take your arms out nice and wide. Take your feet apart, you know, your knees apart. Just wiggle your toes and wiggle your fingers. And, you know, relax your shoulders back into the mat, you know, in your bed. And take a big inhale and then a slow exhale as though you're breathing out through your fingers.

15:12 And then as you're breathing out, even through your toes. And then you inhale, you want to breathe in through your toes, breathe in through your fingers. You're imagining this and then you exhale. And number three, you want to reflect on his goodness. Meditate on a verse or a song that reminds you of God's faithfulness. Let it guide your heart into a worshipful rest. So sometimes even as you're breathing, doing your breathing exercise to relax your mind and your soul. You can turn on some nice, quiet worship music. I like worship music without words because our mind is so smart. It wants to kind of figure out what the song is saying and try to sing along.

15:53 And that's fine, too, if you've got a song you like to sing along. But sometimes I just want just to play the music and let my body feel the music. Many times I'm asleep, especially if you have been worried and things are not going your way and you don't know what to do. That's a good way to allow your body to rest. You can do that breathing exercise any you need it. So let me just do a quick review here. It says, action steps is create a quiet place, practice deep, deep breathing and reflect on his goodness because God is good. And so let's pray. Father God, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for being my source of peace and rest. Teach me to release my worries and find stillness in your presence.

16:36 Refresh my soul and renew my strength as I trust in you. Help me to carry this rest into every part of my life, knowing that you are in control. Amen. The challenge for the week is each night this week, take five minutes to rest in God's presence before going to bed. Use this time to release your worries, reflect on His goodness, and experience His peace. Journal how this practice impacts your mindset and heart. Many times we are so tired, we run to bed and we just lay down and we forget to spend that little minute, few minutes with the Lord. And I'm guilty of that too. So just lay down and just say, Lord, I just want to practice being in your presence before I go to bed.

17:23 It can just be a silent rest, be a quiet prayer. But it's that time where you are going to just practice his peace, you know, just practice and practice in his peace. And so right now, I just want to just thank you again for listening in to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris. And I'd like to just share with you that this podcast would not be anything without you. And so I do appreciate you. And just make sure if you know someone that can benefit from what's happening on this podcast, go ahead and share it or leave a review. I love to hear from my listeners. So remember, finding rest in His presence. And Matthew 11, 28 said, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

18:11 Take the time to just find peace in the presence of the Lord. Till next time. This is the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing speaks, truth stands tall, and every episode is a divine encounter. Before we begin, let us open with prayer, opening prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you today with open hearts and expectant spirits. Just like Jabez, we call on the God of Israel, so that thou wouldst bless us indeed. Bless every listener, every household, every woman carrying the weight of silence and survival. Bless us not just with things, but with wisdom, healing, and restoration.

18:55 Enlarge our coast. Stretch us beyond comfort, beyond fear, and into divine purpose. Expand this platform, Lord, so that your truth reaches every ear that needs it, near and far, young and old, broken and bold, and let thine hand be with us. Guide this episode, this voice, and this vision. Let your presence saturate every word spoken and touch every heart that hears. Keep us from evil, from harm, from shame, from generational pain. Let no bitterness take root and no trauma define us. Keep us covered so that we rise and not grieve.

19:36 Lord, just like you did for Jabez, grant us what we request in faith. Make this podcast a place of power, purity, and purpose. In Jesus' name, amen. Music.