But You Get to Rest Here

Enjoy this devotional from FlourishWriters student Jennifer Williams

It was the February snow falling that lured me outside because evidently I’m one of those rare people that love winter. I walked toward my favorite path in the woods. The forest floor was turning into something ethereal the way the snow fell quietly. Light, airy fluff.

It was right then the words were placed gently in my mind, “but you get to rest here.” I guess God wanted to finish the conversation started one morning a few days ago. It felt heavy like tears frozen before they could fall. I waited awhile before whispering “I know.”

I couldn’t dispute this immense blessing; I could walk out my front door and walk into the woods. After years of moving, we were finally settled after my husband retired from the Marine Corp. We had our own woods, acres of them, and there was a deep pond. I was home here.

God being God was asking me to do something out of my comfort zone. Something I struggled with. It wasn’t the writing, it was the sharing. I didn’t think it was a good idea. There was a list of reasons why. All of the reasons to not obey had much more to do with pride than of humility.

God didn’t seem to care about the fact that I wrote personal things each morning in journals with ink as part of my quiet time with Him. My writings were my prayers—my spiritual journey here on earth. There might be some good things in there, but there were also some ugly things, dark and depressing things, that I’ve struggled with for years. God wasn’t asking me to delve into all my old journals and revive or relive them, He just wanted me to start writing from the same unguarded place of God’s love that I used in my journals.

As an unending conversation started one morning and revisited one snowy evening walk in February, God wanted me to write like prayer and share it with whomever needed it. My job was to write the words. Whether one person read them or two hundred, it was none of my business.

Actually, it was also clear that what I thought about my own work wasn’t really my business either. I’ve been writing for almost two years now on a blog. Sharing bits and pieces of my God and my soul. This isn’t a job or a ministry or a success or a failure, it is simply an obedience of my time.

I write, I share the best I can for now. Then I take a quiet walk into the woods and I rest in Him. 

Jennifer Williams doesn’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t scribbling thoughts in journals. As a lifelong writer and observer of life, she loves to share God’s love through creating beautiful spaces and moments inside and out. Trained in ballet, she taught dance off and on while she moved around with her husband and three children, learning and forever leaning into her Heavenly Father’s love as He shows her the next path to walk. Jennifer lives with her retired Marine husband in the lovely woods of Northern Missouri. Connect with Jennifer at https://jennifercwilliamswriting.com/