It’s the final summer holiday, friends! Traditionally, Labor Day is when we scramble to get in that last cookout or day at the lake before we turn our attention to pumpkin spice lattes and sweaters. Depending on your family or political background, Labor Day has varied importance. I’m not here to get into the background of Labor Day, but today does inspire today’s devotional:

Do you regularly take a break from your labor?

As women, we tend to feel guilty about taking breaks or stopping our work. It doesn’t matter if we’re single, married, single again, with or without children, there always seems to be one more thing that we can do, right?

Yet, our bodies are not built for endless work, endless planning or endless activity. Like a gas tank, we run out. In fact, we KNOW that we’ll run out of energy and yet, we keep going. But why?

It's often because we believe two things:

1. It won't get done unless we do it.

2. Unless we work 24/7, our lives will fall apart unless we're to keep everyone and everything together and moving forward.

That's the mindset for exhaustion! When we're exhausted, we tend to let it show. Which one of these are true for you?

Easily annoyed...

Overly sensitive...

Impatient...

Desparate...

Here’s a hard question: How do your loved ones experience you when you’re exhausted? Do they feel more or less loved about you?

The truth is that when you and I don’t stop to rest, the quality of our relationships reflect our exhaustion. You can’t give what you don’t have, my friend.

In Genesis 1, God creates the world and if you’re familiar with this story, you recall how God stopped working at the end of each day. Then, He took a break at the end of His project, which was creating the world. So, God took regular breaks and then, He took a rest.

To be clear, God didn’t need to do that. But, He did to show us the principle of working hard and then, choosing to take breaks and allowing ourselves regular periods of rest.

It took years for me to break the habit of non-stop work. In my mind, I used to say things like, “I’ll just do one more thing” or “If I don’t do this, I’ll be behind later.” Can you relate?

Do you want to know what helped me break my bad habit of not taking breaks or resting? Sabbath or what I call "Shut Down Days."

For my entire life, I've been a work-a-holic until fifteen years ago when I began to follow God’s Sabbath example, which Jesus reaffirmed in the New Testament. 

Shut Down Days mean that I have no apointments or obligations on my calendar for work. I don't plan housework or errands. I let my mind rest from problem-solving.  (Even when I was married and had kids at home, I would do urgent cleaning the night before my Shut Down Day and arrange a crock pot meal or takeout.)

On Shutdown Days, my soul takes a deep breath because I'm not pushing myself. I am gentle with my body and I can literally feel my brain recharging and my body repairing itself.

Here's a bottom line that I use to remind myself: "You are blessed when you rest."

I know that many of you know that you need to do this, but you aren’t sure that you can make it work for your life. Here’s what years of a weekly Shutdown Day has done for me:

1. Increased Faith - I also have time to reflect on my relationship with God and I can listen for any the Spirit’s without feeling rushed.
2. Freedom from Control-Loving Behaviors - Each week, I must trust God with whatever I am not getting done that day. Practicing letting go of control on my Shutdown Day makes it easier for me to let go of control on other days.
3. Stronger Mental Health - Our brains need rest just like our bodies. Giving my brain a break from planning and problem-solving allows it to recharge and work better the rest of the week. Trust me, this works!
4. Loving Others Better - Since I have a whole day with no meetings or obligations, I can catch up with my loved ones and friends. I can ask how people are doing, listen and pray for others. A Shutdown Day is a great way to improve relationships!

Which one of these looks the most attractive to you?

If you feel like you're about to fall apart because you're life is spinning out of control or you exhuasted, a Shut Down Day maybe what God wants to use to recharge and recalibrate your mind, bodies and souls.

Friends, when people ask me how I can keep my busy travel, write books and encourage others, my weekly Shutdown Day is a huge reason why.

I’d love for you to try a Shutdown Day if you don’t always have a rest day. FREE RESOURCE: I’ve got a quick start-up guide and you can download here.

Don’t worry about being perfect to start. As a best-selling author says, “Make progress, not perfection.”

I truly hope that today’s Labor Day inspires you to start this life-giving habit!

COMMENT BELOW: Which one of the Shut Down Day Benefits is most attractive for you? If you regularly take a Sabbath, how are you blessed?

“Mom, meet us here at open mic night and we’ll leave for dinner.”

Turns out “open mic night” was code for MY SURPRISE 50TH BIRTHDAY PARTY planned by my beautiful sister, Tonya and my three wonderful kids on Friday night.

Well, my beautiful surprise party was scheduled to begin at 5:30pm...

But, at 5:30pm, I was at home in my bed asleep with a WHOLE hair bonnet on my head. For the record, when a black woman puts a bonnet on her head and climbs in the bed, she is communicating: "I'm out and leave me alone."

Therefore, when I arrived 45 minutes late to my party and heard everyone yelling "SURPRISE," I was still waking up and totally confused. Here's a video that captured the moment - ha!

So, earlier that day...

Friday was a blazing, ninety-five degree day at the zoo with my sister, Tonya, my kids, Abbie, Kai and Cass, our friend Heather and her baby, Hiro. (If you follow me on social media, you know that nine-month old baby Hiro has been battling cancer for the past four months. His family would appreciate your prayers.) Behind my smile and sunglasses, I was hiding a pretty broken heart...

(On Wednesday, my relationship ended with someone who was very special to me. He's a wonderful man. Sometimes, the outcome doesn't shape up as we'd hoped, no matter how badly we want it, right? Monday was my third post-divorce, non-anniversary. July 18 would have been 30 years, so I still need to do forgiveness and grief work on that day each year. While it wasn't the end of the world, I was having a really rough few days.)

However, I was fiercely committed to making the best of my birthday weekend since my sister and all of kids were in town. Still, sad tears periodically leaked from my eyes from time to time. During a low moment on Friday morning, I whispered to my youngest, Abbie: “I’m really glad that I didn’t plan a party for my birthday.”

Later, Abbie told me that she panicked because my surprise party had the planned for months. But, at the zoo, she didn't give anything away. Abbie just gave me a hug and then snuck away to snapchat a SOS to her siblings: Mom's a mess, guys...

I was hot, sweaty and drained by the end of the trip. Back when my kids were growing up, we had a saying in our house: Sometimes, the best way to make a bad day go away is to take a nap.

So, when we returned home, I put my bonnet on and climbed in my bed...at 3:30pm.

About 5:40pm, my sweet sister coaxed me awake from my really great nap. She remineded me that we needed to meet the kids downtown for dinner. I was just going to comb my hair and leave, but she smiled and suggested: "Hey, you should probably change from those sweaty zoo clothes. The kids might make this your birthday dinner."

That should have been a big clue, but sleepy-head me missed it.

When we rolled up to the coffee shop at 6:15pm, my oldest Kai was waiting out front. For someone who didn't care about open mic night, Kai hustled me inside. That should have been another clue. Missed that one, too.

Turns out, a surprise party with loved ones is what I needed!

I had no idea that everyone around me had been planning for months. My sister, Tonya, was just like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain managing dozens of details on a secret Facebook page. She and my Abbie coordinated all of the "who-is-doing-and-bringing-what" with friends and family. My heart was so touched when I found all the ways that everyone brought their loving touches to my special day. Makes me want to cry every time that I think about it.

During the party, everywhere my eyes landed in the room, I saw love, beauty, and connection.

Whether I visited with loved ones or took in the beautiful food and decorations, my tender heart savored it all, especially when I think about all of the sacrifices that everyone made to be a part of my speical day. 

Here's a picture of my family that we took at the end of the evening.

After the party was over, we had a huge laugh over all of the ways that I TOTALLY missed that they were planning a party. Even in the parking lot, I hopped out of the car and said, “Oh, that minivan looks just like my friend, Lauren’s.” My sister thought that I figured it out…still nope. Ha!

Having a 50th surpise party was wonderful! It was also a reminder to me that God doesn’t always give me what I want, but He always, always knows exactly what I need. On Wednesday, I was texting with friends after my breakup and the last line I wrote went like this: “Somehow God will make it okay. He always does.”

He totally did.

P.S. Today is my sister Tonya's birthday! Could you wish her a “Happy Birthday, Tonya” in the comments - add an emoji, too!

When life feels uncertain and we can't trace the hand of God in the middle of our trying circumstances, it can be easy to wonder if He's really there walking alongside us.

In today's conversation we have the privilege of hearing from special guests, Amy Carroll and Lynn Cowell, about their new Bible study, Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World. In this conversation, you will be encouraged with the reminder that God is always active, working out His bigger and better plan, even when we can't always see it in the moment.

ALSO! I had the honor of writing an endorsement for Lynn and Amy's Esther study - it's amazing. Here's my endorsement:

As a Bible teacher and lover of Esther's miraculous story, I thought that I knew everything about the book of Esther. Wrong! Amy and Lynn's new study provides fresh spiritual insights as well as humbly and lovingly raising the bar on Spirit-led personal application and spiritual challenge. Personally, I loved experiening fascinating new "a-ha" moments everyday of this study!

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE

estherbookstudy.com

amycarroll.org

lynncowell.com

Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World

ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUESTS

Check out this episode!

amberlyneese.com

The Belonging Project: Finding Your Tribe and Learning to Thrive

ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST