In one of the first chapters in the bible it says (Genesis 2.2) that God rested on the 7^th day. I’m sure He was not out of ideas to create things or do things, but He choose to take a day of rest. We live in a society where the one is glorified who doesn’t rest or stop. That is often seen as an achievement. Companies, Church, ministry, life etc. often demands more and more of our time and more and more of our lives. But the cost of that is often health issues, the lack of meaningful relationships and stress which leads to a shorter life expectancy. So it is really key for us to do what God and Jesus did. But why?

When we sleep and rest our body restores itself. Our heart and blood is being repaired and our brain gets to process all the things it got through the day. If we don’t do that it actually has the opposite effect and we increase the risk of heart attacks, diabetes and other diseases. Sleep also helps our body to deal with stress and be ready for the next day. When we are more rested we are not lashing out at people as easily and we will be able to have times that are more fruitful because we can give our full attention. It also really helps us in our relationship with God since we have more times to have uninterrupted time with Him. And that will encourage you to live the great commission more often!

Jen and I usually take a full day of every week were we just rest, go on walks, spend time with God, watch movies or read. If we don’t get that day we can feel it during the week and it also affects our coming weeks. More stress usually builds up on top of the one we already had and then it gets harder and harder to get rid of it. We also got better in going to bed around the same time and get enough sleep what also helps us during the week. Yes it doesn’t always work for us either life is just that way, but if it doesn’t work sometime we just come back to the healthy way after.

Here are some tips on how to find that rest and sleep that worked for us.

1. Set a specific day for rest every week. It doesn’t always shave to be the same day, but it makes it a lot easier
2. Set a time where you go to bed and make it the same time every night. Try out after how much sleep you feel the most rested. Usually they say about 8 hours per night is a good number to go with.
3. Don’t get discouraged if you didn’t make it for a week. Do it again the week after.

Make the hard choices and you will see how the quality of your life will go up! You can do it!!

Hey our friend

We had a great week here in San Francisco. The weather was wonderful. Josia who helped out while we were gone left on Wednesday for the second part of his trip. He is off to the Philippines to help out with YWAM there. Keep him your Prayers while he transitions to another place. We also were able to catch up with neighbors and friends during this week which was a huge blessing.

Thank you for all your Prayers for us and this city. You are a huge blessing!!

Have a great week!
Markus and Jen