rest – Women.pcacdm.org

Taking Time Off Takes Humility and Faith

ELLEN DYKAS | CONTRIBUTOR Those who live alongside me as friends and co-laborers in the gospel have most likely heard me say, “I’ve got my share of issues, but workaholism isn’t one of them!” Am I busy? Yes! Do I seem to always be ‘on the go’? Probably. Do I sometimes pridefully struggle with saying yes when the wiser answer would be no? Check. However, I’m grateful that, generally speaking, I enjoy time off and don’t live enslaved to my ministry position. However, a while ago, I reached a point when I needed to detach altogether from my key ministry leadership role at my church. A convergence of circumstances challenged my commitment to truly rest. The convergence of needs, conflicting opinions, and ministry roles My paid vocational path has been a rich one for the past nineteen years at Harvest USA. It’s been a profound privilege to journey with hurting wives and women bound up in sexual sin, along with teaching church leaders how to engage in this kind of ministry. It’s also been intense to be invited into the delicate and painful circumstances of others and to come face to face with the darkness of habituated patterns of sin. This is my day job that I get paid for. However, my local church family is, well, my family in Christ, and so I seek to invest in the spiritual maturity, encouragement, and care of my brothers and sisters. I’m also consistently grateful for being on the receiving end of such precious gifts in the household of faith. My key place of service since 2022 has been in our church’s “Sister Care Ministry,” which provides companionship and care for women in crisis. Here’s what converged and confronted me with my limitations....

Taking Time Off Takes Humility and FaithChristina Fox2026-09-02T19:40:39+00:00

Rest and Refreshment for a New Ministry Year

KARI STAINBACK | GUEST A new year of ministry is about to begin. How in the world did the summer months fly by so quickly? Are you ready to launch a new year of ministry to women? Perhaps you are coming off a fabulous restful vacation with loved ones or friends. Or maybe the summer brought you anything but rest. Maybe you have walked through unexpected trials and troubles which have left you drained and feeling depleted. Maybe you are wondering where the energy will come from to begin another year of ministry to the women in your church. Or perhaps this finds you doing fine as a ministry leader. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening in your life, and you feel ready to crank up the engine of your ministry again. Wherever you are today, each of us share this prayer or something like it each fall: “Oh Jesus, will you refresh my soul that I might shepherd other women according to your will and way?” In Mark 6, Jesus sends His disciples out in pairs to do ministry. They were hard at work, proclaiming that people should repent, casting out demons, and healing the sick. Meanwhile, Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, was murdered by Herod. This had to be a terrible blow to Jesus and the disciples once they found out...

Rest and Refreshment for a New Ministry YearChristina Fox2026-08-14T17:37:33+00:00

Spaces of Sabbath Rest

MARIA CURREY | CONTRIBUTOR Imagine if the music you listen to, favorite songs and melodies, had no sense of rhythm, no pauses for silence and a breath. To observe a rest in music is equally important as every note. God, as the Composer of all we know is the one who orchestrated every rhythm of the earth: the ebb and flow of the seas; the rising and setting of the sun; waking by day and sleeping by night; each beat of our hearts; for each of us, there is a measured pulse from cradle to the grave. To observe and embrace silent spaces within the scores of our lifespan is to enjoy God’s intended rhythm for our days. Merriam-Webster defines rest in a full spectrum from “lying down, especially to sleep; to cease from action or motion – refrain from labor or exertion; to be free from anxiety or disturbance…and a rhythmic silence in music or a character representing such a silence.” Restful Pace When we reach a rest in a musical score, that pause is as vital to the musical line as the notes. When we sing, each rest provides a needed breath to refresh for the next phrases. In our daily rhythm, we cannot sustain life for an indefinite time without rest. Just as each breath is essential to our physical vitality, we need spiritual breath to walk and run without fatigue and potential exhaustion....

Spaces of Sabbath RestChristina Fox2026-07-03T20:01:11+00:00

When You Need a Vacation From Vacation

KENDRA KAMMER|GUEST Summer is here, as my school-aged kids will eagerly tell you. With their excitement comes a nostalgia for the freedom of summer. Popsicles, parades, and beach days with just a little sunburn. Picnics, lemonade on the porch, and family vacations. This summer my excitement is not unwarranted: our family is going to take a dream vacation! This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the ultimate heaven-on-earth experience! Or is it? Because I broke my ankle and I wonder how I’ll hobble around on our vacation. Then our flight got cancelled, and that led to five hours of phone calls with the airlines. And let’s be honest, how well can I expect us all to get along as we tour the sights? When my expectations of glory on earth are dashed, it’s as though God is tapping my shoulder and saying, “Are you placing your hopes on this? I’m sitting right here!” And this has been the attitude adjustment I so desperately needed. This is an incredibly busy time for me, and I expect it is for you, too. Our family responsibilities ramp up with extra concerts, sports banquets, and the like, while church and ministry responsibilities gear up with the changing season as well. We feel exhausted, needy, and maybe even burned out. It’s time for us to find a way to rest…but how?...

When You Need a Vacation From VacationChristina Fox2026-05-30T18:53:28+00:00

The Busyness of Spring

LISA UPDIKE | GUEST I love spring! The blooming flowers, nesting birds, the promise of longer days and looking forward to the lazy days of summer….ahhhh. But wait, don’t sit back and relax quite yet! Just take one look at the calendar. First, we’ve got the end-of-year school concert series: elementary music programs with tone bells, squeaky recorders, and hand drums; middle school orchestra; high school chorus. Now onto the sports. Why do they need so many games for T-ball? They’re five! Meanwhile, two fields over, you’ve got another child playing softball and she just got the third out, losing the game for her team. That’s going to take a little energy tonight. You can’t forget the spring sports award banquet. What are you going to bring anyway? You don’t have the energy to bake that casserole. Do you think a veggie tray is sufficient? The high-schooler is having a melt down over which classes to pick for fall semester. You don’t understand. It has to be perfect! His whole future depends on having the right classes. But you don’t have time to help because you are putting make-up on his little sister for the spring ballet. Then there’s prom. End of year testing. Spring field trips. Graduation parties. Don’t think of the yard work waiting to be done, just don’t. We often wish for more hours in the day. Or to clone ourselves. Yes, that would be nice. Another me! But, friend, we are finite. And that is actually good...

The Busyness of SpringChristina Fox2026-05-12T17:15:05+00:00

An Invitation to Rest

The problem we have today is that we have taken a good gift and made it a terrible master. We have accumulated stress beyond our ability to bear them, plunging ourselves into constant anxiety.” – Kelly Kapic, You’re Only Human (p. 131). A few years ago, I was given a sabbatical. I know. What a gift. Weeks on end with nothing to do but rest. That’s where the word ‘sabbatical’ comes from, anyway. But as I approached this time, I was a ball of stress and anxiety. I was afraid of what it would look like. I was afraid that at the end of it I wouldn’t accomplish what was intended. I was afraid that the minutes, hours, and days would crawl and it might be impossible to return to the high-energy life and ministry I loved. What I didn’t know was that I was afraid of what I would discover when I could no longer hide behind my accomplishments. A Personal Revelation After about a week of solitude, spending time away during my sabbatical, a friend called me and asked me about my day. On a non-sabbatical day, I would respond with a list of my achievements. I would start out saying how busy and full my day was and provide some highlights of what I produced. But during my sabbatical, I wasn’t supposed to achieve anything except rest. So, when this friend called, I began to describe what I had done that day....

An Invitation to RestChristina Fox2026-04-19T19:33:01+00:00

Standing Still in His Presence

KC JONES | GUEST For women, “moving” is never the problem. Whether we are moving forward, moving backward, or shuffling sideways in some sort of bizarre-crab walk, we are content to be in motion. Movement means things are happening; we are accomplishing much or at least appearing to do so. Movement also implies that by doing one thing, we are not doing something else. In many ways, it keeps us distracted from other things. Busyness can be a buffer against the pain of living in a broken world because it provides us with something else, anything else, on which to focus so that we don’t have to face the challenges, heartaches, and brokenness we all experience deep in our hearts. Running on Empty Don’t get me wrong: work is not the problem. Work was considered good before the Fall. After God created Adam, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). After He makes Man, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him” (2:18). Woman is declared “helper” or “Ezer”; a sufficient support for Man. It is the same term used to describe the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, or “Paraclete” in the Greek. God fashioned Woman to be hard-working, capable, and strong. Our problem isn’t that we cannot “manage” all the to-do lists, work tasks, and extra-curriculars we cram into our schedules; it is that we often do not stand still. We don’t stop working. Even when we feel inclined to sit at Jesus’ feet as Mary did, we also feel the pull of a “Martha” mentality when faced with full days.  Our constant busyness inevitably leaves us empty. We begin to struggle with disillusionment and doubt. We question what God is doing in our lives. We wonder why we work so hard if it does not make us any happier. We may feel overwhelmed about another schoolyear starting or another project deadline because we know there will just be another transition waiting for us at the end. It can feel like we are running on a proverbial hamster-wheel. Yet, we do have hope. It is an abundant hope, and it is ours for the taking... 

Standing Still in His PresenceChristina Fox2025-08-23T14:00:59+00:00

Rest and Renewal in Christ

MARIA CURREY | CONTRIBUTOR Summer is upon us and with it comes vacations and times to get away. What speaks rest and renewal to you? Soothing surf-sounds and sand in your toes? Cruising to your dream destination with vacation days sprawling ahead? Manis and pedis at the spa? While rest and renewal may imply luxurious escape, there is a much deeper, eternally lavish rest and renewal offered in Christ. God offers lasting treasures. He gives us physical, spiritual, and emotional rejuvenation, perfectly portioned time which we are encouraged and exhorted to set apart. Rest and renewal are given within God’s pace of grace, gifts wisely given and guarded, when and IF we choose to receive them. Creator Rest Where do we first see rest and by Whom is it reflected? God Himself models rest in Genesis 2:2-3, "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” If God rested after creating, should we not also rest after we work? Do you have a sanctified day of rest? A day set apart to be holy, for sacred purposes...

Rest and Renewal in ChristChristina Fox2025-05-24T16:41:12+00:00

Thriving in Women’s Ministry Leadership

KENDRA KAMMER|GUEST As I drove home from a women’s ministry meeting with a friend one evening, tears started running down my face. All my fears and frustrations burst forth in a torrent. I kept thinking: Does anyone think I can do this job? Am I going to get the hang of it? Why is it so much harder than when I served in women’s ministry previously? As the new Women’s Discipleship Director at my church, I craved wisdom. Suddenly, I understood why Solomon asked for wisdom above all riches when he took on the leadership of Israel. In 1 Kings 3:7-9, Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant Dad my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you… And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.” Solomon felt ill-equipped to fill his father’s shoes. His greatest concern was to be worthy of the great calling he had received. Two years ago, God called me to be his faithful servant in a job that was too big for me. Since I had served in women’s ministry leadership for over twenty years, I thought the job would be an easy fit. But instead, God had a challenge for me. By the third month on the job, I was already burned out. A surprising (but not unexpected) gift came in the form of a two-week sickness, which slowed me down enough to reorient my priorities and recommit to my calling...

Thriving in Women’s Ministry LeadershipChristina Fox2025-02-12T16:58:30+00:00

Trading Striving for Rest in Motherhood

GRACE THWEATT|GUEST Six months after my second child was born, both kids were sleeping through the night. I, however, wasn’t. My body exhausted; I’d lay my head on my pillow only to find my thoughts racing: I haven’t spent enough quality time with my oldest since the baby came. I wonder if he feels neglected. Goodness, I wish I hadn’t yelled at him when he disobeyed earlier. I really need to work on having more patience. I’d begin to drift off to a restless sleep, only to have a stressful dream wake me and leave me with an urgent sense that a child needed me or that I had forgotten to do something important. I would check the time, and my heart would drop with despair at the glaring number, 3am. I needed sleep to have energy to face the next day! My worrisome thoughts continued: Should I reset my alarm to get a little more sleep and just skip having an early-morning quiet-time? But I’m already feeling distant and lacking in my relationship with God… Anxiety and striving had grown to characterize my life, and they were eating away at me. I imagine I’m not alone in this. As moms, it seems we often strive in response to the anxiety we feel about our parenting. We worry: Are we teaching our kids the right things about God? Should we be memorizing more Scripture with them? Are we praying with them enough? And discipline… are we doing it right? Are we really helping facilitate heart change? We move through our days trying to do it all and do it all right. Our striving often comes from a good place: we desire to be good moms and godly individuals. But our striving ultimately leaves us feeling burned out and in bondage to our finite strength and capabilities...

Trading Striving for Rest in MotherhoodChristina Fox2025-01-20T19:13:31+00:00