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Road To Redemption
Road To Redemption
Pressing Pause with Michael and Selah Hirsch - Audio Version
What if the most productive thing you do this week is stop? We sit down with Michael and Selah Hirsch to unpack a countercultural rhythm that rescued their marriage, clarified their purpose, and brought peace to a home with four kids: a weekly Sabbath practice centered at the table.
Their story starts with nonstop work—nonprofit leadership, brand building, parenting—and a moment of awakening in Israel that reframed Sabbath as a gift, not a grind. We talk through the biblical roots from Genesis to the words of Jesus, then get practical: a simple Friday night flow of Scripture, lighting two candles, speaking personal blessings over each other, and sharing communion before an unhurried meal. No perfection required. Phones off if possible, hearts open for sure. They share how this small, repeatable ritual reshaped identity from “I am what I produce” to “I am beloved,” and how rest became wisdom that fuels better work.
We also tackle the hard edges: entrepreneurs who fear lost deals, parents exhausted by chaos, and professionals who can’t disconnect. Michael and Selah offer grounded steps to start small, expect resistance, and build trust without legalism. You’ll hear how working from rest unlocks creativity, deepens sleep, softens conflict, and makes space for God to carry what you can’t. Whether you’re faith-curious or longtime Christian, whether your table holds pizza or a feast, this conversation shows how a few intentional hours can change the other 160.
If this resonates, share it with a friend who needs permission to pause. Subscribe for more conversations that restore clarity and courage, and leave a review to help others find the show. What would your first small step toward real rest look like this week?
Find the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Pressing-Pause-Finding-Restless-World/dp/B0FD8RSFTC
For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com
Welcome. I'm John Martin, your host. Excited to be here today with my friends Michael and Sayla Hirsch.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, we're so excited to be here, John. Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_01:John, this is an honor. Thank you so much for having us on the show. Oh, I'm so excited. This is a lot of fun, and y'all are new good friends of mine now, as we have several mutual friends, and so thankful for Brian Chu introducing us. And I feel like I've known y'all like 20 years or something, and it's really only been a shorter time. But y'all have moved here to Miramar Beach, which is exciting. Why don't you just tell us, give us a little bit of background on y'all?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, well, thank you, John. Yeah, and thank you to Brian too, who uh let who cross our helped to cross our paths uh to meet you. And it does feel like that we have just been lifelong uh friends and uh looking forward to this conversation. So uh Sal and I and our family, we just moved here a couple of months ago. So we are brand new here uh on the Emerald Coast. Moved here with our four kids. Uh youngest is two, oldest is uh twelve. And um uh uh since uh we've been here, I've had the opportunity to uh just feel super fortunate uh being able to connect with such a uh uh incredible just men and women just of God uh that are really just pursuing uh his heart. And so we've just been able to make such great connections since we've uh since we've been here. My background is in uh nonprofit leadership, uh, starting various nonprofits and working with churches, and then look forward to doing that uh while I'm here in uh Miramar Beach.
SPEAKER_00:And my background is in brand development, and so I love working with leaders from nonprofits to companies, even personal brands, helping them articulate their vision and communicate their value with confidence. And so Michael and I have come here with just a God adventure. We felt the Lord told us earlier this year that I'm calling your feet to be here, I'm calling you to bring your family and plant it here. And so, in a nutshell, we've just been on a big God-sized adventure as a family. And I truly believe Jesus lives at the beach, is what I tell everyone because you can feel his presence just staring out that air at the ocean. But it's obviously led us um through the power of relationship to connect with you today.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Well, and and when I found out y'all had this book called Pressing Pause, I'm gonna show it to everyone here. It's a just a must-read. I I I started reading it and I was like, wow, I'm so passionate about this topic. Uh so I that's why I wanted to get y'all in. I was like, no, this can't wait. This is an important topic to everyone today. And you know, we have four kids also, so it's like, especially when you have children, but it's just really everybody in life is so tired, yeah, um, weary, just worn out, and they're they're just trying to keep up with things, even even retirees. Yeah, I find. So uh talk to us a little bit about the book and why'd you write it? What what what what stirred you to write this book?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we definitely are in a Western culture that never stops, and I think that's what you're talking about. It doesn't matter what season of life that you're in, from college students trying to, you know, work through degrees to yeah, us was still with you know preteens and diapers all at the same time, uh, to people who are slowing down or pivoting and transitioning in life. The the culture we are in though tells us like you know, never stop, or we feel compelled to never stop. And it ends up, I think, creating what I started to realize and of myself, John, is that like I'm wired and tired all at the same time. In fact, I used to, and I still wrestle with a little bit. Sometimes like I think almost that whole, like, you know, I'm so busy, I've got so much to do, um, is almost a way of like seeing my success and my significance in that, you know, and I see that more with eyes wide open as the Lord is continuing to open our hearts to seeing the gift of Sabbath that He created for us as a manufactured, man-made way of significance and not God saying, You are my beloved, this is the way for you to walk. And so I think that this conversation today, for anyone who's listening today, if you're in a place where you, you know, I've been told, you know, you've got to just kind of hustle nonstop, or the more you do and only what you do is your measure of significance, or you just feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. You know, maybe it's not even the demand of your schedule, but it's parenting or dealing with a relationship or finances. And again, just pressure, pressure, pressure. We live in a world that just I think it's such a pressure cooker, and we can internalize that when the Lord has said, I've given you this gift of a time of Sabbath, a weekly time to press pause and come to me. And if you would lay your burdens at my feet, like I am here to carry them for you. And I'll tell, I don't know, I tell you, I don't know, maybe it's just women I work with or women in business or mothers. I don't know, but I feel like we're it's like we call our groceries arms. Like we gotta hold it all together, you know, we've got to get it all done, we've got to make it to the next day. And the Lord is saying, like, lighten your load, come and find rest in me. And that is our journey. Our journey is being a high, ambitious, you know, husband and wife. You know, Michael and I are both wired to go nonstop, but we were learning that that is who God's made us to meet, but we were not meant to run like on empty forever. We were meant to walk in a rhythm of Sabbath and partner with the Lord. And that rest has shaped our marriage, it has radically revolutionized the culture of our family, and I truly believe it's changed the paradigm, which now we see that we work out of rest instead of just from a place of nonstop hustle. So that's the conversation that we're having today.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we we call it a series of spiritual breadcrumbs that God placed uh across our past. So this isn't this is that happened all at once. Uh but God just used people, he used ministries really to be able to introduce us uh to Sabbath. And uh we write about this in the book, but uh but really uh what sealed the deal for us was an unexpected trip that I was invited to take to Israel uh a little over three years ago. And so it was through that experience, never forget being at the at the airport uh in Tel Aviv and beginning to unpack, you know, what I had experienced. And this was on a Tuesday, and I said, Selah, I said, get ready, because when I get back this coming Friday night, we're gonna have our first Sabbath dinner, our first Shabbat uh as a family.
SPEAKER_00:I didn't know what that was. All I know is Michael was coming at me pretty locked and loaded, was something he was excited about. I remember my words to him were instantly like, okay, this felt like just one more thing to do. I mean, I sounded exciting, but like felt like one more thing after probably a really full and busy week. And I remember I spouted off to him. I'm like, that's fine, just keep it simple. So you can read about the story in the book because he definitely did not keep it simple in the beginning, which is part of the, I think, the joy that we've had to learn of adapting, you know, a Sabbath lifestyle to our family and to our lifestyle, which we truly believe is different for everybody. But um, this conversation is for everyone, everyone listening today, again, regardless of season of life, whether you've been to Israel or not, whether you, you know, practice, you know, in a certain way or not, the whole point is that it's a gift that we never knew that we needed.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and a lot, I think a lot of people feel like that the Sabbath day of rest is something we're doing for God. Like we're doing it for Him, but no, it's a gift for us, right? Right. Uh that we need that that reset. Uh and and a lot of I think Christians believe the Sabbath that they kind of think of that's just a Jewish thing, really, because unfortunately for Christians, uh we've kind of done away with the the Sabbath. You know, because in this country it used to be that people took off Sunday and there was no um businesses open on Sunday, people didn't work on Sunday, and that's been throwing going out the wayside for you know many decades now. So talk talk to a little bit to the the Christian viewer that is like, well, that's in the Sabbath uh just a Jewish thing.
SPEAKER_00:That's a free question.
SPEAKER_02:Talk about that. Yeah, absolutely. And so over the last few years, uh, you know, it's almost as if, you know, Salem mentioned Sabbath being a gift. And so the way that I like to describe it, I feel like for, I won't give away my age, but for 40 plus years that I've had this unopened package, gift wrapped that I've been carrying with me. And then I mentioned, uh, you know, there were the there were these divine moments that that that God orchestrated over a series of years, and then it was in Israel where my eyes were opened. And and we like to call it this gift. And so for 40 plus years, it's like I had this gift that I had not yet opened. And then when I began to just and I began to see just God's word in a whole different way. Uh so for example, you know, I love to look at the New Testament in Jesus, you know, and he calls himself like, I mean, he's the Lord, he says, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. You know, in Matthew, he said, I did not come to abolish the law, but I came to fulfill it. And in regard to this, in regard to Sabbath itself, I'd like to look back at a time in the Bible that predates Judaism, which is in Genesis 1 and 2, uh, God's creation account. And so, while the Bible doesn't say Sabbath, but it was God who set a pattern for us of rest. And so that's what we began to take a closer, closer look at. Uh you know, God, our creator, who sets a pattern for us. And and this rhythm was important to, if it was important to God and us being made in his image, hopefully it's gonna be important to us. Uh, and so that's where, you know, I at least we started.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I remember after walking with the Lord all these years, my eyes were so surprised to see that it was in the fourth commandment. I remember when we talked about it and we were unpacking this a little further, it's like I've kind of forgot that that was in there.
SPEAKER_01:This is in the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00:And in my mind, it just lived, you know, well, first of all, I wasn't even on my radar because when you drink, you know, just coffee and run all day between Zoom meetings and kids and life, you know, you're not necessarily thinking of rest. And that's why I think the Lord was like, I'm gonna open your eyes to see that I had it in there, you know, truly, you know, at the beginning. And and I and I kind of took a moment, even in my Christianity, to go, oh wow, like we kind of went from like thou shalt not murder to like honor your parents. Like I completely didn't see it there. And I think that that was just a good way for us to go. You know what? This isn't just for um a certain culture, this isn't just for another place in time, but this was designed by the Lord to truly renew us, to reset us. I love that word that you said, and I don't know about you, but I think I used to look at um at rest as weakness, you know what I mean? At least if anyone's wired like I am, you know, full, full drive. It's like, you know, you shouldn't need to rest, or you know, and I feel like the Lord has begun to tell us this, and we put this in the book that we we are learning for us that rest is not weakness, but it is wisdom. And our God, you know, we he says to pray for a gift of wisdom. You know, the Bible says to call out for wisdom, you know, and and that is something that we we're we're just opening our eyes to see, you know, Lord, you've put this there. This is what we needed, you know. This isn't a weakness place, this is a partnership with you, you know, in your weakness, I am made strong. And I truly believe that the more we've been able to see that it was, it's in the it's in the Ten Commandments, it's right there. And the Lord's like, I knew you would need this because you would operate by your own strength. But when you operate and walk with me, is where you begin to see the abundance of the gifts I have for you. And I'll tell you, if someone is is is feeling right now, maybe if there's a measuring stick we could have, you know, if you could buy this measuring stick from you know Home Depot and it would say, here is depletion and here is abundance, you know what I mean? I think we would all say, like, where do I fall on this? And if and then maybe it changes day to day sometimes too, you know, based on everything going on. But I feel like the Lord is like, I have called you to lead an abundant life with me. And therefore, I am not asking you to operate by something that is not relevant to who you are now. And so I think again, you can ask yourself, am I in a place of depletion and exhaustion, out of a place of, you know, scarcity, you know, am I operating in a place of peace and of joy and of abundant living? And that right there is a conversation I love to have with people because then it doesn't, you know, it doesn't mean that it's just for one person or for another, but it's truly the gift from God.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I thought a lot about uh because I'm passionate, I've seen the you know the blessing by taking the Sabbath day. Uh, but I find that um we in the the West, a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners and executives, we we we want to compromise with God on that. Um and it comes down to a trust issue because most people don't believe, hey, like I can truly take a day off if I'm like a business owner, you know, I've got to do all this. And like, for instance, as a a real estate, I've been in real estate, and and like you'll take that day off, and but then you'll have someone call and say, hey, I want to see property that day, and then in my mind I'll start compromise. Well, I'll take off half of the day tomorrow, and then you start doing it in a quarters, you know, and then I'll you're you're negotiating minutes and stuff of yeah, you know, and it it really comes down to trust, I feel like you've just got to trust that hey, if I'm taking this day off and a multi-million dollar buyer comes and I miss that buyer because I'm taking that day of rest, that God's gonna bless me with another buyer. Right. And that's and most and that's a big most people have a challenge with that. They're like, no, you don't do that. You work and you take off a quarter day the next day, and so that that's the world that we're in in business in this country is we're compromising with God all the time and saying, I I can't do that because I've got this job that doesn't allow me to take the Sabbath. Um, any comments on that?
SPEAKER_00:I think that what you're talking about probably needs to be another whole book though, because I I understand what you're saying actually very intimately, because I was raised by small business owners who were in the real estate industry, and I understand those those calls can come all the time, and how responsive you need to be. And how many people are listening today who are in jobs, you know, that are in high demand? I I know I'm a small business owner and I don't have any set schedule. You know, no one else is coming to do the work, you know, so to say. And there are nurses and doctors who are on call. And and I think the biggest thing I would say is to start where you are. I think that to your point, John, you make a really bigger point of conviction, which is not to compromise and negotiate with God. But I think sometimes, you know, there's two points to it. I think first of all, Michael and I are really on a mission to help people start, you know, and so we tell everyone, you know, start with where you are. For us, it was starting with our Friday night, you know, and beginning to build to a place where we were able to grow in our trust and surrender. Sometimes I feel like we sometimes we force ourselves into trust and surrender, but then like that's where our humanity needs to walk in a place of surrender to the Lord. And that is then I think a more mature journey of Sabbath is getting to that point where you're realizing, you know what, just as I'm called to tithe, just as I'm called to love my neighbor, you know, just as I'm called to be a light in the darkness, I'm called to trust God in this way. And so I think if I could speak practically, it's okay to the to many of the people who are listening today is if you are not practicing Sabbath, start with where you are. Find, you know, find in your heart the place that God is calling you to meet with Him and block it off and expect every phone call to come, expect every meltdown from a child to come. We tell everyone there's a whole chapter in the book, the resistance is so real. Start there and allow that to build your faith in God. And I was actually on a walk yesterday, I don't know if I told you this or not, and I didn't take my phone with me, which is amazing, and I was just praying through a few things and I asked the Lord, Lord, increase by faith. You know, and it's and I can't just force it, you know, I can't just force it. I'm gonna believe God for everything today. But like, let me take a minute and let me rewind where I'm seeing your faithfulness in our lives. The tiny little things that no one else would know and really doesn't even so much matter, but it matters to me. And as I took a moment, I was walking with our two dogs, and they're intense, they're dragging me down the road. You know, people are probably like, what's that woman doing? I'm sitting here just calculating, you know, back and going, you did this and you did this, and now I'm gonna surrender this piece to you and a surrender this piece to you. So I think that surrender piece, it comes when we become even more fully aware of his goodness to us. Um, but that's a huge that's a real human piece, especially for the entrepreneurs here today.
SPEAKER_01:Well, how how do you recommend people get started in a sense of because a lot of our listeners are believers in Jesus, Christians that you know go to church on Sunday uh typically? Um so do you recommend, is there does it have to be a particular day or because I I know Sabbath in the the Jewish world is Saturday, you know. So how do y'all recommend is someone that's looking to start and we could tell them read the book?
SPEAKER_00:But no, no, let's let's tell them, let's give them a little clip of it.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's good. So uh I want to share a verse that's a big verse for us, and we call it the we call it the assessment uh in Matthew 11 in the message version. And we'd encourage anyone that's listening or watching this episode to take this assessment. And in Matthew 11, uh Jesus says, he says, Are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burned out on religion or life? So a few years ago, I would have raised my hands to all three of those questions. Maybe, maybe just internally, I don't know, outwardly I would have admitted to that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh you know, where pride can just get in, you know, get in the way. But ask yourself those few questions. And then he goes on to say, come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life, and then I'll show you how to take a real rest. So I think anyone that's listening or watching, if they answered yes to any of those three questions, um, we would really encourage them to just consider starting. And don't do what we did, but keep it simple.
SPEAKER_00:There's definitely so many ways to keep it simple.
SPEAKER_02:We would encourage a f we would encourage a Friday night at the same time, we would encourage an evening that works best for you. Um The one challenge that I would have is to turn it off. Yeah. Uh and what I mean by turning it off is your technology. Uh to and just to give that a chance, I just recently uh read before this conversation a sweet a C-suite report that said seven out of ten professionals admit that they are unable to disconnect.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I actually think that number's low, to be honest with you. So I thought they were doing other things. Nine out of ten. But but they went on to say, and at the same time, even when they take a break or a vacation that they're not able to disconnect, even while they are um away. And so that's a that's a big one for me. I think this, I think the disconnecting from tech may be comes a little easier to me than it does for you on occasion. But but I think that's an important step, and basically what we're saying, and and I think this is important in the in the book, and then we hope that um our readers or listeners of the book will catch the spirit of this, is that we would we would champion that our Sabbath and Shabbats, it's not about Michael and Selah time. It's not what we're saying, but we're saying, God, this is now you. You know, in the very beginning, you know, when you said you rested, he called that time not good, but he said the day, the seventh day, he called it holy. And so begin to wrap your mind around that prayerfully, that's really powerful to just posture your heart of, okay, I'm gonna pick a day that works for me. And even if it's for a half an hour, an hour, an evening, I'm gonna disconnect and I'm going to, John, you touched on this earlier. If we have trust issues, we're just gonna say, okay, God, Proverbs 3, I'm gonna trust you and acknowledge you in all my ways. I'm just gonna give you this time at the table, and you have your way and get an opportunity to be able to experience his shalom uh and his peace is so is so powerful.
SPEAKER_00:So that's where I would that and and what does that look like? Let's make it practical for a minute. You know, for a family like us, we love having our Friday nights for Shabbat, and that's our Sabbath, is primarily our Friday nights. It does adjust or move around based on maybe travel or or some you know other scenario, but to your point, it is now built into the fabric of our family. And so it's something you have to start. And to Michael's point, I'd rather you start small than start too big and too fast and burn out or lose sight of the real why. And I truly believe you have to experience the table. You have to come to it. And so for us, it's Friday night, you know, right around dinner time is when we power down. Again, Michael's really good at powering down. I'm a more like checking all the emails, citing all the things, you know. But nonetheless, there is there is an activation, I believe, in the spiritual realm that happens when we put our our physical at a place where we say, you are you are now put at bay. The chaos of the world can wait, the demands can wait. I'm drawing to the table because we know Jesus is at the table. And so we come to the table as a family and we begin a practice time, which takes us about 15 minutes or so. It's not formulaic, it's not rigid. I call it, it's like the landing gear of like all the humanity and the entrance into the time with Jesus is what that does for us. And we we outline it all in the book. It's simple steps to start. Do you mind if I run through them really quickly? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Michael, well, you know, Michael takes a moment and he does it devotional with our family. He's just takes the time to share, like whether it's just a word the Lord put on his heart or something he read or something maybe we were discussing or a challenge we've been walking through as a family, just a way to kind of say, let's take a moment, let's open the word of God, you know, and again, a few minutes begins to transition our physical. It's like there, there's things happening simultaneously as he's sharing that. Our focus is beginning to turn, you know, to the word, to the Lord. And then uh we light the candles at the table and we light two candles and typically play a worship song. And that's a moment I know I feel like I take this giant breath. It's probably the one and only biggest breath I take all week, to be honest. And there's something about the candlelight, we call it the light of Christ, and it just changes the atmosphere of the room, and we just light our candles on the table. And then comes, I think what is probably everyone's favorite moment, which is the blessing. And it's where Michael, as the head of our household, walks around the table and he blesses each of us. And we call him uh developing a blessing radar. And so throughout the week now, you just kind of consciously and subconsciously are looking for moments to call out, you know, the goodness in us. And, you know, hey, anchor, I saw you react this way, you know, to this disappointment, and and I saw you overcome this challenge. Or Naya, I noticed the other day when you shared, you know, this this word of encouragement to someone, you know, who like and it's whatever, and and I see the way, and he does it for me too, and how we kind of make eye contact. And a lot of times, not about you, but when you're running around and you're can feel like your ship's passing, you know, in the day and in the week with your spouse or with your kids and you're more managing life, like that's a deep sense of connection. And that, like, whatever, 20, 30 seconds of you blessing each of us, like it's a deep well of deposit. And then the last step of our practice is where we take communion and we we have the bread and the juice. Some families do the bread and the wine, you know, and we just take a moment and we acknowledge, you know, the sacrifice of Christ over us and how the blood, you know, and the forgiveness of his of his sacrifice covers us as humans. And and and then we enter into dinner from there and we call it dinner and linger, where we just lose ourselves then. And I feel like at that point, I have slowly let go of so much of the, you know, gotta do this and should I do this and how about this? And I just feel like suddenly I'm in a place of present with my family and in the presence of God. And that begins then an evening where we are just able to talk and connect and laugh and linger in any which way, shape, or form, maybe that evening holds for us. And I'll tell you, I sleep deeper that night than I think I do any other night of the week. I go to bed, you know, just more in a state of gratitude. You know how like gratitude? You can be going through the hardest things in life. We have walked through definite hardship seasons. But I'll tell you, when you're able to hold like gratitude and find peace and see that it's in the presence of God, like that right there is I think more than anything money can buy. And so that right there is the deepest point of container of Sabbath that has really impacted us. And then you can, yes, take it further into a place, you know, of up to you know the 24-hour mark. But I encourage you that that is possible any season of life, whether it's pizza, you know, Domino's pizza at the table or you make a nice fancy meal, um, whether you're by yourself or with your spouse or with friends or your family, Sabbath is a gift for you.
SPEAKER_02:And while sounding tranquil and serene, not easy on Fridays to get to the table. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so what y'all are saying is just just start like you know, and like you're doing this meal, but then and and then you could also continue it through Saturday is your Sabbath day. But y'all you kind of started with the meal and the for your family now.
SPEAKER_00:Let me definitely tell you. In fact, our last Friday night was anything but peaceful. Our two-year-old, I don't know what he, you know, what lollipoppy found, you know, in the corner of a diaper bag, but I mean he was bouncing off the walls. I think I burned half of dinner. Like, you know, I think, you know, just there was the doorbell rang. I mean, it was just like, okay, we're fighting to hold peace at the table. And so that's what's beautiful. Every every Sabbath looks a little different. I think what we need is a little different, but Jesus is always present in there.
SPEAKER_02:And I think there's a testimony of the fruit of the spirit in our in our lives and the work that he's done. That is true. Because I don't think we could have handled last Friday three years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you stayed more tall than I anticipated you would have ever said.
SPEAKER_02:The veins were not sticking out of my forehead.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I definitely know I need this for my family because we have a hectic, hectic family with four kids as well. And I I I relate with everything y'all are saying, so I I'm I'm looking forward to doing this myself, you know. Uh so folks, once again, we're we're vi visiting with Michael and Selah about this book, Pressing Pause. It's such a blessing that they've written. And one of the things that I I just I love so much, but that that y'all wrote in here that just really got my attention uh is is where um you were talking about your you know kind of an intense season in your work with the nonprofit, and someone, a friend had asked if you could just take a few hours off with them, and you just listed all your responsibilities, commitments, and he simply asked, Do you believe you're more necessary to God's work than God Himself? And I was like, wow, that to me, was that I I'm not sure which one of y'all that was, but well, probably both of us. But that to me is just such a profound statement in this book that I feel like a lot of people believe is that they're more necessary to God's work than Himself. That they can't they can't even spare an hour, a little bit of time. And uh wow, I just really what a blessing. Thank y'all so much. Is there anything else that y'all want to add before we go? That you know, from the book or just anything we we want to share?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, I if I could share a last word, it would it would it would be to encourage uh those that are listening and watching to be expectant. Yes. Um I like to I like to talk about or ask the question, you know, when you think about the w the work and and we're doing great work. We're all doing great work, we're working hard, we're putting in lots of hours. But I think the question is, are you you know resting from work or are you working from rest? You know, are you resting from work or working from rest? And and so, you know, I think if you find yourself that you are, you know, working from rest, um, you know, I I think come expectant with what Sabbath, you know, has to offer. That you have the opportunity to be able to come out of this time, that you and trust to God, you learn how to take a real rest. And one of the rhythms that we talk about is this we call it activating purpose. It's it's and to be expectant that when you when you come out of a few hours or when you come out of a full a full day, come expectant within with with God to infuse innovation, creativity, and wisdom and ideas, extra grace uh if you happen to be married in your marriage, if you happen to have kids and and parenting uh your kids, just come expectant. Um and it goes back to trusting, you know, trusting God to have your way. But remember, in the beginning, I'm not the creator of the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He is. Uh, you know, and God, and God, and and we've been talking a lot about rest, but while God set a pattern for us of rest, he also loves work. Yeah, you know, and so really that's a something a a last word that I like to share.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I think for myself, I'll say uh ironically, I think a lot of our message is reaching a lot of people who are high achievers. And I and sometimes they're like, I'll do it when I can do it just right. You know what I mean? Or feel or like I've got to learn how to do it and then I'll implement it. I think we learn that a lot of times in strategy. And you know, systems and things. Well, as hard as it may be for you, or as maybe as freeing as it is for you, I tell people just start where you are and let it be messy and don't feel like you even have to have read the whole book to start. Like literally turn off your phone for whatever it is, an hour start there. An evening would be the best thing, you know, and and just and and come to that place where you can be present and you don't have to worry about feeling like, did I do it right? Did I check all the right boxes? You know, I think that's what's so ironic sometimes is even in a place of rest, we feel like we have to do it just right, you know, or and and I don't know why I feel that way sometimes, but I have been surprised in some of our conversations with people that there's just a maybe a freeing moment to say, you know what, the Lord has called us to come in who we are and in that very moment. And so, you know, should that cause, you know, maybe emotion in you, you know, should you feel like, you know, maybe there's a place to release that before the Lord? If there's just a place to come with gratitude, if the and no, no, whether it's brokenness or beauty, the table is there for you. And don't feel like you've got to figure it all out to do it. But I truly believe this is a taste and see that the Lord is good. You know, not a figure it out that the Lord is good, not do all the right things and then the Lord will be good, but a taste and see. And so again, whether you're walking with the Lord, whether you're new with the Lord, whether you've been, you know, in a place of just, you know, hungering for more, you know, more of him, whatever it is, I truly believe that he will meet you in your Sabbath moment and in him you will find that he is good.
SPEAKER_01:This has been so good, folks. We've been visited with Michael and Sayla Hirsch, this book, Pressing Pause. It will bless you. It's it's blessing me because I really need this in my life. I've been so blessed by this conversation. I know it's gonna help a lot of people. And before we go, we always like to remind everyone of our three pillars of road to redemption is first to get into the word of God, to read the Bible. Start just reading the Bible every day. Get up in the morning, turn off your phone, press pause from your phone, and read the Bible, and we promise He will speak to you. And the next is to get into a Christ-centered church and just go. You're you're never gonna find the perfect church, but go and and the church people are gonna welcome you. They wanna want you to help bless you and come together in community, and the Bible calls us to do that, to assemble together. And last is to get into a small group. Get into a group that you can make yourself accountable and do life with. And these these folks are gonna come behind you and help you through what you're going through. So it's been a great conversation. Wow, this has really blessed me, and I know it's gonna bless a lot of our viewers.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, John, appreciate it. We love the show, so thank you so much. It's been an honor for Sale and I to get to know you and uh to be able to have this conversation today.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I know. Thank you all for taking your time to