93. Summer Ministry and Sacred Rest

Summer can be one of the busiest and most demanding seasons in ministry. Between events, travel, camps, family responsibilities, and ongoing leadership commitments, many women in ministry find themselves running on empty. In this episode of His Glory, Her Good, Amanda Mejias and Corinne Allen have an honest conversation about the challenges of summer ministry and the importance of finding true rest in the midst of a full schedule.

This episode is a reminder that rest is not a reward for finishing the work, it is a gift from God that strengthens us for the work He has called us to do. Whether you're leading a ministry, serving your family, or navigating a particularly busy season, you'll be encouraged to slow down, seek God's presence, and trust that your labor in the Lord is never in vain.

Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use encouragement during a busy season of ministry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome back to His Glory Her Good, a podcast for women in student ministry. We are your hosts. I'm Amanda. And I'm Karin. And we are back for a really fun, special, what we're calling our mini summer series. We understand more than you probably even imagine of how crazy summertime can be as somebody who is serving in youth ministry, whether you're a volunteer, part-time, full-time, something happens this summer. We think it's going to be the chill vacation. And that's just not how it's wired at all. And it's because teenagers are off and now you have to entertain them for a whole summer. And so we know that this is probably not the time where you're like, let me do some like professional enrichment and grow in my career. Instead, you're like, we are in full survival mode, living off four hour sleep and as many different flavors of Alani that we can get our hands on. But the reality is that we know that that mindset is only, you know, that I can do it, just got to push through. It can only last you for maybe the first three days of camp or something like that. Um, and then you hit a wall. And I think so much of that is because what you are facing isn't just physical exhaustion during the summer, but there's emotional toll that takes on you, a mental toll, and obviously a spiritual toll. And so we're taking the next four weeks. We want to give you back some of your time. Um, we're gonna be, these are gonna be shorter episodes. And the goal of this is for you to take off your minister hat for a second and to put on your student hat, um, a student of the word, a daughter of God, um, and to come to God's word and to say, God, what is it that you want to do in my life? And we at the retreat, the Her Good retreat, our theme was fully dependent. And just this idea of having to like, we love to like be awesome and take care. We are women, hear me roar. I got this, don't need no man. Um, but the reality is that like God has designed us to be fully dependent on him. Right. So each week we're gonna call this our fully dependent summer. Love it. Instead of hot girl summer, fully dependent summer. We can also be hot girls too. But we wanted to call this our fully dependent summer and spend the next four weeks talking about the ways that God has called us by his word to be fully dependent on him. And so Grant's gonna kick us off with our first fully dependent. What's our word this week? Our word is rest. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah. Um, but I think that's kind of why we actually are intentionally starting there for this summer is some of you listening might thrive off of the chaos that is summer, and you're like, this is about to be the most fun. Some of you are having to more mentally prepare or you're in the thick of it. And I honestly don't think your personality towards how you feel about the craziness of summer matters as much as we get to talk about what it means to actually rest in the Lord. And I mean, I feel like we almost have to start with Matthew 11 going to this verse that we've heard a lot. And before you're like, this must be nice. That sounds more like a fall or winter verse. Hang with us. Um, but we're gonna be kind of unpacking Matthew 11, 2830. And that's where Jesus says to his people, Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And uh I think we kind of intentionally start there because when we think about rest, this verse is not saying, Come to me, you student worker who is weary and burdened, and I will give you a nap, or a two-week vacation, or all these things that would be nice. And this verse, these verses are so much less about relaxing and so much more about what Jesus says in verse 29 that you will find rest for your souls. And so we want to be people who are fully dependent on the rest, like resting in the Lord. But I love so I will go back to this. But our friend Caroline Saunders spoke on this at the Her Good Retreat. But even if you weren't there or you heard this, I just want to unpack this idea that she was even trying to make, which is we are called to both meaningful work and refreshing, like restoring rest. And so, but what does that actually mean? And how do we walk in this idea of I want to be fully dependent, I want to rest in the Lord, but I'm exhausted? And I think that's kind of where in my own life, if I look back and even now, I have functioned in a lot of false narratives, but all across the board. Like I've done the work so hard, prove what I can do, do everything. Wow, awesome, be the girl. And then I've also swung to the other end of like, I'm resting, these are boundaries, I can do nothing, I'm putting these things in place. And hear me say, like, there can be the right use of all of these words, like to work diligently for the Lord with excellence, to have an honor boundaries that the Lord gives us, to fight burnout. But we don't want to overuse those terms to build up ourselves or to avoid hard things. And so I think that's kind of what we want to get after and what I want us to talk about. But true rest, this rest for your souls that we are promised, that is actually available for us today, happens only in the presence of the Lord, not in the numbing, escaping, checking out, going on vacation. Those are really fun things. But you can go on a vacation and come back just as exhausted. You need a vacation from your vacation. Yes. So, like, talk to me, Amanda, because I think where in your life are you also experiencing like the true rest for my soul? My body can be a little tired, my mind can feel heavy, but I can find rest for my soul when I'm in the presence of God.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah, I am definitely somebody who at the end of a day I'm exhausted, and the thing that I run to is like doom scrolling my phone. Um, or if I'm not doom scrolling, I'm like, well, I'm not on social media, but you know what? I could put a show on Netflix and totally checking out. And um A truly cell phone boundaries have been like the biggest help in helping me like redirect myself back to the Lord. Um, because the moment that my apps are just a free-for-all, like my attention is gone. Yeah. Um, and so I would say at night that has been one of the things that I'm really trying harder to do of like putting my phone away, making sure that the first thing you do isn't just like go to Netflix. And the other thing that I often do is like instead of going to phone or social media or something entertainment-wise or numbing, I then go to work. I'm like, I gotta clean my house and catch up on laundry and da-da-da-da-da. So I'm always trying to fill my time with something. And instead, I open my Bible, which feels like we like always hear about quiet times of the morning. I'm more of a quiet time in the evening kind of girl. Um, especially like after a hard day where my soul is drained. Um, the children have sucked the life out of me. And but when I'm laying in bed, like, man, the last thing to do of like refilling my cup is like opening God's word. And um, I've been reading the they just came out with like note-taking Bibles with the CSB. They're like spiral bound. Anyway, they're broken up in different sections of the Bible. So I've got the Pinateok right now. Cool. And it honestly, I'm obsessed with it because it feels like a storybook. It's so big, the font's so big. Maybe I'm just old now, but I like love opening up and I'm just reading it as if it's like the bedtime story that I would read to my children. Um, but instead I'm reading it to my soul. And just that last bit of my energy and my time is going just to sitting in God's word and allowing him to speak to me and teach me. And so that's kind of how it's looked in my life right now. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Um, I think like a very practical one that we've actually talked about off mic, um, is there are gonna be times that like you're maybe doing the right things and things are still feeling foggy or weird, and like it would be okay to go get your blood work done. Yeah. So for me personally, like I would say in the last few months was definitely in a spot of like, okay, I do struggle with anxious thoughts and with some brain fog and like fatigue, and that some of that makes sense for like my life. But then it was like, but I also feel like I'm starting to do things that should be supporting this and something's still off. And what would you know? I was so deficient in two vitamins that really have made the difference now that like that was me, I have the proper form of it. And so this is definitely not medical advice. It's just also the like, there are times that I for sure need the boundaries. And I think honestly, especially a time like summer or any busy season, I think sometimes we're like always thinking about the after-the-fact recovery of the craziness instead of the proactive along the way rest. And I think that's where I don't want to sit by the lie that like God can't do a lot to restore us in 30 minutes. Or that because I can't let it look like this this summer, then I'll just catch up at the end. Versus, okay, I probably actually need to be stricter with some of my boundaries. The nights that I don't have plans, I probably need to go to bed earlier. I need to do some of these things that feel extreme, but might actually help me keep a sustainable pace. That I just think it's the truth that we don't have to get to now, we can get to the end of the summer and be like, I'm exhausted, but in this kind of holy way of we worked really hard and saw God do some really cool things, but it doesn't have to ruin us. And I don't think it has to be like, I'm just gonna work for the Lord and I'm just gonna be miserable to be around and in a really bad place and fragile and like all these things. Like we can actually enjoy it because we're in the presence of the Lord, like in all those moments. So I think it's both the like for my own life right now is where do we need to dial in? Even things that right now I feel like I don't need to be that strict on my phone time, screen time, sleep. But in three months, will I have wished I would have been, you know, drinking my electrolytes and taking, making sure that was drinking water, doing things to like support so that I can live just more fully awake to like what God's doing this summer, where yes, I may be getting less sleep on some nights, but I am restored by being in his presence, doing work that I love the word picture in Matthew 11 is that Jesus is not saying, I will rescue you from ever working. It's actually, I want to bring you into the work that I have. And that's why I love, I'm gonna flip over because 1 Corinthians 15 is a reminder of what our work can be when it's done for the Lord. Um 1 Corinthians 15, 58. When Paul's talking, he says, Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in what? The Lord's work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. And I think what a gift we see work introduced in the garden before the fall. Like it's not just this curse. Yeah. But we see that anything that's actually done for the Lord, that is the Lord's work that He's given us to do, is never done in vain, which means that it matters, it has significance, it's important, it's enduring, it's all these things. And I think the challenge for us, though, is Galatians 5. If we're going to walk by the Spirit and engage in the work that God has given us to do, let's make sure that every single yes and every single no we give is actually led by the spirit and filled with the spirit, so that we're not saying no to things that are hard work, but God is saying, hey, we're gonna do the inconvenient thing, we're gonna do the uncomfortable thing for my glory, for the good of other people, to serve to for you to be refined and sanctified. But then also to give yeses, not because I need to prove that I can handle this or I need to do just a little bit more so that I'm never seen as not doing enough, but I'm gonna give the yeses that the Lord is telling me to give and I'm gonna be all in. But then I'm also gonna give the no's, even if it costs me what you think of me or cost me an opportunity down the road. But when we are actually in step with the Spirit saying yes, saying no, honoring the boundaries he gives us, and then defying all the other boundaries that are definitely maybe more excuses or things, or just maybe it's a lack of stewardship that we haven't stewarded our time and our resources and our time in the presence of the Lord well to go, there's no need to blame, but there's also no need to live in shame. Jesus is inviting us into his work and his rest and our bodies can be at the end of the summer like spent.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

And still our hearts, I and souls, I really believe can be overwhelmed with a peace and a joy because we got to be just so in the presence of God and what an honor that we got to see him move in unique ways that sometimes only happens in summer settings. And we didn't have to miss it because we're just so busy doing work that we forgot, oh, I want to do the Lord's work, but while resting in the Lord surrendered to him. And that gives me a lot of hope that we can like need a nap when it's all said and done, and also not lose our souls or our minds in the process.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

That's so good. Well, um, that is, I mean, very convicting for myself. Um, and I hope that as you're listening, that this is something that you can kind of take in, start putting into practice. What are the ways that I'm gonna rest in the Lord? Where is the Lord inviting me into his work? Um, but we are gonna close out a little differently each of these episodes, and we're just gonna pray over you. Um, and then we will uh see you next week. You wanna pray for us? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

God, I just thank you for who you are, and I thank you, um, God, that there are seasons and moments and things that you invite us into that are way beyond our capacity because you care that we actually lean on you and trust you. And so, God, where you are inviting us to completely surrender to you and to lean on your capacity and your equipping. Um, God, may we be bold to trust you. But also, God, where you are hemming us in or giving us limits, instead of fighting those limits that you are lovingly giving to us, may we say no um with joy. Um, remove our pride and the lie that we believe at times that we've got to overfunction or do all these things, or that rest can only happen when it looks a certain way. Um, God, may we be women who know that every day we need your daily bread. We need time in your presence more than anything else. And we can know that in our heads and want that for our students and want that for others. Um, but God, may we not go to bed a single night of this summer without sitting in your presence, not out of legalism, but God, out of just the taking a stand to say, I'm not just gonna believe it in my head, I'm gonna believe it in my heart and live it out that I need the Lord. And I'm just excited to see what you will do, God, with your daughters who actually find their true rest in you and you alone. So we thank you for the opportunity to have a crazy summer full of a lot of really fun and awesome things. Help us to steward that time well and to not miss where you are at work. It's in Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

His Glory Her Good is a production of the Life Way Podcast Network.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

We're your hosts, Corinne Allen and Amanda Mejis. We are so grateful that you joined us, and we'll see you next time.