The Gift of Rest

On this episode of the Authentic Marriage Podcast, hosts Shawn and Lauren, along with Chris and Brooke, record from the beautiful island of Eleuthera, Bahamas, as they reflect on the biblical gift of rest. Surrounded by God's creation, they discuss why stepping away from the routines and distractions of everyday life is essential for our spiritual, emotional, and relational health.

The conversation explores how true rest is more than taking a vacation. It is intentionally creating space to meet with God. Whether at home or away, spending daily time in His presence allows us to experience the deep rest that only He can provide. The hosts encourage listeners to disconnect from the demands of life, enjoy God's creation, and remember that rest is a gift from the Lord.

Looking to Scripture, they reflect on how God worked for six days and rested on the seventh, establishing a pattern for us to follow. They also discuss Jesus' teaching that "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," reminding us that God designed rest for our good, not as a burden.

In a culture that celebrates constant busyness and productivity, Shawn, Lauren, Chris, and Brooke challenge listeners to embrace God's rhythm instead of the world's. God desires for us to experience abundant life, and healthy, intentional rest is part of His design.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, spend time with the Lord, and discover the renewal that comes from resting in His presence.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Well, welcome to Love for a Lifetimes Authentic Marriage Podcast on vacation. We're coming to you from uh Blue Haven uh on the island of Eleuthra in the Bahamas. Uh of course I'm Chris, this is my wife Brooke, and they are Sean and Lauren.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Sean and Lauren speak to themselves.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

They do, they do. So we're just we're just so blessed that we get to come to a beautiful place and get some time away, get some rest. And I think this is just an important thing for married couples to get rest. To get rest and to get a time away. I know I know when I was in full-time work, just that time to get away uh was so important for our marriage, but it was also a challenge because um came with us. Yeah, I wasn't always good at disconnecting. Not always sometimes it took a little bit of time to disconnect. I think, but once I did, was it pretty good once I did?

SPEAKER_03 1:02

If you did, it was really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

If I did, if yeah, I think that's the important part is you have to, if you're gonna get away to rest, you have to be intentional. I know Brooke and I were talking about this earlier. You have to be intentional about how you rest. Yeah, you know, Lauren asked me, do I want to buy this waterproof case for my phone and all that? And I was like, that sounds like a good idea. I can take pictures. And I was like, no, I'm gonna have my phone with me in the water. I need a break. And so, like, I had to make that conscious decision of saying, nope, I don't want that because I don't want it. I do not disturb. I don't want it near me. Yep, you know, that was important that was an important decision I made.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Well, even here, I haven't had my watch on, I've had the phone kind of away. Like, I don't even know what time it is, I don't know what day it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Well, it's I think it's Saturday. I don't know. It's beach day.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

It's beach day. It's pool day. It's pool day, pool of the water. Yes. Yeah. But I think what's interesting is rest. It's you think people often think it's laziness, it's like, but it's actually a very intentional word. I think, like you were just saying, you have to be intentional about rest. Create the boundaries. What does that look like? How do I rest? What what feeds me? What refuels me? Is it a nap? That's okay. You know, when you set that time time aside, don't let the enemy um condemn you.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Yeah. It's been interesting being here with you guys and and with your boys, you three and five-year-old boys, and you know, the the three-year-old, he has to nap every day.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

He gets to nap, he gets to nap, but he has mom and dad.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

But that's that's rest, and for him, that's rest, but it gives you guys some rest as well. And it's just uh it brings peace for everybody and then refuel.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, and I think it's interesting, like you said, looking back, right? You we might have might not have remembered that when we had young kids, but we can see it. If he doesn't get that nap, it he just he it it gets worse and worse and worse and worse. So he has to go get the nap. And then once he gets the nap, he's so happy afterwards. He recharges, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

But what's interesting too is with his brother, because his brother gets to rest, and even though he might not nap, he rests in a different way when his little brother is napping. And if he doesn't get rest and the other doesn't like it's it's chaos, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

So we call that quiet time too, and it's like where do you find your quiet time? And so disconnecting from the things that we do, we're in a rut, we have all these uh demands on our lives and all this stuff going on, being able to cut that off and to just get away. You don't have to go on a vacation like this to a beach. This is a beautiful place, and I would suggest you all do it if you can. But if not, even just a little subtle change in the things that you're doing in life, the routines, the noise, the junk. If you can just separate from that, even go get a hotel or go stay somewhere else and do something different.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Like it's changing your environment. Yeah, changing your environment.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah, I I talk about that some more a lot.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Oh, well, I just think changing your environment, you don't have to spend a ton of money just getting away to somewhere else, right? Um, because when you change your environment, it almost changes like you're kind of in a different mode, you know?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Um because they have the same distractions, yeah. They're different.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Yeah, when you're in your same like place, you just constantly are doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Um and so I think it's it's a good thing just to kind of change wherever you are and and move somewhere else just for even just a time. If like you feel like you're overloaded, it's a really good thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

But I think importantly though, a vacation isn't necessarily rest all the time. Sometimes your vacations are moving and working, and you got kids, they're exhausting at times. So I think that when we talk about Matthew 11, 28, it says, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And that's where you're gonna find your true rest is in Christ, in God. And he wants to take that yoke. He says, My yoke is light, my burden is easy. And I think we have even gotten to the point here where sometimes we don't go into the word because we're wanting to go to the beach, we're wanting to do all those things, and all of a sudden I feel tense and I'm not getting that rest. And we recognize that we still need our God time, we really desire it, and you know, it helps us even with the children. Our children were going kind of crazy, and so we got focused on the word and prayed in the morning, and then the day turned just wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Well, and it's funny today because your older one did the God time with you, and the younger one did not, and we've not ever heard a meltdown of the younger one like we heard this afternoon since we've been here for a week, right? We have not ever heard that, but he didn't do the God time. And and the older one's been great today. So it's it's interesting, it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

It's a big impact to find that. I think the things some you still want to center yourself, like appreciating the Lord, all that he's done for you, appreciating his creation that we can see all around. Whether whether you like water, lakes, oceans, or whether you like the mountains or nature and the trees, I think, I think it's just wonderful to be in his creation and see it. But that to get away, going back to what Lauren was saying, like I know one of the big things for me is funny, it's a funny thing, but when we're at home, how many how often will Brooke will fold laundry at 10 o'clock at night? I'm like, I'm like, I'm let's get in bed, honey. I'm ready to get in bed. And she's like, Well, you know what, the dryer just buzzed, I'm gonna fold laundry at 10 o'clock at night. It's like, can't we just get in bed?

SPEAKER_03 6:31

If the laundry's folded, we can. I mean, it just takes a few minutes.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

It just takes a few money. Very important. It's not very mood-setting, though. Holding the laundry is not necessarily a mood-setting kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Well, every night can't be mood-setting either.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I beg you different.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Says the two men.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

A little tangent there, but but not but it coming to some place different, getting out of that routine, appreciating it. Like I said, whether it's the ocean or the mountains or the desert, even appreciate something different as creation is just it's just so refreshing.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Well, I think, you know, we I've mentioned this before. We're in Bible college, and we were listening to one of our teachers, and he was talking about how, you know, he was a pastor, and for so long, if he did anything enjoyable, right? Like if he played golf or if he did anything, if he wasn't like in the word all the time or sharing the gospel, he he he self-condemned himself. And really the enemy's voice, right? The enemy is like, oh, you're not doing enough. He wasn't allowed to enjoy doing this. And you're and like God came to give us abundance, you know, and like he loves when we enjoy what he's given us. Because like he's a he's our dad, right? And if you think about it, like you're uh you're a regular father, right? Like, um, you know, they love to give you things, right? And not everybody has had the same upbringing, so I understand that can be hard, but think about somebody who you have really loved and who has loved you well, who has given you things and wanted you to enjoy, they've taken you to places, right? It's it's it's an act of love to say, like, enjoy this. I want to give you these things, right? And and God is not always like, you know, you need to work, work, work. No, if you look at how God is and you look at his character, you see that he worked for six full days, he created, and then on the seventh day, man, can you just imagine God just like looking at it all and enjoying what he did, like what he made? Like he got to enjoy it. And he wasn't like on to the next, he actually sat and he enjoyed and he said, It is good, it is good, and he wants that to be us, he wants us to work hard, right? There's lots of scriptures about putting our hands to things and they prosper, right? Like we are the hands and feet of Jesus and we are to be doing those things, but he also wants us to enjoy, he wants us to enjoy going and playing golf because he gave us the land to do that and the abilities in our bodies to do those things. He wants us to enjoy just lounging in the water that he gave us, right? And so, and I do think that you know, especially if you're close to the Lord, enjoying those things is even so much sweeter because you recognize who provided it for you to enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

You know, and Jesus said that that Sabbath was created for man, man, not man for Sabbath. God modeled rest on the seventh day. He rested not because he needed to rest, right? He modeled it because he knew it would be good for us, and he knew that it was something that we would need to do. And like you said, to be able to take that time and enjoy even the creation of what we do at work or what you've done at work, or enjoy how the kids have been raised and enjoy them, and we don't tend to enjoy as much as we need to. And as he wants us to. And as much as the blessings that we have gotten from him, we just say, Okay, that's great. I gotta move on and and and do something different.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

I do find it interesting too that in other countries, like there are um like moments of like like siestas and things like that, right? Where they they break and they're not working. In the US, we're very used to go, go, go, go, go, work, work, work, work, work, and you know, climbing up that ladder, like comparing ourselves to the next door neighbor, right? Like it it the US has it's I love the US, but it has its way of ingraining these things in us which are not necessarily biblical, you know, and so we have to step back and we have to say, Lord, what is it that we're supposed to really be doing, you know, like and enjoying and um and and a lot of the times we just get into this worldly thinking, and that's why I think the Lord also says renew your mind, renew your mind, because that's not what the Lord is saying, right? Um, so I just think it's an interesting, like we need to rethink how we think.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, I think it's interesting when we lived overseas, you know, you you we lived around a lot of Europeans and very standard three-week vacation holiday in the summer, right? Yeah, at least one week was not they didn't consider that a real vacation or a holiday, it had to be two, preferably three weeks.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

You can't disconnect in just one week.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

That's the thing, is I I could see that working is the first two or three days, sometimes four days, was it's just trying to disconnect. And then you can start relaxing and enjoying it and renewing yourself.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

But if you're going back in a week, by that fourth day, you're like, okay, when I get back, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, and so all of a sudden that relaxing is gone.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

So it's so it's good to kind of carve away a little bit more time if you can. I know it's a challenge. And I think even for married couples, uh, you know, one of the things is is not just annually, right? You gotta get away some a long period of time, but trying to make sure that on a regular basis you're getting away from those distractions and trying to tune them off, whether it's 24 or 48 hours, even long weekends are good for married couples to try and get away. You can get a babysitter for the kids. Reflect, come back together as a couple, um, connect on whatever your priorities are for that year. Um, so I think the obviously the the the longer vacations or holidays, two weeks and a vacation is great, but also it's important throughout the year to find those other mini breaks.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah. We Lauren and I find that we will drive four hours out of town, one night, one morning, drop the kids off at school. Her mom will pick them up after school, watch them that night. The next morning we have coffee, breakfast, and we head back. And it's literally an eight hours of driving. And then maybe you know, another eight hours spinning in in the house there. But that disconnection, the talking on the on the drive, the the just having a nice dinner alone, coming back and talking more, allows us to connect so much deeper just in one day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

But and I think it's important to put the boundaries up when you do that. Like, you know, we've had to do that. Like, let's not look at our phones, right? No work. No work. Let's not talk about work. Because, you know, that could fill our entire conversation up as work because that's what we do together, right? But we've had to really be intentional about being like, no, we're not gonna talk about those things.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

But I find that those one-day trips reconnect us better than anything that we do.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Well, you know what, guys? I'm I'm getting pretty hot. I'm gonna get back in the water. I think we're gonna wrap this up for today. Probably my even my phone is probably getting hot. But I but I think it's just such an important topic, and I'm so glad that we got to come join you. You know, I'm part of your your your time away that we get to come spend it with you.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Well, that's community, which we've talked about before, and how important it is.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

So we've enjoyed it. Um, but we've also, you know, it's such it's so good to get away and get a break from the daily, whatever it is that you have, your daily routines and things. So uh we just thank the Lord for all he does for us, all he has provided so that we can do this. We just thank it.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

And um, I don't know who's gonna pray us out. We didn't talk about that earlier. Um pray.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Thanks, Brack. Oh God, thank you, Lord, just for for who you are, first and foremost. Lord, um, I thank you for the blessings that you give to every single one of us. I pray that you help us to focus on those blessings, to have grateful hearts, God, um, to see the blessings in our lives, even when things seem difficult. Um, God, you are good, you are consistently good, and that never changes. So, God, help us to focus on you and um help us to just rest in you. Whatever that looks like on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, monthly, annually, it looks different. But help us to be intentional about that rest because you want us to rest in you. You want us to um give you our burdens, give you our worries, and just trust you. So help us want each one of us to do that, Lord. Help us to love you as you've called us to love you. And um, I pray for blessings on every single person listening to this and on the marriages that are represented. God, you design marriage, you love marriage, and um I just ask that you bless, bless every single person listening to this. So, Lord, we love you and we ask you to help us love you more. In Jesus' name I pray.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Amen. Amen. Thanks so much, Brooke. So we're uh Brooke and Chris, they're Sean and Lauren. We're coming to you from Blue Haven on the island of Eleuther in the Bahamas. One quick shout out. The Bahamian people, fantastic. They are beautiful and friendly and friendly, beautiful. Uh beautiful people. They've just been so receptive and taken care of us while we're here. So we just appreciate them so much and ask for the Lord's blessing on them. With that, uh again, the Authentic Marriage Podcast with Love for a Lifetime, and we will see you guys next time.