When Stopping Is the Move: God’s Way of Building Capacity

🎙️ Welcome to Holy Not Harmless—the podcast for bold faith, real talk, and women who want more than just “doing it all.”

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt torn between your body screaming “stop” and your mind shouting “go.” I got sick this week, and for once, I couldn’t ignore it. At first, I felt guilty for slowing down—but then I realized God wasn’t interrupting my life. He was teaching me how to rest, recover, and show up fully.

If you’re a mom, a businesswoman, or a woman trying to live on purpose, this episode is a reminder: slowing down isn’t falling behind. It’s wisdom. It’s growth. And sometimes, it’s exactly what God uses to build capacity in your life.

Tune in, take a breath, and let’s get real about resting the right way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, welcome back to Holy Not Harmless, a podcast for bold faith and real conversations. Okay. This is not a hype podcast. This is not about throwing a bunch of strategies at you, but it's definitely a place where we can be real with each other, get honest about the real struggles that it that we face as women, as mothers, as leaders, as women that want to live in their purpose, that don't want to wait another second to step into what God has called them to do, right? We're ready to stop avoiding those things, right? That we know we've been avoiding. So in order to do that, in order to grow, we gotta be real with each other and we gotta grow together. We have to look ahead, right? And we throughout it all, even the ups and the downs, we gotta hear God, right? Even when it's messy, you know, and admitting like what's off in your life, and sometimes just like stopping the excuses, you know? So if you're new here or if you've been here since day one, I just wanna say, hey, I see you. Thanks for your support. And as you can hear in my voice, I'm a little stuffed up. I've actually been pretty sick this week, but I am so blessed to be here with you on another episode. God is good. Um, he delivered me right in time to deliver this message because my throat was hurting so bad. Like I could, it was one of those where like when you swallow, oh, it hurts so bad. Like you really take for granted sometimes like your body and just the little things, you know, like just something as small as swallowing, like you don't even think about it. But now I'm like thinking about it, and like now that it's like finally going away, I still have that little still got a little piece in there, but it's feeling so much better. And I'm just so glad that I was able to just record this episode for you guys because you know what? Throughout this, like me being sick, I learned so much. And I know you guys can probably relate, you know. I actually changed my episode because I felt like, you know, God was calling me to talk about this specific moment, you know, this specific time. And it's really about resting, right? How to use rest though in the in the right way to build capacity, right? Not in resting way in which we're really just kind of rotting, right? And I don't know about you, but I'm like someone that is like, I feel guilty when I rest, to be honest. Like I'm just been always like that, like just naturally an achiever. And then also like I feel like, you know, that's just how I am. I always feel like I there's something that I can be doing better than just, you know, sitting around. And I'm not gonna lie, like it's hurt me. Like I've ran on that nervous system of go, go, go, go, go for like over a decade. So in order to heal, in order to reset my nervous system, I and work with the way that God wants me to work, not that way, right? He doesn't want me to, my nervous system to be all hyped up and feel like I gotta go, go, go. He wants me to know that in rest, he can restore me, right? And so this week, my kids' spring break started, right? I got a two and a seven-year-old. My dad said, Hey, we're gonna take the kids for a week. What? Awesome! Oh my goodness. So, you know, of course, I'm like just, you know, just happy to have that break. Also happy that my kids get to go spend time with their grandparents. And boom, second day into it, I get pretty sick. Like, I can't do anything. Like, and the first few days, I'm like really fighting with myself. Like, you know, I should be doing this. I should be, you know, what if but I can still type on my computer and I can still do this. But I really felt so bad that I really had to lay down, you know, and like my body stopped. I had to lay down for like about three days and just rest. And on the third day, I really started like reflecting, you know, because I'm learning, right? I'm learning about seasons and all these things. And we've talked about it in the podcast. So, you know, this is a season of rest, you know, and I was thinking about all the times that I was praying to God for rest, you know, like I don't get that much sleep as with my toddler. She's just turned two last weekend. So, you know, I'm tired a lot. I'll be honest, my sleep, my sleep count, or whatever you call it sleep score is probably not the best, but we're working on it, okay? Um, and I'm always like, I just want to be well rested, right? And God gave me that. And at first I couldn't see it. And I was like, wow. On the third day, I started being so grateful, you guys. And I just started praying, like, thank you for giving me this time. And how can I use this time and you know, use it in a way that's honoring you? You know what I'm saying? The whole time I'm thinking about emails, things I gotta do, you know, I gotta keep my momentum and all these things. And that wasn't what God wanted me to do right now. And especially all the things that I've been asking for, you know, clarity, a lot of things, right? So, clarity, you need to escape from the chaos, right? You need to rest, you need to get away. So, in this podcast episode, we're gonna talk about how we can use these like seasons of rest strategically, because like I said, on that third day, my mindset shifted and I started doing just little things, you know, praying, you know, I can I can start being really aware, I can start reflecting, I can journal, you know, just really be present and and like really like rest and be grateful. Like, you know, my kids are away. I wouldn't even be able to take care of them properly. I wouldn't be able to take care of myself. You know, of course my partner is gonna help me by moms, you know how it is. Okay, like your kids, they just want you. And so, like, I it was like the perfect opportunity for me to take and use this time to really restore, like, like make God is preparing me for something. I don't know. But it was just so amazing. And I'm like so excited to share it with you guys about, you know, how we can do better in these times. And, you know, in the next time, you know, maybe I won't waste the first three days, you know, questioning and being mad and feeling guilty and feeling like, you know, worrying about the world. And I feel like that's a big reason why a lot of us don't want to slow down, right? Because we're worried about what's gonna happen, you know, in our work and with money. And, you know, we live in a constant, constant cycle. But how can we, how what are we saying about our God and, you know, how much faith we have in him if we can't even give ourselves a moment of rest, you know, and really be grateful for it, right? And really thank God for whatever it was. You know, hopefully it doesn't have to be something like a sickness or anything like that. But even if it does, every season has a reason, right? But I think it's really important that we learn how to build better habits and make it more useful and use rest as like a weapon because that's truly what it is. You know, it's not a reward, it's truly a strategy. And if we're gonna win at this game, we gotta be strategic and we gotta know how the world that we live in works, and we gotta know how God works. Okay, so let's get into the scripture, shall we? Ecclesiast chapter one verse eight. Woo! My tongue got all tied. That Ecclesi I don't even know if I'm saying it right, but hey, we're here, right? In Ecclesiastes 3, 1, verse 8, you know, it really reminds us that there's actually a time for everything. You know, is there's a time to work, there's a time to rest, there's a time to be serious, there's a time to laugh. You know, every single season has a purpose. And no matter what, we cannot control God's timing, right? There's gonna be times where he needs us to be these ways. There's gonna be seasons of grief, of joy, of success, of failure, of happiness, of sadness, you know. We have to seek God in every single season. And we also have to ask ourselves like, what is the point of all this effort if we're not in sync with God's plan, right? Because if you're not using these seasons to your advantage and understanding the lesson in each one, it's hard to be present, right? When it's time to rest, you really have to rest. And I think a lot of us, you know, we can procrastinate, we can get behind, we can be too busy and not get the things that really matter to us done. And then that leaves us upset, right? You know, and we're we're trying to kind of scramble. And so even like on the weekends and stuff, like, you know, if you work five days a week or whatever you do, on the weekends, you know, do you actually even rest? You know what I'm saying? Or are you trying to do all these other things and you know, work Saturdays and Sundays well? So we have to remember that in each moment, especially when it comes to when it's time to rest and when it's time to work, we have to make sure, like when we're working, we're focused, right? We are free from distractions. We are, we are task oriented, right? Get a checklist, get what you have to do to make sure that you're getting those core things down, you know, whatever it is. And I promise you, especially if you track it, at the end of the week, if you put your best efforts in and you focused and you got the things down that you really mattered to you, trust me, when the weekend comes, you can feel good about rest, right? You can you can stop, you can be more present in the moment, right? When you look at Jesus, like he modeled rest really well. I mean, for 30 years of his life, he was hidden. He was he was building since he was 12 years old. That's when he was considered a man, and that's when he started beginning on his journey of learning and doing all those things. Like it took him so many years to develop, right? And then, you know, three years of ministry. And rest was his pattern, you know, even in those three years, which is is a very like high demand season, right? Like three years is not a long time to do what Jesus had to do. But he didn't care. Like when it was time for him to rest, he went to rest. And I always think about, you know, why that is, but I truly believe he understanded, he understood the struggles of life. He understood that there's gonna be seasons, there are gonna be hard times. And if you don't rest, you're not gonna be prepared, right? We're built to act, but we're also built to use our minds. And if you're constantly going, going, going, going, going, you're not able to use that part of your brain where you're able to be creative, where you're able to, you know, do other things and like improve in those areas. Look at Elijah. You know, if you go to first book of Kings, um, chapter 19, verse 1 and 8, Elijah just had like a huge victory, okay? He stood up for what he believed, he confronted the prophets of Baal, and God had shown up in power, like, but right after is like everything started falling apart, right? Queen Jezebel threatened his life. And then all of that, you know, that happiness, that victory that he had, on it, it just crashed, right? It didn't really feel like that. He was really exhausted, he was discouraged and scared, okay? He even fled into the wilderness, right? And he was so drained that he even prayed to God to please take my life, right? He was praying, God, please take take me because he just wanted to go. He was done. But you know what? God did, he didn't scold him, he didn't even demand more. You know what he did? He sent an angel to him with food and water, giving Elijah what he needed to rest and regain his strength, right? Only after that restoration, he was ready for his next assignment. So what does that tell us? When we don't stop, when we don't take purposeful time to rest, we're not even allowing God to restore us. We're not even allowing him to prepare us for what's next. Maybe that's a big chunk to, you know, why we could be stuck, right? If you're never letting God work step into and give you what he needs to prepare you for the next step, how can you be prepared for the next step, right? You're gonna, you're not gonna feel ready. You're gonna stay in your same patterns, you know, you're not prepared. So I think that's such a great, you know, lesson that I learned from Elijah, right? Even, you know, greatest leaders in the world, they're gonna need rest, right? It's really a way to prepare. And God, He cares about your body, He cares about your spirit. And He knows you need to have those in check to be able to be able to be connected to Him, right? If you don't feel good in your body, if you're, you know, if you're having all of these thoughts and you're constantly go, go, go, how can you even have space in your mind, in your heart, in your spirit to really like connect, right? It's something that has to be really intentional and not just like, oh, rest. And when we do rest, we're distracted because we're just watching TV, we're right, we're doing, we're doing little things. And so I'm not saying, you know, self-care is bad. Self-care is great, but when you're self-care is also not just like painting your toes and like doing facial masks, right? Self-care is also taking care of yourself and your spirit. Like your spirit is a big part of you, especially if you're a spiritual person, especially if you follow Jesus Christ, right? So we have to put the spirit first and the mind first. But so many times we're just putting our physical, right? And we're just like just kind of rotting. We're using the rest to just not really do anything, you know, not really learn and really hear from God. What does he want? Because I had so many answers, you know, this week because I I made it intentional. You know what? I said, even if I'm gonna be sick, you know, I'm just gonna take this time and let it let it be as God wants it to be, right? I'm gonna walk when I can, get some, get outside, spend time with myself, you know, listen to to music and just get into, you know, my spiritual side, like nurture my spirit. And I'm I'm not fully back, but I know once I do, I'm I've I just feel so much stronger, right? And I want that for you guys too, honestly. So if you look at the book of Exodus, you know, that is like the second book of the Bible. And in it, you know, it really says too that rest, it's actually obedience, right? The Sabbath, it it's not optional. It wasn't optional. It was, it was a rhythm, right? Everyone had to do it. I mean, they were even trying to like crucify Jesus Christ when he wanted to heal the man on Sabbath. That's how serious Sabbath was, right? And today, you know, it's not really like that. You know, even if you look probably like 50 years ago, a lot of like businesses and stuff weren't open on Sundays. But today everything is like 24-7, you know, and it's really easy to get caught up. It's it's probably even, you know, looked like crazy upon to actually rest, you know, because when we think about all the things, it's just like, oh my goodness. But it wasn't optional, right? And it's not optional. You have to rest your body, you have to rest your spirit, you have to rest your mind, and you have to create space to where you can really connect with God. Even in the book of Genesis, the very first book, what does it say? God made the world in six days. He made the world in six days, and then on the seventh day, he rested and he made that day holy, you know. So if the Almighty needs rest, why is it that you think that you don't? Right? And when you rest, and you truly rest and and you know, not be anxious, not be distracted, but truly rest, connect to yourself, see what it is that really, you know, gets you spiritual, gets you closest to God. Everyone's different. Sometimes it can be journaling, it can be movement, it can be music, it can be reading. Um, definitely in your Bible, you know, definitely in your Bible. And when you're resting, this is what you're saying to God. You're saying, God, I trust you. Even when I'm not working, right? A lot of us don't rest just because we tie our worth to our output, right? And we don't want to lose momentum. We don't want the whole world to fall apart. I've had many conversations with many women, and they feel like if they stop, the world is gonna fall apart. Like, not literally, but quite literally, like in their household, in their business, especially high capacity women that are doing a lot of stuff, right? God doesn't want that for you, right? So he also tells us that when you wait, you're gonna renew your strength. If you look at the book of Isaiah, chapter 41, 31, it says, But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Okay. Hope, it means like a confident expectation and active waiting, right? So it's like you know you're it's never like just passive. That's what it's saying to us, right? That's what hope means in this translation, right? And so it goes on to say they will soar on wings like eagles, right? When you trust God, you rise above challenges instead of being weighed down by them, right? You gain perspective and you strength like beyond your own, right? We know that. So it also says they will run and not grow weary. Running usually makes you tired, right? But with God's help, you can keep moving forward towards your goals and your purpose without burning out. God does not want you to have to burn out to get your purpose. Your purpose does not require you to burn out, okay? Whatever it is. Your energy is going to actually be renewed because he's going to strengthen you. If you allow him, he will restrengthen you. Right? How amazing is that? It says they will walk and not be faint. So walking is slower than running, but even That can be exhausting sometimes, right? Even in everyday pace, right? Like when things feel slow, you're not gonna collapse or give up. Like he will sustain you steadily, day by day. So even in the small day-to-day things, right? If you trust God, he gives you endurance to keep going on those big tasks, to rise above challenges and stamina, to walk like steadily in daily life. It's about renewing your energy, right? Not just surviving, but thriving, okay? No matter what season, we're gonna thrive in every season. So what I did is I put together like a little discernment framework, right? And kind of a little reframe because I want to make this practical and something that we can actually use, right? Like, I'm not here to be a preacher, right? No, like this is just me being real. This is just me being my on my journey and doing what God has called me to do, right? And so the type of person that I am, I know that knowledge is not power, right? Applied knowledge is power. So that's why I really like to give you guys like a framework or some steps that you can go away with and you can actually implement this in, right? Because hearing it is not gonna really, you know, change it overnight. I mean, for some people it might, but when you actually put it into action, that is when you really learn, okay? So step one of this framework, I want you to start asking yourself, you know, am I resisting or am I depleted? Right. Because if if you feel depleted, rest. And if you're not sure, you know, here are some things, some signs that you can go by, right? Like if you're kind of struggling to focus, if you feel like disconnected or numb, you know, emotionally, just exhausted physically, even spiritually, you need to rest, right? And you need to reframe that mindset that, hey, rest is not quitting. It's really stewardship, and God is gonna restore before He reassesses. Okay. So even if you're a mom, right? I know like being a mom, and especially if you have little ones, it's really hard sometimes to find that time. But you can even do micro rests, right? Like, don't think of this as like it has to be like similar to mine. No, it doesn't have to be like a week-long thing. In fact, it's a rhythm that you should build into your life, okay? So let's just say you don't have like any time really, okay? Do micro rests, right? Micro rest, just sit with your, you can sit with your child and you can play, you guys can journal, and you can do like meditation in the morning, even if it's just two minutes, okay? If you're, you know, a businesswoman, you can also block calls and emails, you know, give yourself like little micro sabbaths, you know. Start treating your rest as strategy. And start asking God, is this a season for action or preparation? Right? Listen to your mind, listen to your body and your spirit, and let them speak before anything, right? Before your schedule, okay? Now, daily micro resets are just only like 10 to 30 minutes, honestly. Just intentionally pause. You can also do like a weekly Sabbath, which is like three to six hours, um, or like a full day of protected time. Like if you want to pick one day of the week that you're just gonna be very intentional about rest and meditate and pray and read your word and spend quality time with your family, you know, do that. And also sometimes you need to do longer, right? Like you can do week-long retreats or you know, a break if you are feeling ill or you have a major project, right? If you've just done like a major project, you might need more rest, right? Or if you've gone through burnout, right? Your body is asking you to rest, right? That's the way that God designed this. Now, if you are feeling resistance, right, like you're avoiding something that's uncomfortable, or you know, your fear is like disguised as tiredness, or you know you can do it, but you just you just have that hesitation, you need to move, right? That is the time for you to move because true discipline is showing up even when it's uncomfortable. And that's the reframe I want you to tell yourself, right? Discipline is showing up even when it's uncomfortable. And courage plus obedience creates growth. So if you truly want the things that you say you want, if you truly want to do more, be more, live more on purpose, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable. You have to know that this is part of the process. And you have to know that anything that happens to you is meant to happen, even in the messed up times. I know sometimes that can be a hard pill to swallow, but these things shape us, you guys. These things make us connect to other people. When we can walk in our truth and be really authentically who we are and saved by Jesus Christ, you don't, we can we can impact so much more, right? And so the last one, if you're if you're on the middle ground, right? Sometimes you don't have to be like all or nothing, right? Sometimes it's just showing up differently, right? Instead of point 100%, give like 50% with focus. You know, instead of performing, be honest and authentic. You know, for me, like I'm in the direct sales space, and for a long time I was taught to perform. And even if you're not in sales, right, there's a lot of roles out there where we gotta perform, we gotta do this, and we think that we gotta take ourselves out of that. No, you can still be a great leader, you can still be smart, you can still have like have value, have impact, and be yourself. And that is when you can do that, honestly, it's so much like less tiring. Like it's tiring to constantly have to perform and be somebody that's not you. So if that's something that you feel like you've been doing too, work on making a switch. You know, I'm not saying you gotta do it right like overnight, but start being more aware, start being more intentional and really just being honest and authentic with people. You know, stop just saying like superficial things, like, you know, get real. It will always go further than any of that. Okay. And instead of doing everything, protect your boundaries, right? Have don't, if those things really matter to you and you know that though these are the activities that are in sync and in alignment with your purpose, you gotta, you gotta guard them, right? Like, like a mama bear, like a like a boxer, you know, like a like you gotta guard it with your life, okay? Um, because it's serious, right? We only get we only get this one life. So I hope that that framework, you know, is something that is valuable to you. Um if it was and you implemented it, please share. I would love to hear from you. Don't forget that the text line is always open. I would love to hear from you for any feedback, any wins, any prayers, anything at all. Um, I'm here for you and I want to grow with you guys on this journey. Um, because it's not easy, right? It is a struggle, but we can struggle well, and we will. So I want to close in prayer. God, thank you for being a God of wisdom and not pressure. I pray for every woman that's listening right now. Give her clarity in this season. If she's been pushing when she needs rest, teach her how to slow down without guilt. If she's been holding back out of fear, give her courage to move forward in obedience. Help her to trust that you are not in a rush with her and that everything she needs will be built in the right time. In Jesus' name, amen. This is my my my last piece, y'all. I want to just say not every season is meant for output, okay? Some seasons are meant to prepare you for what you prayed for. So I want you to be aware of that and just learning to discern the difference is true wisdom, okay? And wisdom is the fruit of wealth. Okay. I hope you ladies have a wonderful week, and I will see you next week.