Sometimes things happen in our life that force us to stop our normal routine. To go from a go-go-go mentality to one of rest and refocusing. And that’s where I’m finding myself today, in a sudden and unexpected season of rest.

I’m not in a season of rest by choice. In fact my normal life lately has been anything but restful. But it seems that God is teaching me of my need to slow down and refocus on Him.

I have been saying over and over to myself these past few weeks that I am going to start writing again about what God’s been teaching me. My walk with God’s been kinda stagnate and writing always seems to help me connect the truths about God to my daily life.

I’ve been saying I’ll write, but it hasn’t happened. Not until this moment.

I’m currently 34 weeks pregnant and we have a busy 1 one year old. Hence the reason I have not found the time to rest much or write. My life has been go-go-go for a while and when I do rest, I find that I am quick to choose easy entertainment over the important things. Doing a quick Bible time and then maybe listening to health related podcasts while walking on my walking pad. So when my toddler wakes up from his nap, I find that I haven’t done any writing.

Well, two weeks ago my husband and I and our toddler moved to a downstairs apartment. I’m so thankful for God’s timing in providing us with this change before the new baby comes, but I will say, moving when your in your third trimester (and having a toddler) is no easy feat. After the move, I was moving some boxes around in one the rooms and afterwards my back was sore. That was about a week ago and now my lower back/hips are still not getting better. I’ve had to slow down….a lot.

My active life has come to a forced stop and as much as I hate it, I feel the little small voice inside my head saying it’s time to rest. That this all is part of God’s plan somehow and I’ve been going to fast to listen to His leading.

So here I find myself today, writing and reflecting on what God is teaching me. My one year old is sleeping as I sit on the couch with a heating pad, sipping my coffee and finally writing about God and life. I guess sometimes it takes unexpected, or even unwanted, things to happen to us in order for us to realize what God is asking us to do.

I don’t know how long it will be before I can get back to my busy life of chasing a toddler and preparing for our new baby. I may not even fully heal and get back to what I called normal before this new baby comes and changes everything. But I do know one thing. I’m not in control, God is. And I can be thankful for this time of forced rest. Even though it’s hard and my body is achy and sore each day, I can choose to see the good. To see how God is meeting me here and leading me back to Him. God is showing me that I can rely on him to provide.

I’m learning to see that this change is actually preparing us for the new baby. I’ve seen so much change in my husband as he has to help more around the house and care for our toddler more. I’m seeing how my toddler even is learning to become more independent because I can’t pick him up like I used to which is helping prepare him for the new baby. God is good in this, even thought it’s hard.

So whether God brings quick healing to my back or I have to deal with this pain until the end of this pregnancy, my response needs to be to praise God. To be like Job when he faced all his hardships; “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

When my midwife told me I needed to slow down and not lift my toddler until my back healed, my first thought was “no way, I can’t do that.” My needy, glued to momma boy, who constantly wants to be held. It seemed impossible. But here we are, and he is miraculously doing just fine with the changes.

I know that this is preparing me for when our new baby comes. When we found out we were pregnant at about 6 months postpartum, I didn’t just have feelings of joy, but to be really honest, I also lots of feelings of panic and feeling overwhelmed. A huge part of me is still overwhelmed knowing that it’s going to be too hard, having two so close in age. But I know God will help, just like He is in my current situation.

There’s a quote I have heard that says; “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.” But I don’t know if I completely agree with it. From my experience I’ve seen that God often gives us a lot, sometimes more than we can handle. But He does this so that we will look to Him and rely on His strength, not ours. So that’s what I’m doing in this time that God has asked me to slow down. I’m slowing down, and letting go of my “I can do it” mentality and choosing to let God be my strength and my guide.

Where in your life has God been asking you to slow down, to rest, and to refocus back on Him? Maybe he is using physical circumstances, like He is with me, to get you back on track. Will you choose to be thankful to God even when he’s walking you through something hard?