Over this last week and weekend, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the seven types of rest, and once again I’m reminded how complete God is. He is so much bigger than we imagine, and yet so incredibly detailed and personal.
Physical, mental, social, spiritual, sensory, emotional, and creative rest. Over the next few days, I’m hoping to share a bit about each one.
Starting with physical rest.
Physical rest comes in two forms: passive and active.
Passive rest is what most of us think of sleeping and napping.
Active rest includes things like meditating on God’s Word and His truth, stretching, gentle movement, or even leisure activities like a massage or a spa visit things that allow the body to unwind and restore.
It’s amazing how easily we can neglect both.
Not sure about you, but I’d definitely say that I am a night owl. My evenings seem to begin around 9:30 pm 
that’s when creativity kicks in and I suddenly want to process everything with my amazing husband… usually right when he’s ready to sleep. You can imagine how fun (and frustrating!) that gets for him because he wants rest, and for me because I want him to listen. Oh, the beauty of marriage! And often, the result was not sleeping well or not sleeping enough at all.
What really challenged me was when I felt the Lord gently asking, “Would you give your evenings to Me?” I didn’t realize how attached I was to that time until then. God began teaching me that rest isn’t just about sleeping, it’s about trust. As I prepare for sleep, I’m actually preparing space for Him to restore and heal.
I’ve been reading and listening to teachings on rest, and something really struck me: when we sleep, we are actively allowing God to work in us. That thought felt so refreshing to know that rest is not wasted time, but holy time.
Another thing God has been teaching me is about active rest. I’ve asked a few people whether they practice things like taking time to unwind purposefully and the responses were interesting. Some do, others don’t, often because there’s “no time” or because it doesn’t feel productive or necessary, but I am learning that this is a way of rest as well and letting God move through this too.
Life just moves so fast. Not only ministry but everything.
The other day, while doing Zumba with some lovely elderly people, I realized many of them don’t use email or smartphones. I actually struggled to think of how to communicate with them! So I have been learning so much with them to pace myself, prepare more and communicate with them ahead of time when I see them and to let them know what the classes are going to look like later. But I also noticed the beauty of how much slower and more present their lives feel. Meanwhile, we juggle Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, Snapchat, email, WhatsApp… and I’m sure there are more 
Over these past years, and especially these recent months, God has been teaching me the importance of stopping, reflecting, and choosing what I engage with. Not everything that comes our way deserves our attention.
Rest is more than stopping; it’s a deep, playful kind of leisure where our souls find God and find peace.
Job 3:13 “For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest”