Happy Monday, friends!
I’m so excited to announce our next Happy Monday series, “Taking Care of You,” starting next week. The Bible has A LOT to say about our bodies and physical functioning:
- The words eat and ate appear almost 600 times in the Bible*?
- Additionally, the words garment, clothing, and cloak appear over 250 times in the Bible.
- The word sleep appears almost 100 times in the Bible.
- Here’s the one that grabbed my attention - did you know that the word rest shows up over 600 times in the Bible?
Here’s why I’m pointing this out: Too often, we separate the spiritual from the physical. We elevate reading our Bibles and prayer, while often making excuses for not giving ourselves enough time to sleep or for being too busy or tired to move our bodies. If God deemed it important to include so many references to sleeping, eating, rest, and clothes, then perhaps we may need to stop minimizing or ignoring their importance.
Starting next week, we’ll tackle four areas of self-care that Christian women tend to neglect because we’re so busy taking care of everyone else that we don’t make time to care for ourselves.
Here's a memory verse that inspired this series and I hope is a great reminder for you:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
-1 Peter 5:7 NLT
I don't know what you are facing today, but I pray that these words settle on your heart and give you peace. Whatever is weighing you down, would you give it to God and ask for His peace?
If we don't give our worries and cares to God, we'll end up carrying them around - and many of those loads are too heavy for us. This often leads to self-neglect and there is not what God wants for us. This is a big problem for Christian women. Dear friends, we must stop pouring from an empty cup and wondering why we're so tired or anxious.
If you can relate to any of this, then this series is for you!
Next week, we’ll kick off with talking about our clothes. Again, clothing-related terms appear 250 times in the Bible! Extra points if you can figure out what item of clothing isn't mentioned in the armor of God in Ephesians 6.
In next week’s Happy Monday, I will help you see the connection between what’s in your closet and how brightly your light shines for Jesus.
In the coming weeks, we’ll look at what the Bible says about trusting God and going to sleep, why God cares about what we eat, and why moving our bodies matters. I’ll share content from my Stronger Than Stress book and Bible study, so feel free to re-read those chapters for extra reinforcement!
I look forward to sharing this series with you starting next week!
