Purposeful Prose

Rest

by Tina

Having Hashimoto’s Disease means that my body doesn’t cooperate as I would prefer it to. It’s been this way for over a decade now.

Tuesday night I woke up only a few hours after I went to bed. When I haven’t slept well I can’t function. I can push myself, but it tends to create anxiety. Ask my husband. He knows when I’m struggling. It sounds a little like I’m doing lamaze. 

I was up half the night, but I finally did get some sleep. I often feel run over in the mornings which means my day starts slow.

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day, so I wanted to get out for a walk and enjoy it, but just taking a shower took it out of me. I ended up back in bed.

Fatigue is a very common symptom of Hashimoto’s Disease, but it’s also a symptom of many other things: hormonal changes, iron deficiency or any other vitamin deficiency, just to name a few. Therefore, it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact source for certain, and family doctors aren’t taught to find cures. They’re taught to prescribe a “bandaid.” There hasn’t been a bandaid for my fatigue. 

Focusing on my health has never helped me. It’s always stressed me out. There are a billion remedies that never work.

This brings me to the problem of being in bed. I’m a thinker, so when I physically can’t function I can get very stuck in my head. This creates another problem. I can over think everything until my thoughts become anxious thoughts, which is why it’s so important to share our burdens. When we do it gives others the opportunity to build us up. At the very least just sharing releases that pressure.

I’m not always in bed, but I always have a limited amount of energy which varies from day to day, and I can have problems getting to sleep, staying asleep or staying awake. Until the last few years I was never someone who needed a nap. Now I’ll be watching t.v. with Andrew and it never fails; I can’t keep my eyes open.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, but it kept me from over thinking some deep spiritual matter. It’s just a day. Tomorrow is another day. I’m doing better mentally. I haven’t had any major meltdowns this Winter. The hardest part about my health issues has been not feeling like myself, but I’m getting there. Mentally I feel more like myself this year than I did last year. This fills me with hope that consistent joy, peace and contentment aren’t so out of reach. So I’ll continue to trust the Lord and do as Scripture teaches because it does bring rest.

Do you know why people fail to rest in the Lord? Unbelief. It takes faith to rest. That means knowing what we believe and how knowing Jesus affects our lives. This takes some study. I tend to over study, so I need to balance the scale by enjoying life more and simply meditating on the greatness of God. Some need to balance the scale by meditating on Scripture more, but even more than this we are to be doers as well. It’s not enough to hear God’s word. If we don’t put it into practice where is our faith?

Okay, so you can’t take the preacher out of Pippi, but I am learning to go lighter on the study. I’m enjoying more photography, poetry and writing “petite prose.” As I follow the Holy Spirit’s lead I’ll find that balance again eventually.

After I wrote this I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I shut down my tablet and tried to catch some Zs. As I started to drift off to dreamland I was sitting outside. (This was a dream.) Some bird walked up to me and started to bite me on the leg! I saw that open beak! I knew what was coming! My thought was, Oh great, I can’t move my legs. Now I’m going to get some bird disease. Then I woke up and my leg was tingling. On the bright side Jesus keeps me amused, inspired and gives me plenty of writing material.

And Jesus said…

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-39

You might not find rest for your body, but you will find rest for your soul. Lol… Can I sleep now without birds biting me, please? Lol…

(Photo credit goes to Pixabay.com user Free-Photos)

21 thoughts on “Rest”

    1. Listening to God helps. ☺ But sometimes it takes a while to get the message, then it’s…Ohhhhhh I’m doing too much and my focus is off. It’s easier to rest when you know why you aren’t resting. So I’m sure that if I focus on the right things and cool my heels on over studying I’ll be fine. God is an amazing teacher.

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      1. Yes, definitely. Patience has not been my strong suit, but my perspective is being shifted. I just need reasons. I’m a “but why” kinda “kid.” once I understand the benefit of something it’s a lot easier to put it into practice.

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  2. PippiTina – that’s my new name for you – it’s horrible to want to be doing as sorts of things and not to have the energy to do them. I don’t know anything about Hashimoto Disease so I’ll have to Google it to find out more. I hope you got some rest today, despite those pesky birds!
    I’m glad that, most of all, you have your faith, and other things like poetry and family history to devote yourself to. 💞

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    1. Lol… I can live with Pippi Tina. I’m glad I have my faith and lovely things to think of too. I did hear back from my aunt about those items that she has for me. Unfortunately we don’t live in the same city and we rarely get out that way, but she did say that she would get it to me even if she has to pass it on to my little brother to drop at my parents for me. So I’m hoping that happens, she said that she added some more photos for me! That’s something to look forward to. ☺

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      1. It is! I love looking through old photos (that were usually kept in a big box in the bedroom wardrobe .. my mum and dad’s were). ☺ It’s not quite the same looking at digital ones.

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  5. “It takes faith to rest.” Lots of truth in five, easy-to-remember words, Tina! If I’m not resting, then I’m not exercising my faith. Thank you for the important reminder!

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    1. Yeah, I need this reminder too. I get stuck on going through the motions and forget to stop and smell the roses. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, but I’m going to process those thoughts slowly and one at a time. I’m always in way too much of a rush to see things grow and bloom that I don’t take time to enjoy each phase, or even each moment. Yeah… “slow” and “rest” are my words from God this year.

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  6. I understand fatigue. I have been taking naps two or three afternoons a week. Not short ones. POWER naps of 2 or 3 hours.

    Listening to worship music and being in the Lord’s presence helps me rest spiritually and mentally 🙂

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  7. Many things take/steal our energies. I am having ask God to provide focus for what is important as work has had me so tired I sit when I get home and am asleep. Praying for you

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  8. I am sorry I missed this post. Rest is so important and you are right, it does take faith. I heard Tauren Wells on a podcast last week talking about rest. He said it is a humbling place because we realize that God is doing the heavy lifting, not us. Rest is something I am trying to work on too because I feel I can hear God’s voice better when there is less clutter in my head.

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