Fifteen years ago, year one into my marriage, I took great pride in my “home-making” abilities. I always kept our floors spotless, I was the dusting diva, and dinners were timely and creative. Sounds great, perhaps even admirable, right? Except for the fact that maintaining a spotless house left little time for kingdom building. As time progressed and I grew closer to God, my priorities did a 180. Although initially I tried to do it all–led a Bible study, then came home to scour my house. Participated in all those mommy and me programs then tagged on an extra hour to my day to make up for lost time. But running ragged doesn’t leave much time for resting in God’s presence and I soon realized something would have to give. Not that I let my house go from spotless to slums, but I learned to let go and let God, to not sweat the small stuff, and focus each day on leaving the good to aim for the better.

The biggest lesson I learned? Sometimes I need to lay everything aside and pull away. Leave the dishes in the sink, the unread emails in my inbox, and the dirty laundry in the hamper so I can recharge.

It’s been sixteen years and no, our house hasn’t collapsed, my family hasn’t become malnourished, and the laundry did not exponentially multiply. In fact, I’d say the opposite happened.

Join me today at Jewels of Encouragement as I talk about why it’s okay to quit…for the day.

After you read the article, stop and consider how you might put this idea into practice in your life. Staring at our to-do-list, it’s easy to get wrapped up in our daily tasks–to feel like they have the power to make or break us, but God’s bigger. He’s in control, and it’s His responsibility to carry His plans for our life to fruition. Our job is to listen and obey. The two go hand-in-hand. If you’re like me–type A on overdrive–it’s easy to get stuck in “obedience” mode, but if we don’t take the time to really listen by connecting on a heart-to-heart level with our Creator, how do we know we’re acting in obedience?

Listen to God’s heart cry to you:

Isaiah 65:1 “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am.'”