“Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength… It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.” —Charles Spurgeon.
About 10 years ago, when I was a younger and much more reserved pastor’s wife, I led a ladies’ Bible study group on Lioness Arising, a study by Lisa Bevere, which I highly recommend. One early morning while preparing for the lesson, I was reflecting on what it meant to me personally. Lisa compared all the biblical references of a lioness to that of a fierce Christian woman, and although it was a great study, I just didn’t feel that it was for me. As I sat there praying internally and asking God to speak to me, my youngest son, Nathan who was 3 years old at the time, got out of bed and came to where I was sitting and curled up in my lap. He was still sucking his thumb, and it used to be a joke that once his thumb came out of his mouth, he never stopped talking. So, I didn’t say anything to him since I wanted to finish my prayer time. In my heart and without spoken words, I asked God specifically, “What am I, Lord?” And no sooner had I thought those words, than Nathan turned his head, looked up at me, took his thumb out of his mouth, and said, “You’re a tree.” He then stuck his thumb right back into his mouth, laid his head back down, and went back to sleep in my lap. I sat there dumbfounded that God had just spoken to me from the mouth of my very young child! I quickly told my husband Josh what had happened and asked him what he thought it meant. He asked me, “Karen, where do the lionesses go to rest?” Then I instantly understood what God meant because lionesses are often pictured resting in groups in the shade of a large tree. From that moment on, I had a deeper understanding of my calling – to be a leader of women “lionesses” if you will, and to help them rest in God’s Word, then go out and change their world. As they sit under my leadership and rest under a “tree,” they’re being prepared for what God is calling them to do.
