It’s easy to start strong.
It’s hard to finish strong.
It requires pit stops.
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest … Matthew 11:28 NRSV
Timely, intentional pit stops.
What pit stops do you have planned this summer? (A radical commitment to Sabbath Keeping? Retreat? Morning prayer? Evening walks? A getaway vacation? A meal with a friend?)
I’d love to hear about them. Your idea may be what someone across the country or across the world needs to hear.
- Exciting note! Feedback from the first 12-weeks of posts has been strong and encouraging. Because of this, it’s being compiled into an e-book, a free resource for current and new subscribers. It will be available this summer during a relaunch of the blog and will include reflection questions for personal and small group use. I pray it will be a valuable tool and vehicle of growth in the lives of many. Hold this project up in prayer. Until this relaunch, I will be posting previously written articles and little bits here and there. Blessings!
Is This Your First Time Here?
Welcome!
Run hard. Rest well. launched in March 2013. If this topic grabs your heart, we’d like to encourage you to subscribe to this weekly blog. The information to do so is located on the right hand side of this page. Along the way, we’ve encouraged folks to read the first 12-weeks of posts found in the archives. (But no rush. Go slow.) Start with Week 1 (from March). Each post is numbered and lays an important foundational insight into the life-giving rhythm Run hard. Rest well.
- The site is under construction for a few weeks right now to compile the e-book, re-vamp the site and prepare to launch out into a broader spectrum of people. During this time I am going to send out links to articles I’ve written for various Christianity Today print and on-line publications over the last few years. With their permission (and handy links), I pray these articles bless and encourage.
run hard. rest well.
Brenda
Praising God for the great progress! Can’t wait for the e-book! Your words have been perfect for me to read as I prepare for summer camps (2 this year!). Grateful! Loving you!
Sherrie,
You bless me. Always.
May God’s remarkable plans unfold in each teen’s life He brings your way through 2 camps.
2 camps!
He is good!
Sherrie runs a summer camp ministry. .
Masterpiece is a tremendous week — a camp experience — an opportunity for Christian teens who are drawn to the fine arts to meet God in new ways as they explore the gifts and passions He has given them. They will not be the same.
https://www.masterpiecemin.org/programs/summercamps
Check it out!
Oh, thank you so much Brenda for that affirmation! Hugs to Joe from me!!
We are so excited about the 2 camps this summer. It mushroomed so much last summer that in order to keep the camp size to 40 students – in order to maintain the beautiful community God has created – we had to add the 2nd camp. God is good!
He gave us frazzled women Brenda Jank!
Greetings Brenda – Sometimes I feel I am living in a pit stop. Other traffic zooms by and I’m still tending things in the pit stop. Family needs, as I am the braunshweiger in the sandwich generation. Beautiful, sometimes at pit stops – flowers to tend, grass to mow, even picnics. Trying to get on with a journey. May God give me contentment until then. Love, Margy WHitsett, Goshen, KY.
Margy,
Oh the seasons of life. Some involve waits, long waits, as the needs of those we love rise to new levels. Keep tending the garden. God’s doing powerful root work for the here and now and for the next season to come. Your loving care is testimony of the fact that you are blooming where you are planted.
Contentment. Let’s pray that for each other.
Rest well.
Brenda
Pit stop! Things at home were hard…really hard, but a trip from Texas to Virginia with my grandson? Seeing my sister who is so unlike me? Visiting museums and places requiring walking when my body struggles to keep going? Rest? But I felt God in this trip. I felt as though there was reason. The first two full days were horrible physically and spent in bed. Today I’m a little stronger. It’s raining. My sister and brother-in-law are gone from the house. Jesus is here. Maybe the terrors and struggles and angst were for naught. Maybe I’m not here to make a difference or an impact. Maybe I’m here for Jesus to provide the rest I so desperately need. My brother-in-law has been fussy with me and I have been left in tears….but Jesus is here. He will supply. Betty
Betty,
Lean hard into that rest. God’s opening a door.
May He meet in you that place with gentle, renewing power.
Eyes on Jesus,
Brenda
Walks – I see a light this week that I can start walking in the evenings after I get the kids to bed. This will be time to reflect and mediate, and when I can get the neighborhood gals to join in, some mom chat time. Your words are so comforting to me and everyone else, THANK YOU!!
Now where did I put that bug spray?!?! 🙂
Can I join you?
I’ll bring the bug spray!
Brenda, what a blessing you are in all our lives. Such affirmation. We all need that and it’s hard to find in our crazy world. I love all the comments. Thank you for you ministry in the midst!
Hug back at ya!
Betty,
Your love astounds me.
You bless me.
Thank you!
Brenda