Week 7

Week Seven

Rest

So how are you doing? If you've gotten this far, by now you should have established several good habits. You are reading the Word and speaking it over yourself. You are eating better and exercising. You've been working on letting go of bitterness and the need to control everything. And you are working toward your future.

There's one more very important thing! Take time to enjoy your life. God did not put you here to work, work, work. Work is important, but even God took time at the end of His 6 days of creation to rest.

SLEEP!

I'm not going to tell you how much time to spend sleeping. Different people have different needs. The world wants to tell us that if you sleep more or less than X number of hours at such and such an age, you won't be healthy. They make it sound like if you will just get this magical amount of sleep that everything will be just fine. The truth is that if you are sick you will need more sleep and if you are stressed the adrenaline in your body will likely keep you from sleeping. It's not the sleeping that produces the unhealthy outcomes. The lack of health causes the sleep differences. Even among healthy people, the need for sleep varies.

If you can't sleep, pray! And if you seem to be sleeping to much, work on healing your body, not getting along with less sleep. That's not to say you should never deprive yourself of sleep. There are seasons when you just have to work extra hard, but constant sleep deprivation is unhealthy.

Back when I was so sick, I slept a lot – 10 to 14 hours a day. I felt like I was sleeping my life away and constantly fought it. What was the use in sleeping so much when there was so much to be done? Then I found out that God even uses our sleep.

Sleep is the time where He reprograms our brains and fixes things that have gone wrong. It's like stopping to defragment your computer or do maintenance on a machine. He also gives us dreams to help establish things in our lives and give us direction. As you read through the Bible, notice how many stories are proceeded by or involve dreams. In them God gives warnings and directions to those that love Him.

He does the same for us today. There was a time when I was having a lot of dreams about tornadoes. These dreams always had my husband and I in them. I would think we weren't going to make it, but every time we came out alright. Then my husband lost his job and got very sick. These dreams gave me hope. Because of them, I knew we were going to make it. Pay attention to your dreams. Write them down. Study Christian dream interpretation. I say Christian because there are many dream interpretation books and sites that aren't based on the Bible that can mislead you. Once you get an appreciation for the significance of your dreams, you will be better able to balance your life.

To be healthy, your whole life needs to be dedicated to God. If you are awake, pray and when you go to sleep, ask God to use your dreams.

PLAY!

OK, that sounds weird coming from someone who really doesn't enjoy playing games. I've always been the sort that would rather do the real thing. I tried Farmville on FaceBook, but it was boring, the real thing is much more interesting. As a kid, I didn't want to play with dolls, I wanted to play with a real baby. Toy cars and trucks didn't thrill me and balls that I deem worthy of chasing around are few and far between. But honestly, you DO need to take time to play.

Have you ever heard of a repetitive stress injury? When you use one part of your body over and over again, that part becomes worn out. It needs rest. We are not built to do the same thing day in and day out indefinitely. You need to vary your activities so that you don't wear out. Play games if you enjoy them. Go dancing. Spend time visiting friends or family. Take a trip. Watch a little TV. Do whatever you enjoy that is different from your everyday work. Take some time to relax and enjoy something different on a regular basis. It's essential to avoid burn out.

LAUGH!

Medical science has recently discovered something the Bible declared long ago. Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart does good like medicine.” Laughter produces all kinds of good things in your body. Laughter increases blood flow, reduces stress, increases T-cells that boost immunity, helps decrease pain, raises good cholesterol, lowers inflammation and produces a whole host of beneficial chemical changes in your body. Is it any wonder that women live longer than men? They laugh more than twice as much as men.

Laughter is good for you, so, give yourself time and reasons to laugh. Whenever I need a good laugh, I google “laughing babies”. There's nothing like a giggling baby to get you giggling too! Share the jokes you hear. And if all else fails, get together with a friend. Force yourself to laugh. “Ha”, “Hehe”, “Ha-ha, he-he” … keep it up! Pretty soon you will both be rolling on the floor! Joke about your challenges. When you come across a really stressful situation, laugh at it. God is on your side and He will bring you through it. Laughing at it is an act of faith that can help you overcome.

Enjoy your life! It is a gift from God and He wants you to be blessed!