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When Your Soul Needs Splinting

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As a wannabe runner with a few {slow} 5k’s under my belt, I often have questions about my new hobby. When I do, I call a more experienced friend of mine. Such was the case last month when a pain in my foot persisted past the usual soreness one would expect from running for the first time in, ahem, months.

My girlfriend had experienced similar pain and her doctor said she was on her way to a stress fracture if she didn’t take it easy. Her advice to me? Wrap it and take it easy, girl. 

The wrapping is easy. It’s the taking it easy that isn’t so…easy. But it got me thinking:

I’m usually a ‘push through the stress’ kinda gal. Commitments, expectations, dreams, goals, tasks, and responsibilities pile on me until I fracture (usually in the form of a verbal explosion aimed at my *usually* innocent children). I’ve been telling myself my problem is I’m just not strong enough, and I should be able to handle the stress if I just Try Harder.

wisdom, not weakness. @trinaholden on allume.com

But maybe, just maybe, pushing through is the worst thing I can do for my soul. As I’ve stared down at my splinted foot this week, I’ve come to accept this truth: Admitting I have limits isn’t weakness–it’s wisdom. {<–Tweetable}

This month the Lord has been calling me to “Rest”. Over and over the refrain comes. He knows what I need. He knows my soul is fragile and weary. Instead of giving me a pep talk to get back out there and run harder, He’s said it’s time to rest. To not require myself to be superwoman. To splint my soul with peaceful days. To trust that the best thing for my mamma’s heart and for my days is to require less rather than more.

What does this look like for a busy mom of 3? 

  • I’ve given myself permission to embrace seasonal blogging. Our summer schedule IRL is way different than our winter schedule–my blog is going to reflect that.
  • I’m trimming my involvement in social media and unsubscribing to any and all emails that don’t seem to be getting read right now. I can always re-subscribe later, right?
  • Reducing the time I spend multitasking each day. Social media is not the only culprit–anxiety and fear of man are mental treadmills I hop on way. too. often. It’s time to get off, choosing to letting my mind rest even as I’m busy with the day’s activities.

Just a few small things…nothing earth-shattering. No relationships are being negatively affected, no dreams up in smoke. But my soul–just like my foot–is feeling a lot better from taking the advice to rest.

Have you been feeling splintered and fractured? It’s OK, girlfriend, to rest. In fact, it might be the very thing you need the most. Share in the comments one idea for how you lighten your load when the stress builds. Let’s encourage each other towards rest.

Comments

  1. Such wisdom indeed, Trina. So sorry about the foot, but you are so good to heed the call to rest. I am learning that when God’s voice echoes in my head on something, I NEED to listen, and do as He requires. Your obedience is a beautiful act of worship and a powerful witness. rest up, and know you are loved and prayed for.

  2. So wise. We are on summer break, and all I am doing today is writing and reading in the sunshine. I am not cleaning. I am not fixing a fancy meal.
    As a runner, I totally get this. We ran a 25K 3 weeks ago. And then we switched training to hard core triathlon training. My muscles ache and I feel like we have gone backwards. I am doing a lot of biking but it is a chore to run 2 miles. After 15-1/2, that’s crazy. But, my eyes are on the big picture. My eyes are on all around training and participating in a tri. So, I am going to keep training and discovering new muscles, but I am also resting, because I did give everything 3 weeks ago.
    Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. We need to run with endurance. Big picture. Which involves different things at different times. So, rest. In life and in running. You will be where you want to be soon enough. And better for the rest.

    • thanks for the encouragement! amen to this: “Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon”

  3. It’s so amazing how He uses every thing in our life for purpose — even our injuries. Yes, slow down is important . . . but more than that, our listening and responding to the prompting when it comes, as sudden as it may be. Amen.

    • listening to the still, small voice is surely a recipe for rest–thank you, Amy!

  4. Rest is so necessary. This reminds me of that feeling I get as summer approaches and the temperature rises and our activities lower, how important it seems to be to take it all in. To slow down and really allow the rest that this season begs for to have its way in a weary soul. I hope that fractured foot heals well – and that your soul feels strengthened just as much!

    • Thanks, Missindeedy–I believe we’ve avoided a fracture with the foot, and much fewer fractures are happening in my soul, thanks to stepping back. It is a simply glorious feeling to take it all in, as you described–living life at the speed of life, rather than trying to go faster!

  5. I got a funny picture of me leading the way, limp and all….lol but if He’s calling us to rest, then even the broken can lead, eh? Thanks, Jacque!

  6. Amen. I’m in the same boat over here. Seasonal blogging seems to fit my momma life right now. And making my momma season fit my blogging life? Well that wasn’t working. My soul feels much better, and believe it or not, it’s in this rest season that my inspiration to write has returned. God is good and he knows why we need. 🙂 thank you for this!!

  8. You wrote this right in the middle of a very similar season in my own life (and running). Thank you for sharing. 🙂

  9. Hmm, I’m a wannabe runner too with a small pain in my right heel 😀 Not to mention getting sucked into the treadmill of social media OVERLOAD! I feel like I’m constantly online for some reason or another, researching this, asking that, looking, blogging, reading…HELP! TIME TO GET OFF! Thanks for this, I need to set my hours and keep ’em. HOpe you and baby and family are all doing well!

    • I’m with you MomLaurM– splinting my soul most certainly means limiting my social media time. I just took a two week break and it was good for me to see that the world kept spinning without me. LOL

  10. I too, like many others, am learning to embrace the rest/quiet. I am a multitasker at heart and someone who has always found her worth in my ability to get so much done in a short period of time. God is leading to a time of saying no more to the outside world and yes more to those i love within the four walls of my house.

    He is also been showing me that the command to rest on Sunday’s is just as important as the other 9….I have ignored it for so long, and I want to set a good example for my girls.

    Blessed by your encouragement to put my feet up!

    • Amen, Sarah….As Mary Bonner said in a previous comment, rest is vital. And here you remind us that it is also commanded. Thank you.

  11. Thank you for this Trina. I so heard God’s words to me in it. I just stepped down from something I was in charge of before I completed it. It was really hard to do. I hate being the one that drops the ball. No matter what I used to do, I am in a completely different season of my life with littles and my husband stepping into a job in law enforcement (and working long crazy hours). It’s been grueling and the enemy has been raging fierce. I just so needed that pep talk: you are fracturing from the stress, and you need to rest, and it’s really okay. Thank you!

    • Oh, Amanda, I pray His love for you sinks in deep, and you see that yes, it’s OK to rest.

  12. I absolutely needed to hear this today! I may have had good intentions with writing seasonal blogging, but keeping the guilt at bay when I don’t meet my own expectations (that sometimes stil linger even when I make commitments to step back) is difficult. Thanks for the reminder Trina!

  13. What I love about your writing you bring to the table EVERY time: raw honesty and truth. And wisdom, for sure! Love the idea of “seasonal blogging”, love your convos with the Lord about His timing for you and the rest you need, and the multitasking tip–just so much good packed into this post!

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