Do you worry a lot? Is it common for you to dread upcoming events? Does pressure or stress trigger outbursts of anger, isolation, depression, or feelings of failure?  Do you have a hard time finishing what you start? Do you find it impossible to work in the middle of chaos? Do you wonder if God is really going to come through for you in difficult times?

Bible Gateway interviewed Jenny L. Donnelly (@JennyLDonnelly) about her book, Still: 7 Ways to Find Calm in the Chaos (Revell, 2020).

What is a biblical definition of REST? Do you believe that most people understand rest in the way that is described in the Bible?

Jenny L. Donnelly: I’d say when most of us hear the word REST, we automatically think “slow down” or “temporarily disconnect from my responsibilities” or “take a vacation.” All of these are forms of REST, but they don’t even come close to the deeper, richer dimension of REST that Jesus offers us.

Matthew 11:28-30 is so beautiful because it exposes REST as something we can have in the midst of our loaded up life, not something we’ll do to disconnect from it. Jesus asked,

“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”

Nowhere does Jesus say, “Come to me and quit some of the things I’ve asked you to do because I know it’s getting too hard for you.” Even though we might feel overwhelmed and steamrolled by our own lives at times, Jesus isn’t telling us to quit so that we can live a smaller life. If anything, he’s asking us to say “yes” to more than ever before because there’s an end-time harvest to win! No, we’re not being admonished to disconnect from our lives so that we can lighten our load. We’re being invited to connect with Jesus, the one who’s the heavy-lifter of our lives. In verse 30, he’s saying if we simply join our lives with him, we’ll find that all he requires of us is easy to carry.

Can you describe what it looks like to live in REST and work at the same time?

Jenny L. Donnelly: Let me use this illustration: I was born when suitcases only had handles. No wheels! So we’d carry heavy suitcases to the car, down the airport terminals, and through parking lots. If the suitcase was stuffed full, we’d carry it for a while and then we’d have to stop and set it down for a moment to relieve an aching shoulder.

Now, imagine that suitcase contains your whole life: everything you love, your family, your work, your bills, your thoughts, your “to-do” lists, your dreams, and even the things that God has put a burden on you to accomplish in your lifetime for the kingdom. As you carry it through your life, you find you’re growing weary, and then you just have to tough your way through, endure irritability to get through, lean on addictions to numb the pain—anything to escape the heavy lifting that never ever stops. The temptation is to want to lighten the load. What’s in that suitcase that could just be set aside; thrown in the trash? Quitting and forgetting dreams and kingdom assignments become the way to “rest” from the pressure.

But this is where the narrative can change! Let’s fast-forward to the simple yet life-altering invention of wheels and pull-handles on this exact same luggage. It contains all of the same valuable components of your life and weighs exactly the same, but instead of carrying the whole thing with your muscles alone, you’re able to redistribute the weight of your life onto the ground; onto something else.

In this analogy, this is Jesus. He’s our immovable grounding place. Now, you’re RESTING your life on something other than yourself and your own strength, and moving (working) at the same time! You don’t have to disconnect from the load of life because this luggage isn’t heavy anymore.

Can you imagine how different the emotions we have are when carrying a heavy suitcase without wheels in contrast to pulling one on wheels? We can now walk for a very long time without disconnecting because it isn’t overwhelming to pull this load.

Joining our life with Jesus means that we trust him to take the weight of our life while we move forward with all of it in tow; present and available to obey what he’s required of us.

Why is it critical for us to understand that rest exists within ourselves?

Jenny L. Donnelly: If we believe that our level of REST is determined by our workload, the behavior of our children, the cleanliness of our house, or cooperation from the people around us, then we’re going to be severely disappointed and experience very little rest, if any! We must find a way to be at REST even when our lives are not at REST. The reality is that life can get crazy, but we don’t have to let the crazy get in us. In us we have Christ, and in Christ is peace.

Jesus shares where peace is found in a guaranteed-to-be-troubled-world in John 16:33: “And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”

What is rest training?

Jenny L. Donnelly: This is the intentional practice of finding REST in the middle of chaos. You choose an intentional activity to do a few times a week that’s beneficial to you, but is challenging to you emotionally.

I lead an online exercise class that’s 100 percent devoted to training people to find the REST that’s available in the midst of pressure. We use exercise as our “lab” in order to enter pressure on purpose. I ask people to walk, run, or cycle at a pace that’s challenging. Then, I walk them through the seven ways to find REST in the chaos, using the Still book as our handbook. This can be done through other types of activities as well, like lying on the floor for ten minutes and doing nothing other than just thinking about God and receiving his love. (This is harder than it sounds!) I’ve also had people tell me they take cold showers a few times a week to train their insides to find their REST in Christ.

The point of REST TRAINING is to build the habit of finding REST even when life gets tumultuous. This intentional activity allows us to knee-jerk into REST when the unintentional chaos hits us spontaneously during the day. It’s a literal training for REST.

REST in Christ is not something we trip into. It has to be found with intention, wisdom, and repetition. The REST that Christ has in him contains zero worry, zero oppression, zero anxiety. It’s founded on complete and deeply centered trust in the goodness of God.

It’s simply amazing, and what most don’t anticipate when they find this place of REST (I call it “the pocket”) is that a resounding energy bubbles up from within! The RESTING place is full of unending energy and creativity that you’ll need to fulfill all of those precious components in your suitcase!

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App and Bible Audio App?

Jenny L. Donnelly: I love using Bible Gateway and do so often! I mainly use it to read a passage of Scripture in several different translations so I can see a new angle on the Word. Looking at the Word through several different translations brings me into a deeper understanding of what truth that Scripture is revealing.

Bio: Jenny L. Donnelly is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Her Voice Movement, a national community gathered for the purpose of equipping and empowering women to live and lead biblical truth. She is a cofounder, with her husband, of The Collective Church in Portland, Oregon, and also founded Tetelestai Ministries, which exists to develop biblical leaders. She and her husband, Bob, live in Oregon with their five children.

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