 Tom, what are you doing? We have a program today. Oh, I'm just so busy, Amy. I got so much going on. I'm waiting for this phone call. Oh, there it goes. Okay, listen. We've got to put the phones down. We've got to stop being distracted and we have to find out today what it means to take a real rest. Stay tuned. In a world where it's so busy and there's so much chaos, it is so important for us to rest and find our hope and our peace and God and God alone. We're so glad that you're joining us on Hope Today. I am joined by Amy and Tom, as you just saw moments ago, that we're going to be talking about rest today and really diving deep into it. So, you know, Amy, tell us about who's coming up. Just saying that word rest just brings such a peace. You know, many Americans think that staying busy is the mark of productivity and success, but this mentality is taking a toll on us physically. Our emotions, our spiritual health, 74% of parents said that they felt too busy to even enjoy life. That's sad. Adapting on an empty tank is not only dangerous, but it is arrogant. And so our author today, Mary Ann Howard, is going to unpack what it means to take a real rest and overcome spiritual fatigue. You know, it's funny. That skit was supposed to be a little funny, but I've done that where I've been on and then my office phone rings and I like, it's like, could you hold on a second? And I answer my office. And it's almost like the old fashioned movies with the four phones on the desk or something. It's crazy how busy we can get and think it's all super spiritual when it isn't. I love that name of that book rest. Because we're working for the Lord. And so not all good things are God things. And she's going to really break down distractions in our life and she's going to unpack what it means to really walk with God and to walk in intimacy with him and to get to know him and you'll find a real rest. So it's going to be good Sydney. Yeah, so it's really important that we rest with the Lord. You know, one thing we are just continuing to doing is just updating and talking about what's going on in Israel between the war with Israel and Hamas. And many of you've probably seen the reports that were coming out earlier this week about what happened in Gaza that a hospital was bombed. It was actually a Christian run hospital. More than 200 lives have been lost, which is truly tragic. And there are conflicting reports right now that we don't know like Israel said Hamas has done it. Hamas is saying Israel's doing it. So right now there's not a lot of clarity, but definitely to continue to lift up that nation because all eyes are on what's going on right now. President Biden is in Israel right now. And another thing that has been in the news that I think it's really important is how it's like dividing, creating so much tension right here in our country. Many of you probably heard about the young Palestinian boy who was six years old that in Illinois that a landlord who was obsessed with the war that was going on took his life. I mean, there's just so much that's going on. And I've just been hearing even prophetic voices that are talking right now that I know a lot of us were just, we wanna pray and just believe it's gonna go right. There's so much that's happening, so much that's going on. It is time for us to truly intercede and us to, excuse me, pray for what's going on and what's happening because this is really something we have never seen that's unfolding, you know, from a geopolitical standpoint and also from a spiritual standpoint. So it is truly on our hearts. And you know, many of you last week I donated and helped us give to Cornerstone Tells Your Network. You know that we have relief that is going to Israel to help the civilians that are truly caught in the crossfires, Tom, because this situation is something that is unfolding that none of us have ever seen. But I think it is so important for us as Christians. I feel like we are like the middle child in all of this, but to truly believe that we're gonna see a move of God that hearts are gonna be healed on both sides right now. Well, I think you said a lot when you said there's the geopolitical view of this, but there's also the spiritual view and the human view. I mean, we all don't wanna see anybody killed or die. We stand with Israel certainly, but we also know that God has a heart for the Palestinians as well. In fact, if we could, could I just pray before we go any further? Let's just lift this up to the Lord. Father, we've been praying and we continue to pray. We pray for Israel, Lord. We pray for a ceasing to the hostilities. We pray for an end of groups like Hamas, Lord, and ones that would bring about a terror to forward their points. And Father, we just pray, Lord God, that you would enter in and that the spirit of God and the church of the living God would rise up to have a voice in this conflict, Father. We ask, Lord, that you would glorify your name in the midst of all of this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. He that keeps Israel does not sleep or slumber and we believe God is watching. You know, in today's world, it seems like busyness is the norm. We are always moving on from one thing to the next and that sometimes it causes us to miss out on something very important, our time with the Lord. Author, Mary Ann Howard is our next guest and her new book is called Rest. Overcoming Spiritual Fatigue. She joins us now to share just how destructive the cost of busyness can be when it comes to our relationship with God. Mary Ann, it's great to see you and have you with us on Hope Today. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited about our conversation today. This word rest. I mean, have you always walked in this rest with no busyness and no distraction? Oh gosh, no. Actually, this work really comes from a place of where I've struggled with it. I've struggled to rest. I've struggled to honor God in that area. I'm a wife to a pastor. I'm a mom. I'm a friend. I shuffle around my neighbors to different sporting events. It's a chaotic, crazy time in my life and it's because I've wrestled with it and struggled with it. But that's kind of the heart behind why I wrote it was because I've really struggled with it and I think I've had the wrong view of what God intended rest to be for us and I think I reach for the wrong things. Well, and as leaders, we're pouring, we're giving, we're serving, we're laying down our life. Is it possible to pour out and to not be poured into? Oh, that's such a great question. And one of the scriptures that I kind of go through in the book and it has really been a new one for me and it's Song of Solomon one verse six. And it says, they made me keeper of the vineyard but my own vineyard I have not kept. And to be honest with you, that really, really steps on my toes because I think so often in leadership narratives, we're busy making sure everybody else's spiritual vineyard is cared for and poured into and we miss our own vineyard. So when we finally slow down and we look at our heart and we look at the place where God dwells, that soul, that inner place where God dwells, we realize, oh my goodness, there's weeds in there, there's neglect there, there's apathy there. And so I think the thing that we've got to do as leaders is we've got to make sure that we're leading from a place of rest instead of trying to kind of operate autonomously apart from God and finding our identity and our value and worth in what we're doing and in our productivity, but that it's anchored in what God is doing and that he's the one that's doing it through us. Is it important to know that he is the vine and we are the branch? How does that operate in our day-to-day life? I love that question. And I think the thing that we've got to do is we really have to take Jesus at his words. He says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Nothing, and nothing means nothing. And that's why he's so kind to say, abide in me, I'm the one who's going to do the work. I'm the one who's going to give the rest. I'm the one who's going to make this happen. I'm the one who's going to do all the things. Trust me, you can do nothing apart from me. And so I think we've got to take him at his word and abide and it's tucking our heart into him, spending time with him, cultivating those disciplines for intimacy to move towards closeness with him so that he's the one that's bearing the weight if that makes sense of responsibility in our day in and day out. But we're so distracted. Like, how do we find time to meet with him? I mean, really, I mean, even myself, I get up and it is like go time with many responsibilities, many things to do. You ask a question in your chapter about dangerous distractions. What has your attention? Okay, so I'm a statistical nerd and I spend a lot of time studying numbers and just a couple of things I wanted to highlight this morning about distraction and how dangerous it is. People now lose concentration after eight seconds. That's the concentration of a goldfish. And so there's that. And then the other statistic that completely blows me away and honestly convicts me in a deep sense is that we tap, swipe and click our device 2,617 times a day. And teenagers are above average, they're doing all of that well over 3,000 times a day. And the danger in, the danger in that is that, and scripture says it clearly in James 117, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. And so distraction is not a one size fits all enticement. Each one of us are distracted and divided by very different things. And really quickly, I wanna just highlight what distraction does to our walk with God. First of all, it makes intimacy with God impossible. It's gonna cause us, distraction will cause us to miss the master. Whether it's shopping, whether it's scrolling, whatever it may be, it's gonna cause us to miss the master. It makes intimacy impossible. Number two, distraction, it cultivates self-centeredness. It will always set you at the center of your life. It will set you up as a little God. You are gonna be the center of the world. So it's gonna cultivate self-centeredness. The third thing, distraction feeds this contentment. This one is huge for me because what happens is I start to glance around comparing, coveting and competing and thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, but we all know that the grass is greener where we water it. And the same is true for us spiritually. Then the last thing, distractions will rule an unprioritized heart, which causes us to be distracted and divided in so many different ways that let's just say we have a friend that is in need and they need us to be present. Well, we don't have the capacity to be fully present because we're being pulled in so many different directions. That's kind of what distraction is doing to us spiritually. If I could just dive into that last point a little bit. You say that you cannot hurry and love well. Could you just speak to that and what it means to love someone well and how hurry is the enemy of that? Yeah, just to be really honest with you in my own, as I spent time writing this, I was realizing that my kids and I'm really passionate about generational discipleship and investing really intentionally in my kids spiritually. But because I'm a speaker, I'm a writer, I'm a wife, I'm a mom, I'm a friend, I'm a minister, I'm all these things. There was a season where my son just really needed me to be present with him and not distracted and divided and rushing him through something. And he said to me, mom, can you put your phone down? I really need your eyes. And I think so many times if we would put all the things down that are causing us to be distracted, I think we would see. That's what God says. I mean, God says in his words on 46, verse 10, be still and know that I'm God. But when you look at, and it's on everything, like it's tattooed, it's everywhere, it's on tea towels, it's hanging in my house. We say that so often, but when you read that in totality, it's be still, slow down so that you can know that I am God. It's slow down so that you can know that I am God. He doesn't wanna speed up to the pace that we're walking. He's the pace setter. And I think if we'll slow down and fight for stillness in our lives, it gives us an awareness to the needs around us. I'm telling you that the best way that we can show the gospel and share the gospel is to be present and to be aware. And the only way we can be God aware and have God's eyes and God's perspective in the world around us is we've gotta put all the things that is distracting us and dividing us and pulling at us down and spend time with him so we can see his world, his way with his heart. And so that's why it's so important that we put those things down so that we can love well. We cannot love well when we're sitting across from people looking at our watches and looking at our phones, thinking about where we've gotta be next. That is so convicting to me. Even those statistics, I find myself so distracted and busy by the phone and you're so right. We cannot love well when we're sitting there distracted and we look at restaurants all the time. You see tables of families and they're all on their phones and it's really sad. Jesus in Matthew 11 invites us into a rest. How did Jesus model rest? That's a great question. I think he still had demands. He still had the demands around him but he was 100% totally, totally consumed with obeying the Father and he walked closely locked into him and he got away. That's the thing. One of the things I talk about in the book is I talk about practicing the discipline of solitude. And I think some of us, those of us that are extroverts that have FOMO and we wanna be around people 24 seven. I think one of the things that we've gotta be really careful of is that we let the demands of people constantly press us and Jesus modeled this so well. He got away from the demands of people to be with God. And I think we've gotta practice that solitude of being alone with God, getting away from that human attraction, I mean that human interaction so that we can be with God, so that he can refuel us and refill us to go out there and be who we need to be in Christ to serve others. And so I think he shows a step by step how to live out, walk the pace that God calls us to walk, move away from the demands of people to re-engage, get filled with truth, let him lead us, Psalm 23, to still waters and green pastures, to restore us and renew us. We cannot pour out of emptiness. We cannot, we can't do it. We cannot pour out of emptiness. We've gotta pour out of the fullness that Jesus pours into us. That's how he wants us to lead. Well, and you bring up a great illustration about the shepherd versus the cattle driver. Can you unpack that? Yes, so the thing about the shepherd, number one, when you're looking at Psalm 23, first of all, you've gotta, we've gotta read Psalm 23 as a sheep. And can I just say to all the leaders today that are tired, whatever that may be in the marketplace, you know, in the church, whatever it is, if you're tired and you're feeling at the end of it all, you're burnout, be a sheep. Your shepherd, he loves you, he is gentle. He goes before you and behind you. When you read Psalm 23 in totality, you see not only does he go before you and he leads you to quiet waters. He leads you to green pastures. At the end of the chapter, it says, surely goodness and mercy will follow you, will follow you all the days of your life. He comes behind you. He goes before you and he comes behind you and he's gentle and he's loving and he's kind and he's walking with you and he restores you and he leads you to restore you and he restores you because he wants to use you for his fame and his glory. Let's talk about silence. I'm really interested to get your take on what silence really, obviously we know what it is, but I mean, how do you practice silence? What does silence do for us? What does it sensitize us to? Yeah, I think one of the things that was revealed in my own heart is that I have an addiction to noise and it's dangerous. And what silence does is it sensitizes us. It helps us focus on what matters most. And I think there's so much noise, so many voices, so many perspectives that I think we've got to make sure that we're valuing the right voice. And that's the voice of the shepherd. That the voice of the thief would be silenced and the voice of the shepherd would be activated in our lives. And I think we have to get silenced. God doesn't operate the way the rest of this world operates. He operates in a different way and he wants us to be silent and still so that we can hear his voice. And it says over and over and over in scripture that his, can he shout? Yes, does he, he chooses not to. He has a still small voice. He has a quiet voice, so we've got to get quiet and practice silence so that we can hear, so that we can be sensitized to him and his spirit and his leading in his moving. Mary Ann, can you pray just for all those out there that feel stressed, weary, worn out, exhausted and they need a deep rest? Will you pray for them right now? Yes. God, I just come before you and I thank you for your word that says, my heart and my flesh, they are failing me. But God, you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. God, we just come to you and we confess our need for you today. That my heart and my flesh, they are failing me. That is hopeless. I am tired. I am weary. But to the right of the but God, there is hope, there is strength, there is renewal. So we just confess our need for you today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your presence. I pray God for the one today, for the mom who is at her wit's end, for the father who is exhausted because of the weight of the world, for the person in the marketplace that feels the pressure and the expectations that they cannot bear. God, I pray that you would renew their strength, that you would remind them with the shepherd's voice that you are near, that you are as close as their skin. Thank you for your rest. We don't want anything less than that. Your perfect peace, shalom, shalom. God, we want your rest because what you give is you give it in totality. And so I pray you would give that to us today. And we thank you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you Mary Ann for helping us overcome spiritual fatigue and finding real rest. 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So whether you're in Pittsburgh, you're in Florida, Alabama or anywhere across the country, even if you're watching us on YouTube, we would love to get connected to you. As always, we love to end our show and land it on a scripture. And one thing that just felt like our theme as we were having our conversations about this, be still and know that I am God. A lot of times there's recently, like I was reading that scripture and God highlighted it in my spirit, but it's like the way that we say it's almost like, God's like, be still. No, it's like a command. He's like, be still, stop moving. He wants to command our attention. And I think what's happening in our world is that we get so distracted. We get so many things that are bombarding us. And when is the last time that you've been still before the Lord and had reverence and awe and fear of him? In our world nowadays, we have so many, there are idols, we don't like to say it, but if we have the phone can be an idol, certain situations can be an idol. We begin to worship and to serve those things because we begin to allow them to just circulate around our lives. And today we just wanna encourage you, knock those idols out of your life because it is stealing you from having that connection. It's stealing you from having that intimacy with Jesus. That's the most important thing is Jesus says he wants to know us. And if you don't spend time with him, think about like your husband or wife, if there's a period of time that you don't spend time together or you don't talk or you don't listen, you don't have that intimacy. And that's what God is calling, I really feel for the body of Christ, especially in America in this season is we have so many distractions. There's a different people are coming to this country to evangelize, why? Because we don't even know the things that we're worshiping and we're bowing down to. But today we just wanna encourage you, take few minutes, maybe it's 20 minutes or 30 minutes and put the phone to the side. Even when you're quiet time, just remove it. So you can focus on the one who deserves all of our attention, all of our love and all of our affection with everything that is happening in our world and the things that are shaking. I think God is really trying to give us a wake up call right now. Do you know me? Will you seek me? And when you seek me, you will find me. Amy, what's on your heart? Well, and a great illustration that Mary Ann brought up was like that happy meal relationship with God. It's like a quick drive through but you can't live on a happy meal relationship with God. Versus that steak dinner where you sit down and you're waiting and you're feasting on the word of God. It's the word that's going to revive you. It's the word that's going to sustain you. It's those moments with God when you're still before him. It's like the washing of the water of the word. So I just challenge you. I encourage you today. Just what else matters? Nothing else matters in life but your relationship with the Lord. And listen, he wants to guide you. He wants to lead you. He wants to speak to you. He wants to show you things. He wants to reveal things. I mean, so much of our problems in life and our issues and our stresses could be solved Tom just right sitting in his presence and then all of a sudden he reveals something and it can change everything. You know, I'm always amazed. If you look at the Gospels, Jesus is around people. He's around his disciples. He's preaching. He's healing. He's doing things. But then it says that in the morning he went off or in the night he got away. He went off and he was alone with the father. And here was someone who was totally connected to the father all the time. He said, I don't do anything unless I see what the father's doing. Then he does that. But he would go off and spend that time, spend that downtime, that alone time. It wasn't always the Garden of Gethsemane I don't think where he was sweating great drops of blood. He was spending time with his father. He was relating to him and finding out what was in his heart and recharging even Jesus recharging his batteries for the next day. You know, even as we were just all talking and wrapping up this conversation the one thing that God is just speaking to me is just about the 10 bridesmaids. That five had their oils and their lamps and five did. And I think we're in that season right now is that are you with your oil? Are you spending time with the Holy Spirit? Are you pressed against the heart of God? Because that is our whole hope for you is that you would know him, that you would be so close to the father. And so we encourage you today remove those things out, get into the presence of God allow him to speak to him, allow him to deep down in your heart because we love you so much. We want that for you today.