Forcing Rest

It's a dreary, rainy, Friday afternoon. I'm weezing and coughing my way through the day and miserably failing at fighting them off. It's been a full, roller-coaster week. Today, I've been encouraged by Chambers to serve well, in light of Christ, to put Him as my center, and I had a great day with the kiddo- it's so rewarding and encouraging to see him grow, daily, weekly.  I guess I'm in a season of figuring out how to work out my salvation in diverse tangible ways. I don't want to be stagnant, complacent.  I think one of my biggest struggles, however, is taking time for rest.  I tend to go full steam ahead until I get sick...At a retreat I went to a few years ago the speaker remarked that Jesus had balance.. of rest and work, eating and fasting, and solitude and companionship. Admittedly, my weakness is in resting. Two of the most influential books I've read, Spiritual Depression by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, and Future Grace by John Piper, discuss how essential grasping the Gospel, especially the centrality of the doctrine of Justification, is to working out our faith, not working to prove our faith or worthiness. I  am in a season of understanding justification, of resting in its promise and security. In THAT I can rest, knowing I dont have to work to be loved, to be secure, to prove myself.