Rest for the Weary Workin’ Mama Soul, a 7-Day Devotional by KeNosha WhiteheadSample

DAY 7: The Practice of a Rest-filled Life

For workin’ mamas, rest, as a spiritual and practical matter, is, at best, a curious aspiration and, at worst, completely elusive. Even when we find the windows of time to exhale, those times frequently are consumed by anxious thoughts, mindless scrolling, TV binging, emotional eating, or some other practice that would not be quickly defined as sufficiently rejuvenating.

But if the sacred rest our weary workin’ mama souls so desperately need is not sleeping or slacking, then what does it mean to practice this rest that Jesus promised and provides?

I searched the Bible for examples to give here, and, of course, my first thought jumped to the gold standard of workin’ mamas—the Proverbs 31 woman. She is greatly praised for living a life in reverence to the Lord. Still, she also enriches her husband’s life, evokes the adoration of her children, carefully watches everything in her home, works late into the night, has a profitable business, helps the poor, makes her own bedspreads, dresses in the finest linen, wears strength and dignity like clothes, laughs without fear of the future. If all that wasn’t enough, get this: she still has the emotional stability and bandwidth to “give instructions with kindness.” Wow, what a rest-filled life she must have lived!

Instead, though, the example that may resonate more with you as it did with me is not about a biblical workin’ mama but about a bunch of weary, worried disciples on a stormy sea in a shifting, shaking, and sinking boat that featured a resting Jesus at the rear with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke Jesus up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are going to drown?” Mark 4:38 (NLT)

And all my fellow weary workin’ mamas said, “Ah, this example is more like it.” Our souls scream, “Jesus, don’t you care that we are drowning!” Drowning in deadlines. Drowning in dirty diapers. Drowning in work. Drowing in worries. Drowning in meetings. Drowning in obligations. Drowning in tiredness. Drowning in the mom guilt of divided attention, a depth of guilt that cannot be dispelled by even the tightest, most approving hug from our sweet babies.

Jesus silenced and stilled the storm, then curiously replied to those frazzled disciples, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus was inquiring if they lacked faith in him after all the merciful and miraculous feats they had witnessed him do. More specifically, how could they think, even for a second, that they could drown with Jesus on the boat with them? Hmm, it is a valid question to ask ourselves.

Here’s where I land on the matter of a weary workin’ mama’s practice of a rest-filled life. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. The bottom line is two-fold. One, practicing a rest-filled life takes commitment to discipleship and discipline in prioritizing and establishing practical steps and habits to sit at the Teacher’s feet. And two, the practice of a rest-filled life takes the firm understanding that if we do not daily cultivate our relationship with the Lord, we will daily compromise our rest, the rest we, weary workin’ mamas, oh so desperately need for the health of our souls.

Perhaps the most pragmatic yet empathic piece of advice I can share about practicing a rest-filled life as a workin’ mama is that the persistent practice of rest will take faith. Because the morning will come when you forego your sunrise time with Jesus, you’re running late for the staff meeting again. When you get everyone loaded into the car, a child’s unpredictable bodily fluid requires an unplanned and inconvenient wardrobe change, or worse, another call-out sick. That morning and every morning, noon, and night like it will require faith—faith that our Father radically loves and cares for you, faith that he knows your name, faith that his grace is enough for you victoriously raise your children and accomplish your work, faith that any day, at any time, you can come to Jesus—whatever that may look like at the moment—and find rest that will revive your soul and reinvigorate you to embrace your life’s blessed portion with grit and gratitude.

Now, by the grace of God and in the power of his Holy Spirit, go get your rest, sis. And take another weary workin’ mama with you.

Reflection Questions

What emotions do you think the disciples experienced during the storm, and how do you relate to those emotions in your experience as a working mom?

How does the account in Mark 4:35-41 encourage you to trust in Jesus’s presence and power to calm your storm(s) and to give you supernatural rest in the Lord?

How can you share with other weary and burdened working moms the message of Jesus’s hopeful invitation to find rest for their souls?

If this devotional inspired, encouraged, and challenged you to lean into the holy art of an authentically rest-filled life, I invite you to visitwww.kenoshawhitehead.comto continue exploring more heartfelt, uplifting, and empowering content.