0:00Episode 3988. Refreshment for your soul. Moms, it's time to rediscover, rejuvenate, and renew who you are in mind, body, and spirit. Welcome to Create Your Now, Your Best Selfie, the show that help you do just that. Here's your host, certified life coach, personal trainer, and nutritionist, Kristian Wardo. Happy every day. I hope you're having a fabulous weekend. Me and the sun have been shining. Do you have the itch for spring? Oh, I am so there already. Bring on the April showers. In March, I'm ready for blooms to happen. Yes. Well, I think that's where it leads us today to sweet spirit Sunday. Refreshment for your soul. For those of your brand new to Create Your Now, welcome to this incredible family. I'm so delighted of your presence. If you already have the opportunity, you want to head on over to CreateYourNow.com where you can learn more and sign up for the Kisses newsletter. They keep it simple strategy, everyday solutions, to live, love, and impact.

1:00You know, life can drag us down, right? It spends us up and down and all around until the weight of it, all crashes so heavy on our shoulders. And there's like no room for us to breathe. Deadlines tack higher than our energy, responsibilities pile up faster than the hours in the day. And in the middle of this, Jesus gives refreshment for your soul. The invitation comes from Matthew, chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. Come to me. All you are weary and burdened. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy. And my burden is light. I don't know where you are. I know where I am right now. I'm a little tired honestly. And I just came upon this verse again here this week. And I was like, you know what? It is so nice to be able to rest in my Heavenly Father's arms.

2:00And I don't know that we really know what that means. What does rest really mean when exhaustion feels like a permanent state? Maybe that's for you. You're like, I'm just in the season. I'm going to make it for another two and a half months. I got this. Or maybe you're like, I don't have a choice. I'm in it for 16 weeks, whatever it is. And doesn't mean that all of our troubles vanish as soon as we lean in as soon as we find that rest. I want us to look at what Jesus promises here. Jesus isn't just offering a quick nap or a weekend off. Wouldn't that be nice? Oh here, let's just take it to a half hour nap like our two year olds do. And all will be fine. No, there's no temporary bandaid here. The rest he offers to us is deeper. It's a refreshment, a refreshing reset for the soul that no amount of coffee, right? Doesn't matter how much caffeine you take, the vacations that you buy yourself to go on or the distractions can provide. It's a rest

3:02where the noise of the world, the pressure, the chaos all start to lose their grip. And instead of you holding on so tight, you can open up your hands. But you see here's the catch. The rest isn't about erasing our struggles overnight. It would be nice to say everything's gone. Everything's fine, but life is messy. Bills don't stop. If you're living, you're going to have bills, but we have ways to make money legally. Challenges don't disappear, do they? And our limits don't stretch infinitely. The rest Jesus offers is a change of posture and perspective, a surrendering of the burden to someone strong enough to carry it with you. You're Heavenly Father. God Himself that says, I want to be with you. Imagine carrying a heavy backpack. Have you carried a backpack recently? I remember back in the day, back in the day, where we had books. Do you remember going to school, having books? And you had

4:06to bring home your math book and your science book and your English book and then you had your band books, all of it, right? And as you looked at it, there's like seven books stacked up. We imagine hauling that heavy backpack with you everywhere you go all by yourself. Remember how it felt? Yeah, it felt more than heavy, didn't it? In fact, your back began to ache more. You couldn't sit right. And maybe you're having that feeling now because, well, because of what you did back then, it's affecting you now. Well, Jesus says, come to me. Come to me, he says, it's this invitation to lay down the weight, not to deny the load that's there. All right, you're still going to have the seven books to deal with. It's all right there, but we'll wait. You get to lay it down and stop pretending you have to carry it alone, because we can do it together. It's refreshment for your soul. So what does refreshment look like

5:10though in practice? I mean, if you're like, okay, God's going to give me that rest. Jesus says, he's going to help me. He's going to give me that refreshment. I can give it to him, and I don't have to do it alone. Well, it's giving yourself permission to pause and breathe deeply into peace that isn't dependent on your circumstances. You see, we're trying to find peace without having the craziness. And maybe you need to find peace in the craziness. Do you see the difference? I know. I'm kind of in a season where it's a little bit chaotic, and that's okay, not a problem. I know what I need to do. I'm doing it. I'm like, okay, this is for two weeks, or whatever it is. Got some stuff going on with Creature Now. We're revamping the website. We've run into a few hiccups and like, all right, you test it. You're like, oh, no. And so I've had some later nights, not always fun. But if I sit there and try to find peace because I don't have anything

6:13happening, I'm not ever going to have that peace. It's not about that calmness without the struggles. It's about the calmness in the struggles. It's trusting that your value isn't tied to how much you do or how hard you hustle. It's letting go of self-imposed expectations and guilt. The guilt carry actually can weigh more than anything that we actually do. There is absolutely a better way than pushing through sheer willpower until you break. The better way is accepting that invitation. Stop fighting solo. Stop measuring worth by productivity and start living in the reality that rest is not weakness. It's strength. Have you ever seen the oxen? And I think of oxen because they're like big, right? And they pull heavy things. I really believe that's why God created them

7:14because they're massive animals. Well, there's this thing, and I don't know what this thing is called, but it almost looks like this wood collar. That's what I'm going to call it, okay? So imagine this wood collar that goes over. And it's equal. And it goes and it wraps right under the neck. So it holds the two oxen side by side. And so when they walk and they go together, they can move something together. Their strength is what doubled now, right? And so one of is a little bit tired. The other one, well, may work a little bit harder, but it doesn't feel that way because it's evenly balanced. There's harmony in it. That's what God is telling you. The yoke. I'm walking beside you. If you're holding on to this someday when I get there, version of rest, stop waiting. The rest you crave is available right now. Right now in this invitation come as you are

8:17weary and worn. And I will give you rest. And no, that doesn't mean your troubles disappear immediately. I wish I wish we had Genie in a bottle, but we don't. That's make believe and that's Disney. That's another episode. But what it does mean is you don't have to carry them like punishment. And I really think sometimes we do that because of all the things I've done, I'm having to carry this load. And I can't ask for help. No, you can. Let God. Let God and let go. Your answer right now is to say yes to Jesus. Yes to His refreshment. Answer that call. Put down your heavy load. Find shelter in a rest that renews. Find shelter in a rest that studies and rebuilds even in the hardest seasons. Right. It isn't make believe. This isn't it pretend.

9:19This is the true reality. It's a hard reality that many of us have walked into. But we found freedom. And that's a key. Freedom not because we don't have horrible circumstances, struggles and troubles. Right. The CRAP of life. But we have what? We have a heavenly father who loves us and says, you know what? Stop spinning. Stop dragging. Come to me. All who are weary. And I will give you rest. Go in peace. Be present. Be incredible. Be you. I love you so very much. I cannot wait to see you on the other side. Blessing tags and lots and lots of love. We'll talk to you real soon. Have a glorious blessed week. Bye bye. Visit createyournow.com for more incredible resources to help you along the way. We'll see you next time on Create Your Now Your Best Selfie. And remember,

10:20always be sure you consult your physician before beginning any health and fitness plan.