Are you tired, busy, or stressed? Each day of this plan will be a pause for your soul to rest. Let these words from bestselling author Holley Gerth remind you of what’s true, how much you’re loved, and that God is with you in every hard or hectic moment.
Holley Gerth
Day 1
Scriptures: Mark 6:31, Matthew 8:24, John 4:6
You Serve a Savior Who Rested
To need rest isn’t weakness, it’s proof you’ve offered your all. If you’re tired today, that’s okay. Being tired means you’ve worked hard, given much, loved deep.
In the moments when you need rest, welcome yourself with gentleness the way you would a warrior returning from battle. Put an invisible hand on your shoulder, tell yourself, “Well done, that wasn’t easy.” Offer yourself a cup of water, a place to sit down for a moment. Ask yourself what you need.
You only require rest when you’ve worked hard in some way. Maybe it was with your heart, doing the work of loving or healing. It might have been with your head, doing the work of creating or solving. Perhaps it was with your hands, serving or supporting. Or it could be all three that took your energy.
It’s easy to say, “I should be able to do more” or “I should be able to keep going.” But rest is a rhythm we all need. Work hard, rest, repeat. Having limitations is not a sin; it’s a reality of being human.
You serve a Savior who took a nap on a boat, who sat down by a well because He was weary, who retreated to quiet places to pray. God wrapped in skin rested. God creating the world in the beginning rested. To rest is not to fail, it is to follow the example of the One whose image you’re created in.
Rest doesn’t begin by stopping what you’re doing; it begins by daring to believe what’s true. Take a deep breath then say to your soul, “I am already loved. I am already enough. I have nothing to prove.” Then, dear warrior, let yourself rest today.
Day 2
Scripture: Romans 8:38-39
You Are Always Loved
Set down the expectations. Release the checklists in your mind. The ones that say things like “act like you’re fine” and “get it all done.” Those are not the scripts the Creator of your soul has written for your story.
No, his words sound more like…
You are loved no matter what.
Your work doesn’t determine your worth.
You are allowed to be human.
Life is not meant to be a high-pressure tightrope. It’s meant to be a walk of grace. One with room for stumbles and setbacks, detours and delays. It has a wide shoulder where you can sit down for awhile. It has no speed limit or performance police who will give you a ticket for going too fast or too slow.
You are allowed to be as you are today. There is no impossible standard you must meet, no test you must pass, no invisible row of judges scoring how well you’re doing.
Your belovedness is secure. It doesn’t fluctuate like a stock or change like the weather. It is anchored in the heart of the God whose promises never fail, who always keeps his word, who has said he will never leave or forsake you.
Being “okay” is not what he is requiring of you today. He only asks that you believe—and part of that is trusting you are always loved.
You are always loved…
On the days you are happy.
On the days you are sad.
On the days you feel strong.
On the days you feel weak.
On the days when you are okay.
On the days when you are not.
There are no exceptions, no limitations, no fine print or asterisks in the contract. You are loved as much on your worst day as you are on your very best. It is time to let your soul rest.
Day 3
Scripture: Genesis 2:2-3
Choosing to Rest Isn’t Selfish
It’s okay to rest. It’s even more than okay—it’s essential. It can feel as if there is so much to do, and a moment of quiet can feel like a dessert stolen and eaten in secret before anyone sees. There’s so much depending on you. How can rest be anything but selfish?
Yet rest is exactly what enables you to love well for a lifetime. I struggled with this for years until a friend gently laid her hand on my heart and whispered, “If you never get refilled, how will you be able to pour out?”
You are not infinite. You are human. You have limits. Acknowledging that is not selfish; it’s worship. Rest says to God and to the rest of the world, “I know I’m not in charge. And I trust the One who is.”
Rest comes in many different forms. It can be quick snooze on the couch or a full night of sleep. It can be reading, laughing, or playing. It can be an attitude of your heart that chooses not to strive and worry even when you’re in the middle of a busy season. In all of that, you can honor God.
God doesn’t need you to complete your to-do list. He created the world in seven days simply by speaking. He doesn’t have any trouble getting things accomplished. But what he has chosen for you to do is this: to love him, those around you, and yourself. Part of loving well is resting well.
We can find ourselves going at a frantic pace and never stop to ask, “What is driving me?” Often it’s fear, and that is not what God has for us. Instead of being driven by fear, our good Shepherd invites us to be led by love.
So pause, take a deep breath (or even a nap if you dare) and in doing so show the world that you serve One who is kind and loving to those who belong to him. Because he lets them rest. He invites them to peace. He takes their to-do list and trades it for a to-be list that leads to joy.
You have permission to rest today.
Day 4
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-29
What Can You Lay Down Today?
“Sometimes it feels like too much,” I say to my friends sharing the table with me.
Have you found yourself saying the same? Perhaps it’s your to-do list, the news headlines, conflict with family, the laundry piling up on your closet floor, the worries pulling at your mind when you try to sleep at night.
One of my dear friends looks at me and says, “I have two questions for you. What is truly yours to hold? And what do you need to let go of?”
I didn’t have easy answers in that moment. But I took those questions to heart, and I’m slowly discovering what I have picked up that Jesus never asked me to carry. It might be a burdensome task, the well-being of a person I love, or a heavy “should” that’s landed on my shoulders.
I’m learning to pray, “God, I’m letting go of what was never mine to hold.” I imagine opening my hands and freeing whatever I’ve been trying to grasp, like a child releasing a firefly into the evening sky. This prayer leads me deeper into rest.
If something truly is mine to carry, then I can ask, “What will make this lighter?” Often the answer includes asking for help and not trying to do it all myself. Sometimes it means making sure I get the emotional support I need to sustain my strength, like I did with my friends. On some days it’s as simple as a nap. This is part of rest too.
Letting go of something feels vulnerable and sometimes I even worry that it means I’m weak. But we are not pack mules made to carry ever-heavier loads; we are beloved children made in the image of a God who longs for us to be free.
May we set down what’s heavy today, may we travel with the lightness of grace, may we trust how much we’re already loved.
Day 5
Scripture: Psalms 23:1-2
Rest Is a Gift from God’s Heart
Rest is not laziness, not a lack of responsibility or willingness to do a part. It is a gift from a loving God’s heart.
We see this thread all through Scripture. In Genesis, just after creation, God rested as a model for us. He brought his people out of striving in Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, which means “the resting place.”
He is the Shepherd in Psalms who makes us lie down in green pastures, leads us beside still waters, and restores our souls. In the Gospels, Jesus offers rest to those who are weary and burdened. And at the end of time, “there remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Rest has always been and will always be part of God’s desire and design for us.
In our world, we often define rest narrowly. We can see it as simply stopping our work. But to God it is so much more. Rest is a state of peace and security. Yes, sometimes it is an actual, tangible pause, but it is also a way of living differently no matter what we’re doing.
I’ve stared at the ceiling in the night, completely still, but not rested because worries paraded through my mind. I’ve been in the middle of a busy day and felt inexplicable peace despite my schedule. Rest is about more than just our level of activity; it’s a reflection of what’s happening in our hearts.
We can live in rest today because we live in God’s love always, from our quietest moments to our busiest days.
