The Battle Against Rest

She was doing everything she could to stay awake.

Eyes blinking slower.

Head bobbing just enough to recover.

That determined little fight in her body that said, “I’m not missing this.”

My granddaughter Indie Mae wasn’t crying.

She wasn’t fussy.

She was resisting rest.

Not because she didn’t need it…but because she didn’t want to miss out on what might happen next.

And I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her.

Because if I’m honest, I do the exact same thing.

We don’t usually throw tantrums when we’re tired. We just keep going.

One more scroll.

One more email.

One more task.

One more thing to stay in control of the moment.

All while our soul is quietly whispering, “You need rest.”

But rest feels like missing out.

Missing progress.

Missing opportunity.

Missing control.

So we fight it just like Indie Mae did.

Psalm 127:2 says:

“He gives His beloved sleep.”

Not earns sleep.

Not achieves sleep.

Receives it.

Sleep and rest was never meant to be something we fight for.

It’s something we surrender to.

Watching her resist sleep, I realized something deeper: She trusts what she can see more than what she cannot.

If she closes her eyes, she might miss something.

If she lets go, she’s no longer in control of the moment.

And isn’t that where we live so much of our lives?

We keep our eyes open, our hands busy, our minds running because trusting God with what we can’t see feels harder than managing what we can.

But God’s invitation has never been: “Stay awake and figure it all out.”

It’s always been: “Be still… and know that I am God ” as He promised in Psalm 46:10

Stillness requires trust.

Rest requires surrender.

And surrender always feels like losing until you realize it’s the only way to actually receive.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Not advice.

Not a strategy.

An invitation.

Here’s the part that struck me most as I watched her:

Eventually… she will fall asleep.

Not because she finally decided rest was a good idea, but because her body will give in to what it was created for.

And I wonder how often God, in His kindness, allows us to reach that same point.

Where striving runs out.

Where control exhausts itself.

Where we finally stop fighting…and fall into His arms.

In Ink from Heaven’s Pen, I write about the story God is authoring through our lives.

But here’s what I’m learning:

Some of the most important parts of that story aren’t written in our striving…

They’re written in our surrender.

In the quiet moments.

In the unseen pauses.

In the places where we stop trying to hold the pen so tightly and trust the Author instead.

Maybe the reason we’re so tired isn’t because there’s too much to do…

It’s because we’re resisting the very rest that would remind us we were never meant to carry it all.

So here’s the question I can’t shake:

What are you afraid will happen if you finally let yourself rest?

And the deeper one:

What might God do if you did?

Because the truth is, you’re not going to miss what matters.

But you might miss Him if you never slow down long enough to see that He’s already here.

Stop fighting the rest, your soul was created to receive…before exhaustion becomes the only voice loud enough to make you listen.