GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION, BELOVEDS. 🛌❤️‍🔥

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION, BELOVEDS. 🛌❤️‍🔥

Beloveds,

Give yourself permission.

I’m learning how.

I’m tired.

I’m recovering.

And apparently, after everything life has taught me about surviving, pushing, helping, producing, showing up, loving people and continuing when I didn’t think I had anything left…

I now have to learn something that sounds ridiculously simple:

How to rest.

Not collapse.

Not finally stop because my body leaves me no other choice.

Not lie down while my mind keeps working three shifts.

Not “rest” while feeling guilty about everything I’m not accomplishing.

Actually.

Rest.

🛌

And I am learning that those are very different things.

Sometimes we become so accustomed to surviving that stopping feels irresponsible.

We tell ourselves:

One more thing.

One more person needs me.

One more message.

One more problem.

One more task.

One more grape.

Okay, perhaps that last one is just me. 🍇😄

But eventually our bodies, minds, and hearts begin whispering what we have been too busy to hear:

I’m tired.

And Beloveds, perhaps those aren’t words we need to be ashamed of.

I’m tired.

I’m not feeling my best. ⛑️🤒

I need rest.

Those aren’t declarations of defeat.

They are information.

And I’m learning to listen.

Because somewhere inside me, I think I learned how to respect everybody else’s needs before I learned how to respect my own.

I could understand why you needed a break.

I could encourage you to slow down.

I could tell you that your worth wasn’t measured by productivity.

Then Jesus/The Father turned those words around and handed them back to me.

“It’s okay, Cassandra.”

😭❤️

It’s okay to stop.

It’s okay not to produce today.

It’s okay if somebody else carries something.

It’s okay if the world keeps turning without my supervision. 😄🌎

It’s okay if healing sometimes looks like doing absolutely nothing impressive.

It’s okay if today’s victory is:

I listened when my body said enough.

👩‍🦽🛌

And perhaps somebody reading this needs permission too.

So here.

Take some of mine.

You may rest.

You don’t have to finish everything first.

You don’t have to deserve it.

You don’t have to become completely exhausted before rest becomes legitimate.

You don’t have to explain why you’re tired.

You don’t have to apologize because your capacity today isn’t what it was yesterday.

And you certainly don’t have to compare your need for rest with somebody else’s.

Your body is yours.

Your mind is yours.

Your circumstances are yours.

Listen to them.

❤️‍🔥

Rest is not necessarily what happens when strength runs out.

Sometimes rest is how we honor the strength we still have.

👀

That is something I’m learning in recovery.

I spent so much time looking at what my body could and couldn’t do.

Could I move this?

Could I accomplish that?

Could I regain this?

Could I push a little harder?

But maybe another recovery question deserves equal space:

Can I hear myself when I need tenderness?

Can I stop without calling myself lazy?

Can I receive care without calling myself burdensome?

Can I leave something unfinished without turning unfinished into failure?

Can I believe that my life still matters when I am producing absolutely nothing?

I’m learning.

🍇

One little grape at a time.

And today one of those grapes is:

Rest before you have completely emptied yourself.

Maybe that’s wisdom.

Maybe that’s healing.

Maybe that’s another chain breaking.

⛓️

Because we don’t have to spend our lives proving how much we can endure.

Sometimes courage says:

Keep going.

And sometimes courage whispers:

“That’s enough for today.”

🥰

📖 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28 (KJV)

Notice that.

“I will give you rest.”

A gift.

And gifts are meant to be received.

Oh.

There is that word again.

Receive.

❤️‍🔥

Maybe receiving love and receiving rest aren’t as different as I thought.

Both require open hands.

Both require me to stop proving.

Both ask me to believe I am worthy of care even when I am not the one providing it.

So today I’m practicing.

No grand accomplishment.

No heroic recovery story.

Just:

“It’s okay, Cassandra.”

And me finally answering:

“Okay. I believe You.”

👑❤️

Beloveds, perhaps you can give yourself permission too.

Rest.

Breathe.

Receive.

Let something remain unfinished.

The world does not need you destroyed in order to prove that you cared about it.

🌎❤️

You matter while you’re working.

You matter while you’re helping.

You matter while you’re creating.

And yes—

you matter while you’re asleep.

🛌

Give yourself permission, beloveds.

I’m learning how too.

One step.

One breath.

One grape.

🍇

And sometimes…

one beautiful, unapologetic nap.

😴💃

Asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

Unapologetically His. Unapologetically yours.

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: One step. One step. One step. You are loved. You are NOT alone. Keep on being…YOU!