Friends!! I’m sitting here in light of all the uncertainty happening around us, writing away because I literally can’t help but tell all of my friends, including you, the major shift Ryan and I have made this year that has transformed how we are able to follow & encounter Jesus. So let’s grab a virtual coffee right here and just chat as friends? I can’t keep in any longer how this incredible book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by Pastor John Mark Comer has made us come alive in our awareness of the Lord and what it looks like to be able to follow Jesus in the way He asked us to in Scripture. The way you & I probably aren’t able to fully tap into because of the new norm in which our generation is living.

I don’t know about you, but have you ever stopped long enough to recognize that our new norm is living in a state of constantly being “on”: trying to run faster, do more, keep up with all the things, be more? This new norm of having “constant partial attention”. Ya know it? That feeling of not being able to focus for longer than 8 seconds (literally our generation’s new attention span, down from 13 seconds since the digital age) without feeling the need to check our phones or move on to something else. It’s expecting to hear from God in the same way we instantly get what we want from Google, by just skimming. It’s this feeling of constant restlessness. MAN DO I KNOW THAT FEELING. The pace of America and our generation that seems normal and even necessary until we take a moment to realize that the pace of Jesus was anything but in a hurry or distracted.

& it’s hit me, what is this constant restlessness doing to our souls?!

THAT’S why we’ve made this big shift in our lives. THAT’S why I had to sit down over a virtual coffee & share this with you- especially now as we have the opportunity to either stay distracted with hurry & noise or actually slow down and lean into the Lord. Friend, there is a real girl on the other side of this screen who wants to get in your corner, seriously you reading this, so that YOUR reality can be a rich, sustained spiritual life of maturity and impact instead of shallow Christianity. This is the life Jesus came to give you, but here’s where we come to a fork in the road: spiritual depth in following Jesus is incompatible with living a hurried life. Why?! Because a hurried life results in a hurried soul. And we cannot live at the pace of America, with a hurried soul, and live under the rule of Jesus.

So what if there is more to this life with Jesus?! What if there isn’t a life hack for the soul? But instead the Lord is inviting us into more of Him by taking this ONE STEP- unhurrying our lives and souls.

There’s a quote in this book, parentheses added by me, that just GOT ME. It said, “we are too alive (too restless, addicted & hurried) to die to ourselves, and too dead (too spiritually mediocre) to live in Christ!” WHAT.

Have you ever felt like you’ve just stalled out in your ability to really grow deep into the things of God?

I’m here to tell you, that being a woman of spiritual depth isn’t just for her, it’s for you too. But spiritual depth requires awareness of the spirit of God. And here’s what I’ve learned about living my life with a hurried schedule, mind and soul: hurry has the same effect as sin, it cuts off our mind and body from the ability to l i v e with a living connection to and awareness of the spirit of God.

Friend, the Lord isn’t just interested in you slowing down to let your soul breathe for a few minutes each morning. He wants to transform how you’re able to live in everyday moments so that He can love and lead you continuously. So that a life of NEARNESS with the Father and working from rest in Him is your NEW norm. The norm He actually displayed in the way He lived His life on earth & then said, “follow me”.

HERE’S where it all comes together:

“Come to me, all you who 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.” Matt 11:38-29

[YOKE]: the piece of equipment that tied 2 oxen together, shoulder to shoulder, so they could pull a heavy cart or plow a field. A yoke is the things you do so that you’re able to carry the weight. 

I LOVE watching morning routine Youtube videos, like it’s maybe an obsession we should talk about later… not now ;) haha. But what I love most is seeing what women with the same values as me ACTUALLY DO in their mornings to cultivate a life of intentionality with the Lord. I want to follow what they do so that I can get the same result in my life.

And in Scripture, following Jesus didn’t just mean following His teachings. He wasn’t saying, “hey just follow what I say and you’ll be my disciple. It’s totally cool if you live the rest of your life like everyone around you does, I understand.” He was saying, ‘watch how I live, my pace, and follow my intentional daily practices so you can live with my easy yoke instead of the world’s heavy burden’. Being a disciple of Jesus looks like walking w i t h Jesus, instead of running ahead of Him with constant restlessness.

Some people call these daily practices spiritual disciplines because they are the practices Jesus displayed that allowed Him to have a sustained spiritual life. And I don’t know about you, but I want to take the Lord up on His word that I can live life shoulder to shoulder with Him, working from a place of soul rest instead of burnout. Intention instead of distraction.

You too? Here’s where we have to start:

[abiding]: to remain; a dwelling place. A way of continually remaining in the Lord, and ordering our life around the WAY of Jesus, so that we can slow down and live into what really matters as He did.

This is the life He modeled for us, one of abiding. We are called to be a people of Kingdom culture & the freeing truth is that following Jesus is incompatible with hurry. He wants depth for us that only comes from slowing down & intentionally doing what matters most.

And as Ry & I have been un-hurrying our lives we’ve realized how l i g h t we feel. This freedom that we don’t have to keep up with this “new pace” because true fulfillment is actually found in the intentional pace of Jesus. We feel like we’ve opened up spiritually & emotionally toward each other and the Lord. Open to be more present to our bodies, to the Lord and the job He’s called us to. We are able to hear Him more clearly because we are practicing giving Him our attention. We feel free. The Jesus kind of free. & we so desperately want that for you too. Hurry is the biggest enemy to our spiritual lives & if we want to become people who are deeply aware of & able to make a difference for God- we have to ruthlessly eliminate hurry.

YOU IN??! Here’s how we can go after this together:

1. The “Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” book explains what it means to abide in the Lord throughout your everyday and breaks down 4 of Jesus’ daily practices to un-hurrying.

   So would ya trust me? Go grab your copy and join us in this new way of being. This new way of living that allows us to experience the fullness of Jesus, by eliminating things that steal our awareness of Him.

   
   

2. As you wait for your book to arrive ;), seriously. I wanted to help you get started right now. Because abiding in the Lord begins with being able to give Him our attention.

   It takes practice to live from attention and awareness toward God and the things that matter most. Especailly in a modern world. And it’s a grace-filled process. Giving attention to God is a spiritual discipline where we are creating time and space to access God himself at the deepest level of your being.

   So I wanted to create a Resource for you of the 10 Habits That Help Me Give My Attention to God. I truly pray this empowers you to live from a place of soul rest with your attention instead of constant restlessness.

xo,

Lanissa

** Many phrases & quotes included and written in this post are from “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. **