Slowing Down and Making Space for Rest

Winter Column | With each season of the year, you will likely encounter different challenges. Through each season, you have an opportunity to slow down and make space for rest—rest that rejuvenates, renews, and restores your soul, mind, body, and spirit.

By Danielle Roberts, as published in Gritty Faith: Wild (c) Purpose + Grit, LLC 2025

As I step outside my house in Honolulu, the sweet perfume of the plumeria flowers greets me. The dim lights in my dark neighborhood guide me as I walk past quiet houses, everyone tucked in for the night. I breathe in a deep breath, filling my lungs with the evening air. Standing on the bridge, I stare as the stars fill the twilight. My mind turns to my sweet toddlers at home under the loving eye of my husband, and the baby I’m growing inside, the list of things waiting for me, my college class writing assignment waiting.

The winter days on the island, while still warm, are dark. The darkness consumes a majority of the day and limits time outside. The physical darkness has created an inner darkness–a clinging depression. The gloom grabs my heart, leading me down paths I don’t want to walk. While this inner darkness and turmoil aren’t new, being on an isolated island away from support is.

I settle down, sitting cross-legged on the cold cement of the bridge, and the moon and stars watch over me. A car slowly drives under the bridge, making its way to the military base. I start to pray aloud, the night’s gentle breeze carrying my words toward the ocean.

Murmuring into the night, I pray for help, for guidance, for purpose. I thank God for being present and getting me through this season. For being the light I need at this time.

As a teen, my life verse was Matthew 5:14–16, where Jesus encourages, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (ESV). The world is dark. I’m experiencing personal darkness, but that doesn’t stop Jesus’s light from shining through me. 

I need Jesus. I need to know Him, to take time, and rest in Him. Dwelling with my Father God. Soaking up His love and light, so that He can shine through me.

In the same way I’m experiencing the obscure void, others are too. I have Jesus. In the midst of the dark box I feel trapped in, there’s a pinhole of Jesus’s light glimmering through, saving me from being swallowed in the abyss. Maybe others don’t have that, and I can be Jesus to them.

Like the physical darkness, I feel the weight of the spiritual darkness. Isaiah 9:2 speaks of the coming birth of Jesus: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (ESV). Jesus is the light of the world that each person needs for eternal life. 

I snuggle deeper into my sweatshirt, my fingers becoming chilled. My prayers shift to those I work and live with. Fellow sailors in need of Jesus–how can I share Jesus with them? How can I share Jesus with our close friends who desperately need Him? Our sweet babies need Him, too. “Lord, will You let Your light shine through my weak and weary body? Please help me to love like You and be Your light shining through darkness. You are the way, the truth, and the life, Lord. They need You to break through their spiritual darkness. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.”

As I head home, I have a renewed determination to brighten this bleak time. I get up, pensively, and I quietly turn to head home to work, curled up on our couch with a cozy blanket, and I pause. This winter season has been focused on family, work, and school–repetitive, putting one foot in front of the other.

The thought spurs me on. I need more of this quiet time with Jesus. I need to turn to Him as I deal with daily decisions and life’s demands. As I live in a spiritually dark world, I want to be more intentional about my downtime. Some days I’m an empty shell, drudging through, but here and now, I feel the Holy Spirit. Even after a long, hard day of work and motherhood, I’m refreshed. As I spend time with Him, I am resting.

How to rest this season:

• Schedule time for physical rest.

• Take a day (or longer) without social media for emotional and mental rest.

• Be in God’s Word and pray on a regular basis, dwelling with Jesus. 

• Create quiet time for listening to what God’s whispering to you. That could look like quiet showers, no radio or podcasts during a drive, or a quiet walk.

• Who in your life needs Jesus? Pray for them.