As moms, we know we need rest. We usually equate rest with sleep or with a vacation, but this week’s guest shares a broader picture of our need for rest in multiple areas of our lives.

Saundra Dalton-Smith is a medical doctor, wife and mother to two boys. She had everything she’d dreamed of and worked hard to achieve, but wasn’t enjoying it.

I kept pushing and pushing myself till I got to the point where I literally burned out. I wasn’t happy with my job. I couldn’t see how my marriage would survive. I didn’t want my kids anymore. I was just at the end of myself. I didn’t want the life I created.

After reaching this breaking point, she went on a journey of restoration and healing where she learned to connect with God and with his plan for rest. Now she shares her research and methods with her patients and with all of us. If you’ve ever felt tired and at the end of yourself, this episode is for you.

We already have permission to rest, but the mommy guilt that sometimes comes tells us we don’t. That is really a lie. I look at it as the John 10:10. ‘The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.’ And he’s doing it to a lot of us through our inability to rest, our inability to trust God that when we lay things down that he is able to uphold them.

What we chat about:

• When Saundra reached her breaking point from stress and lack of true rest
• We have physical limits to what we can do as moms
• How Saundra researched rest and looked at scripture for clarity on how God rested
• The seven types of rest: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, social, sensory and creative.
• The difference between a vacation and resting
• Paying attention to a place that feels painful in your body in the moment vs ignoring it
• Finding emotional rest through connection with friends, even through video chat if getting together is impossible
• The importance of authentic, open friendships with women who can relate to your life situation
• Ideas on how to stay engaged with your husband and reignite your marriage
• Putting limits on social media time so that your mind has down time
• Tips for getting mental rest and release ideas that make your mind race
• Sensory rest– what it is and ways to get it
• It is not selfish to prioritize resting. It keeps you from having a toxic reaction to those around you.

Links Mentioned:

• Marco Polo App–way to socially connect
• Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith**
• Adventures in Odyssey Club–hundreds of episodes
• Rest Quiz Online

**Amazon affiliate link