Finding rest in God every day.

As I write this, I am sitting on the verandah of a farmhouse built in 1915. The breeze is chilly, but I am rugged up and the sun occasionally breaks through the clouds. A couple of birds engage in a noisy game of chasey in a nearby tree. I haven’t seen a car for hours. I am surrounded by fields of green crops just peeping above the surface, encouraged by this year’s rains. It’s not just that I am resting. I feel completely rested.

But it’s not always a practical solution to drive out to the farm and stay for a few days. This feeling of being rested should be transferable to real life, even in the midst of daily routines and struggles. Rest needs to be something I can carry with me as much as something I do.

Matthew 11:28-30 tells us that we find rest in Jesus as we come to him, walk with him, and learn from him. Is that the answer?  I think that it is. We can implement routines for rest, create habits to help us, and set reminders to rest and work well. That’s still not the same as feeling completely rested. That feeling comes from surrender. It comes from total trust that even when things feel out of control, God is in control. 

Being rested and working from a place of rest starts with an acknowledgment that God is our place of rest. Then we can navigate work, life, family, and relationships from a posture of peace, even in the hard times.

Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.

About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. On her blog ‘Moments to Rest’, she shares about rest, faith, and family.

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Between work, family and endless distractions, life can feel louder than ever.

Many people are searching for peace in a busy world. And between work, family responsibilities and endless distractions, life can feel louder than ever. We are carrying heavy schedules, tired hearts and minds that never seem to switch off. In Australia, burnout has become a common experience for workers and families alike, especially among younger adults and parents.

That is why the heart behind Band Reeves’ music feels so timely.

Brothers Jeramy and Cody Reeves shared the story behind their new EP My Country, along with the faith, family life and personal surrender that shaped their songs. The East Texas duo are pastor’s kids, family men, and working musicians whose music blends country storytelling with an unapologetic love for Jesus. Their official bio describes them as brothers from East Texas and third-generation construction workers, now signed with Centricity Music and sharing faith-filled country songs shaped by real life.

What comes through most clearly is not just their sound. It is their conviction that Jesus is not an accessory to life. He is life itself.

Finding Peace in a Busy World

One of the clearest themes in the interview was the meaning behind the title track, “My Country.” For Jeramy and Cody, this is not about making country music with a vague spiritual flavour. It is country music that is openly, clearly and joyfully about Jesus.

In a world where many people are still searching for peace in a busy world, there is something genuine and refreshing about believers who are not trying to blur the edges. Band Reeves are not presenting a polished faith for appearances. They are singing about the Lord they love and the grace that has met them in ordinary life.

That matters because so many people today are not looking for more noise. They are longing for truth they can build a life on. They want peace that lasts longer than a passing mood. They want hope that can hold steady when marriage feels strained, when family life is full, when work is exhausting, or when the future feels uncertain.

Jesus speaks into all of that. He does not only meet us in a church service on Sunday. He meets us in the ute on the way to work, at the kitchen sink, in the school drop-off line and in the quiet moments before the house wakes up.

Why Spending Time With God Matters

One of the most beautiful moments came as Jeramy explained the heart behind “Front Porch Church.” With a large family, touring commitments, day jobs and the good kind of noise that comes with raising children, he spoke about the importance of getting alone with God before the day takes hold.

It is such a simple image. A front porch. A cup of coffee. A Bible. A few quiet moments with Jesus before the demands begin.

And that might be exactly why it’s so relatable.

The official audio video for “Front Porch Church” captures this same picture, with lyrics about early morning quiet, reading from “the good Book,” and getting your head on straight before the day runs fast.

There is pastoral wisdom in that image. We do not need a perfect setting to meet with God. We do not need a flawless routine or an impressive spiritual life. We just need to turn toward Him.

For many of us, the battle is not that we do not love God. It is that our lives have become so cluttered that we struggle to hear Him. “Front Porch Church” is a gentle reminder that intimacy with Jesus is not built in the rush. It is built in returning.

When You Reach the End of Yourself

Jeramy also shared a powerful part of his testimony. Though he and Cody grew up around church and ministry, there came a point when what he knew about God had to become personal. In the middle of inner chaos, loneliness, anger and a marriage under strain, he came face to face with a truth many of us eventually discover. We cannot save ourselves.

That is often the turning point of grace.

We spend so much energy trying to manage our image, improve our habits, silence our shame, or hold our lives together by sheer effort. But eventually we reach the end of ourselves. And sometimes that painful moment becomes the very place where Jesus meets us most tenderly.

Jeramy described how every path he took trying to find answers outside God eventually circled back to Jesus. The heart may wander down many roads, but real life is only ever found in Christ.

His story echoes the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, that we must be born again. Not mildly improved. Not spiritually adjusted. Made new.

That is still the miracle Jesus offers today.

Jesus is the Source of Lasting Peace

Cody’s story carries the same heartbeat. He spoke about the chaos of life before fully surrendering to the Lord and the peace that came after giving his life to Jesus. That is the message behind another track on the EP, “If I Didn’t Have You.” It is a song shaped by the honest realisation that life without Christ is hollow, no matter what else fills the space.

That is not a harsh message. It is a hopeful one.

Because if Jesus really is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, then no one is too far gone, too tired, too distracted or too disappointed to come back to Him.

Beneath the country sound, beneath the family stories and beneath the testimony, there is one clear invitation. Pursue Jesus with all your heart.

Not because He wants a religious performance from you. But because He is the only one who can give you what your soul has been looking for all along. If life has felt loud lately, maybe your next step is not to strive harder.  Maybe it is to sit quietly with the Lord, open His Word, and let Him meet you there.

He still does that. We can still find peace in a busy world through Jesus.

Article supplied with thanks to Vision Christian Media – a non-profit, follower-funded Christian media ministry taking God’s Word to every corner of Australia and beyond through broadcast, online and print media.

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What if financial peace had nothing to do with how much you earn?

If you’re an Australian staring at your latest electricity bill, wondering how you’ll stretch the grocery money until payday, or lying awake at night calculating whether the next mortgage repayment or rent increase will finally break the budget, then you need to keep reading. If the headlines about rising rents, food prices jumping and electricity costs soaring have left you feeling trapped in a cycle of impossible life choices, this message is for you.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data confirms what every household already feels in their wallet. In the year to the December 2025 quarter, living costs rose for every type of household—between 2.3 per cent for employee households and a punishing 4.2 per cent for those relying on government payments. Housing and food, the two expenses you cannot escape, led the charge. Electricity prices rose sharply after state rebates ended. Rents climbed 3.9 per cent. Meat rose 4.4 per cent. Fruit and vegetables increased 4 per cent after Queensland’s extreme weather. Even recreation jumped as much as 24.4 per cent for international trips. Then, just recently, the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 3.85 per cent in February 2026, then to 4.1 per cent in March. By the time you read this article, who knows how much higher it will be.

Worry begins the moment we forget who really owns it all

The numbers are real. The pressure is relentless. Yet there is a better, worry-free way through this crisis—one that does not depend on another rate cut, a pay rise or an unexpected gift. It depends on a single, liberating truth that has sustained people through every economic storm in history.

Think of biblical figure Job. One day he was a wealthy landowner with 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 1000 oxen and 500 donkeys. The next day he owned nothing. His entire livelihood vanished in moments. Most of us would have crumbled. But Job looked at the ruins and said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). How was this possible? Because Job never considered any of it his own. He understood he was simply the manager, not the owner. What he “lost” was never his to begin with.

That same truth applies to every person facing today’s cost-of-living squeeze. God’s Word is crystal clear: “For we brought nothing into this world, and we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7). Nothing. Not your three-bedroom home in suburban Sydney, not your investment property, not your superannuation balance. You entered the world with empty hands; you will leave the same way. Everything you touch is on loan.

This is not a depressing thought, it is the most freeing realisation you will ever have. When you stop pretending you are the owner, the pressure to protect, increase and worry about “your” possessions evaporates. You step out of the exhausting role of owner and back into the lighter, God-designed role of manager. A manager has restrictions, yes, but also total security. The owner (God) carries the ultimate responsibility. Your job is simply to manage what has been entrusted to you.

The moment we forget this and start acting like owners, worry floods in. We obsess over the next electricity bill as it rises. We lie awake calculating whether the 3.9 per cent rent increase will force us to skip food. We check the super statement and feel sick at every dip. We scan grocery prices and wonder how the family will eat. All of this anxiety is unnecessary once you remember the relationship: God is the owner; you are the manager. His problem is to provide; your privilege is to trust.

Jesus was emphatic on this point

In Matthew 6 He repeats the command three times in quick succession: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink” (v25); “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (v31); and “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” (v34). He points to the lilies of the field that neither labour nor spin yet are clothed more beautifully than King Solomon. If God dresses the grass of the paddock, how much more will He care for the family in a rental unit in Melbourne or the pensioner in Brisbane?

The cost-of-living crisis makes Jesus’ words even more relevant. Those on government payments, the very households the ABS shows facing the steepest 4.2 per cent rise, are often the ones society writes off as “dependent”. Yet in God’s economy, dependence is not weakness; it is the doorway to freedom. When you place your faith in God as your partner at all times and under all circumstances, you discover the freedom of dependence. It sounds contradictory, freedom and dependence, but it is the secret Job knew and the secret that can carry you through Australia’s current crisis.

“I am the manager, not the owner”

Picture a single mother in Western Sydney who has just received the new mortgage statement after the recent rate rise. The numbers look impossible. Or the retiree in Adelaide watching the grocery trolley shrink because the cost of fruit and vegetables has risen. Their first instinct is to grip tighter, to worry harder, to cut deeper. But the moment they release the grip and remember “I am the manager, not the owner”, something supernatural happens. They begin to experience the exhilaration of knowing the outcome is not on their shoulders. God’s interests become theirs. They start asking different questions: “Lord, how do You want me to manage this electricity bill? Show me creative ways to steward what You have given.” And provision comes, sometimes through unexpected gifts or income, sometimes through community, sometimes through opportunities no spreadsheet could predict.

This is not pie-in-the-sky optimism. It is the practical outworking of recognising divine ownership. Every household, whether wage earner, pensioner or self-funded retiree, can step into the same freedom. The owner does not differentiate between account types; He simply provides for the needs of His managers.

The blessings that flow from this mindset cannot be measured in cents per kilowatt-hour. There is a release inside you that is genuinely liberating. The constant background hum of financial stress disappears. You sleep better. You enjoy the simple things again—Sunday lunch with the family, even if the lamb costs more. You become more generous because you are no longer guarding “your” resources. You discover you are becoming the person God always intended: calm, creative, content and far more effective as a steward than you ever were as a frantic owner.

The crisis does not have the final word

The current cost-of-living crisis is real and painful. The ABS data proves it. The Reserve Bank’s decision will add further pressure on housing costs that already dominate budgets. But the crisis does not have the final word. Job’s story did not end in the loss; it ended in restoration and deeper relationship with the true Owner. Your story can follow the same pattern.

If the electricity bill, the rent notice or the grocery receipt has you feeling anxious or stressed, if making ends meet feels like an impossible task right now, then take hold of God’s better, worry-free way. Recognise that you own nothing and that everything is on loan from a generous Father who delights to provide. Step fully into the role of manager under His direction. Embrace the freedom of dependence.

You have nothing to lose because none of it was yours to begin with. And when you live from that truth, the cost-of-living crisis loses its power to steal your peace. God is still in control. Your daily needs will still be supplied. The exhilaration of care-free living in the middle of Australia’s toughest economic stretch is available to you today.

The better, worry-free way is not a theory. It is a tested, proven path walked by Job and countless others through every financial storm. It is waiting for you right now. All it requires is the simple, courageous decision to hand the ownership back to the One who has always held it.

Article supplied with thanks to Signs of the Times

Dr Ken Long is a business consultant and Christian writer. He has authored The Giving Equation, The Model Steward Canvas and The Model Steward Canvas Workbook.

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I have been thinking I need to cut back on coffee. I haven’t been sleeping well and feel better when I watch my caffeine intake.

It’s Not Just About the Coffee

It is a no-brainer; just drink less. But I can’t quite do it. I really want to find a substitute. Tea? Well, that gives me heartburn. Milo? Full of sugar. Drinking chocolate? Back to the sugar problem. Then I go around in circles, having not solved my problem, generally with a cup of coffee in hand.

I wanted to figure out why this was such a thing for me. My sleep significantly improves, and my health is better when I do not drink excessive amounts of caffeine. Stop drinking coffee and drink water instead. Easy right? It suddenly occurred to me that it’s not about the coffee.

The Pause That Matters

It’s about the experience. The smell triggers associations in my mind with taking time out of my day. There is something about taking the first sip of a hot coffee that I associate with just letting the world stop for a second. I love just breathing in, with my hands around the mug, watching the steam rise. I know that coffee means pausing in the middle of a chaotic workday. In that moment, I don’t have to solve it all.

In Sweden, there is a term for this. The word is Fika. Fika functions as both a verb and a noun for the Swedes. It is about slowing down and taking a break from your work. It’s not just about having a coffee but the whole experience of making time to take a break. Fika is ingrained in Swedish culture; you can take it with friends or alone, and it generally involves some baked goods. More than anything, Fika is intentional, purposeful, and a restful pause in the day.

It’s not the coffee I need, it’s the whole experience. The small, purposeful moments of pausing in my day are restful in the middle of chaos. I may need to embrace something completely new as part of the experience because it’s not just about the coffee.

Do you have a routine for taking small moments to rest in your day?

Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.

About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. On her blog ‘Moments to Rest’, she shares about rest, faith, and family.

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We live in a world full of restlessness, fear, and instability. Yet, as Christians, Jesus offers us peace amidst it all. As Christians, not only do we have access to this peace, but we are also called to reflect it to others who are longing for stability and hope in a chaotic world.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Peace is one of the greatest gifts God gave to mankind. And it’s a gift we can share with those around us who are searching for meaning and rest. Yet, often we can feel far from peace. So how do we as Christians live from the place of peace that Jesus describes? Erwin McManus illustrates it well when he speaks about worship, and how genuine worship can create a shift of responsibility in our thinking.

When we are feeling overwhelmed by life, feeling the stress, anxiety, and the despair, McManus says it’s because we have taken on responsibility for things that we do not have the power to carry. So how do we shift the burden and draw on the peace Jesus offers?

Let it Go

Erwin explains when we take on the stressors it’s like we pitch a horizontal roof over our life. When the rain falls, it gets heavy and our roof collapses. Yet, if we shift our roof to be more vertical, aka, connect with God. It causes the rain to pour off to the side and water all the fields around it, growing a harvest that eventually bears fruit. When we live from a place of peace, it becomes evident to those around us. Our lives can spark curiosity and open doors for conversations about the source of our peace—Jesus.

Re-align

Worshipping God teaches our soul to shift our roof vertically. This helps us to re-align our internal narrative too, “This is bigger than me. This is not mine to bear. I’m going to give it to God.” which can provide a sense of peace even in the chaos. As you re-align and experience God’s peace, consider how you can gently point others to Him through your own example and words.

Practice

When the stressors of life start to take over your peace, practice the art of refining your soul worship so that when the rain comes, you can continue to be peacemakers who create fruit within the storm.

In practicing the art of resting in God’s peace, we not only nurture our own souls but also demonstrate to others the hope and security found in Jesus.

Who in your life might benefit from hearing about the peace that Jesus offers?

How are you practicing the art of resting in God’s peace in this season?

Article supplied with thanks to yesHEis.

About the Author: yesHEis provides various resources to help share your faith in relatable ways.

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