What a week it has been! I don't know what your week has looked like, but mine has certainly been busy, demanding, and challenging on so many different levels. There have been responsibilities, decisions, conversations, and moments when I needed to remind myself to simply trust God.

Some of us have traveled many miles this week. Others have traveled through some difficult emotional and spiritual places without ever leaving home. But here we are. And I can't help but give God the praise, the glory, and the honor.

Not everyone who began this week has lived to see its end. Some families are grieving. Others are facing unexpected challenges. And some of us are simply thankful that we made it through another week.

As I thought about welcoming the Sabbath, my mind went to the children of Israel traveling through the wilderness. Can you imagine what those days must have been like? The uncertainty of where they were going, the challenges of traveling together, the complaints, the hunger, and the questions about what tomorrow would bring. 

Yet in the middle of that wilderness experience, God was providing for them. Exodus 16 tells us that God gave them manna each morning. Then something interesting happened on the sixth day. God instructed them to gather twice as much because the following day would be a day of rest.

I love that! God didn't wait until they reached the Promised Land to offer them rest. He gave them the Sabbath while they were still traveling through the wilderness. And isn't that something worth thinking about?

Sometimes I approach the Sabbath with the weight of the entire week still on my shoulders. My body may be ready to rest, but my thoughts are still moving from one responsibility to another. Perhaps you've experienced that too. We may have made it through the week, but have we allowed ourselves to release it?

The Israelites still had a journey ahead of them. There were challenges they had not resolved and lessons they had not yet learned. But God invited them to stop, trust His provision, and rest.

That speaks to me. Because this week, I know there were things God protected me from that I never saw. There were moments when His presence was greater than my awareness of it. And there were probably times when I was so focused on the challenges that I overlooked His blessings.

As the Sabbath approaches, I want to change that. I want to reset my thoughts, settle my emotions, and prepare my heart to worship. I don't want to enter God's presence still carrying every frustration, disappointment, or unfinished responsibility as though everything depends on me. The same God who sustained me through this week will still be God when I stop to rest.

So tonight, I am not coming before Him because everything went perfectly. I am coming because He has been faithful. We made it through, Lord. And now, just as You invited Israel to rest in the wilderness, You invite us to enter Your Sabbath rest. What a beautiful reminder that we don't have to finish every journey before we can rest in God's presence.

Pearl's Prayer:

Father, thank You for carrying us through another week. Thank You for the things we saw and the things we never knew You protected us from. As we look back, help us recognize Your presence in the middle of our challenges. Forgive us for the moments when we were so consumed by our circumstances that we overlooked Your faithfulness.

As we welcome the Sabbath, prepare our hearts. Reset our thoughts, quiet our emotions, and help us release the burdens of the week. Just as You provided for Your children in the wilderness, remind us that Your provision has not stopped.

May we enter Your presence with gratitude, humility, reverence, and expectation. We made it through, Father. And we are here to give You the praise, the glory, and the honor. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I am the Vessel, God is the Grace.