Sometimes we all need a big red button to push when we’re overwhelmed by life. Slam our palms down and bam! A day or two (sometimes longer) in which we can rest, take time for ourselves, and spend time with God.

When we don’t have that time, when we don’t allow ourselves a break from our lives, we begin to internalize stress. It builds over time and eventually we implode. Or explode.

I did both recently. I had a mental breakdown because I wasn’t being good to myself. I felt I was no longer worth it.

But I am worth it. And so are you.

Even God had a Sabbath: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2, NLT).

God worked hard, so he took the next day off. He gave himself a break. There’s a reason God tells us to keep the Sabbath. It isn’t just so that we can spend time in his presence, a refresher for our souls.

It’s so that we can rest our whole being.

We need to take a break from the daily rush and breathe!

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-10, NIV).

I think of the Sabbath as our “BRB: Big Red Button.”  When I need a day to myself, I let others know I’ve hit my BRB and I’ll get back to them later. I take my God-given rest.

Switch off the phone.

Turn off the email.

Disconnect from the world and just do things that relax me. I exercise, listen to music, read that pile of books I’ve been meaning to finish for a year now. And once in a while I actually finish a knitting project.

Life is what happens when we slow down and breathe. Not everything needs to be done at a breakneck pace. Trust God to handle the big and the painful, as well as the small details. He’s got your life. Let him be in control.

Hit your Big Red Button and give yourself a break now and then.

Take your Sabbath-rest.

You’re worth it!