About the Author

Holley Gerth is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, counselor, and life coach. Her newest release is The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You. She's also wife to Mark, Mom to Lovelle, and Nana to Eula and Clem.

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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Holley,
    I have worked myself into a state that work DID begin to hurt. I justified it because I was doing God’s work, but if I remember correctly, God says that our righteous acts are like filthy rags in His sight…Ouch! I’ve just written a post on my blog about being “scared into rest and self care”. That also includes realizing how much I have put my relationship with God and other relationships in my life on the back burner. Sometimes, we need a rude wake up call, allowed by God, in order to get our attention. Putting God first helps all our other relationships and priorities fall into place. Excellent reminder this am.!
    Blessings,
    Bev xx

  2. While I’m sitting here wondering if you have been reading my journal, I’m giving thanks for this message of hope. While I know in my redeemed mind that everything does not depend on me, that God does not value my work over my presence (and neither do my people) I persist in a crazy, demanding approach to work.
    Thanks for motivation to push back from the altar of my desk and to rethink my relationship with productivity.

  3. I’m nodding my head with what both Bev and Michele wrote in their comments. I believe that my achievements matter so much more than they really do. God cares about us more than we ever can, but He knows we are more than the sum of our achievements.

    The reminder today of who I am and whose I am comes at a perfect time. This is where the deep rooted work is occurring in my heart.

  4. Holley,

    This world clamors for more-doing, being, achieving. It states work long, hard hours & you will achieve lots of money & prestige. In the end you will just be a mere shell of yourself worn out with nothing to give anyone. When all is said & done God doesn’t care about money or prestige. He cares more about you! He wants your presence & time. Sure we may be doing “good Christian” things, but God isn’t pleased with busyness. That is just a ploy of the devil. Keeping us so busy we have no time for God, prayer or relationships. Bonnie Gray wrote a book “Spiritual Whitespace”. She talks about putting margin in your life. Purposely making time for family, friends & God. We must remember how much God loves us no matter the effort we exert. We are loved just because of who & whose we are!! He doesn’t like striving & doing to earn stuff. We can’t earn or buy our way into Heaven. All we have to do is believe in Jesus, repent of our sins, be baptized in His name. He simply wants us-our time & attention. Let’s quit out striving & give ourselves permission to have margin in our lives.

    Blessings 🙂

  5. What spoke to me so clearly is when you said that you made the choice to stop working and go listen your husband, but that “everything in you yells ‘You can’t stop!'” I can relate to that so very often, but I needed to hear and recognize today that voice telling me to keeping working or I will fail, isn’t necessarily ever going to go away completely. I think that I see it as a battle that will be won if I could just ‘do better’ and I won’t have to deal with it anymore, but that may never be the case. This will likely be a battle that I will always face in some way, shape or form – and I’ve got to trust and lean into Him for the strength to resist the desire to always choose projects over people because of my fears. Thank you for sharing this part of your life Holley, God knew I needed this today.

  6. Holley, yes and amen! For me, striving is always a flying leap down a rabbit hole. Thanks for encouraging me to ‘be’ more than do. I need that reminder daily!

  7. Holley,
    I just wanted you to know that I read these posts daily, and yours was the first one where I thought to myself, “Now *that* was worth reading.” What a great piece of writing. THANK YOU for sharing your experience. I think so many people can relate to this. (I know I can.) It’s nice to know many of us are on a similar journey, struggling w/ a similar issue. I feel just a bit more connected to others after reading this, and will definitely be reminded of your post going forward in my life.

  8. First reaction; hee! haw! laughing out loud at ‘cold blooded reptilian toad mode’ description, followed by a swift ‘ouch – that’s me!’, my need for repentance + awareness of my need to apologise to my adult children for this tendency + the realisation that THEY do this too! – AND THEY LEARNED IT FROM ME!!

  9. Wow… this is *not* the first time I’ve “stumbled upon” this message (or had it forced in front of me XD) in the last 24 hours. Maybe I should take God’s hint. 🙂 Resting is something I am terrible at.