Self-Care is Essential for the Soul 

Sometimes my soul craves nourishment and restoration on the deepest level, yet I lack the energy or motivation to do anything about it. The honor and obligations of being a child of Christ, wife, mamma, daughter, caregiver, friend, and teacher are forever present. Most days, I feel exhausted and depleted. I have tried putting a few of the latest trendy self-care activities into place but I haven’t seen the results I expect. Sometimes I even feel guilty for taking time for myself. Why? Perhaps it is because I have been searching for an external solution to an internal problem. I can’t provide the nourishment nor find the restoration I need by myself. I must embrace the fact that self-care is essential for the soul and that TRUE self-care can only be biblical self-care.

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Let’s Find the Solution

Do you feel depleted? Are you are feeling that your soul needs nourishment and restoration? Do you need guidance and support to find solutions? If you answered yes, then this invitation is for you. Join me as I dive into the Word and discover the biblical principles for self-care. Through His word and the sharing of tools and strategies, my mission is to empower you to craft a simple, wholesome and favored life while drawing closer to God through self-care. Self-care is essential for our soul. Who’s with me?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burdened light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

What is Self-Care?

According to medical and mental health professionals, self-care can be any activity that we do in order to take care of ourselves. Doctors have been encouraging patients to make healthy lifestyle choices to help with stress and chronic conditions for ages. Some lifestyle choices are easy to put into place, but others take too much effort and perseverance. Unfortunately, diets fail, and gym memberships get dusty because it is easier to default back to old habits than to push through. Because of the lack of effort and perseverance, people have turned to other activities to achieve improved health. Focus has shifted from physical health to emotional fulfillment. As a result, the idea of self-care has become distorted. We have allowed cultural trends in self-care to influence how we define self-care.

What is Cultural Self-Care?

The trend in cultural self-care is grounded in the idea that we should think of SELF first. Culture wants us to think that it’s popular to be busy however, busy does not equal productive and busy can sometimes and oftentimes lead to weary, tired, wired and exhausted people. Because of this, cultural self-care encourages us to find nourishment and restoration by participating in activities that promise to give us peace and balance in mind, body, spirit and soul. The trend seems to be that if “self” is rested and happy, then everything is good. Putting “self” first and believing that we have the power to do this is stepping into dangerous territory thus giving Satan an opportunity to distract us which causes us to stumble on our walk with Jesus. We must be careful sisters! Let’s use discernment and stop Satan in his tracks.

What is Biblical Self-Care?

Biblical self-care does not look like cultural self-care. Although the bible does not give us specific directions for self-care, it is woven throughout the bible. Biblical self-care is more of a balance in mind, body, spirit, and soul, consisting of spiritual practices that put God in the center of our life. We embrace the fact that God is in control and we humbly rest in God for nourishment and restoration.

How do we Discern?

It is important to use discernment to keep from getting caught up in the sensationalism of cultural self-care. How do we take care of ourselves without falling victim to Satan’s lies? How can we keep our perception of self-care from becoming distorted? Who is self-care for anyway? How do we practice self-care without having feelings of guilt or selfishness?  The answer is in God’s word. As Christian women, self-care is essential for our souls. That is, biblical self-care. As we continue, we will discover what the Word had to reveal to us about self-care.

In order to discern, let’s put things into perspective. To do this, we must identify who we are in Christ and how we view self. The cultural view of self is all about “me.” The idea is that self can fix it alone, and if self can’t then self will ignore it or run away from it. The biblical view of self is rooted in the TRUTH. As disciples of Christ, our views turn from self to focusing on our relationship with God. As Christians, we commit and surrender to living our life with purpose and we accept that God is in control. When we focus on living our life with purpose, we keep our eyes on our savior. We can find nourishment and restoration for our soul in his never-ending grace.

Digging Deeper

As we study our bible, we will focus on the biblical view of self and how it relates to self-care. We will discover tools and strategies to put into place to assist us on our journey.

• Denying Self
• Seeing Yourself as God Sees You
• Caring for the Temple
• Bearing Fruit
• Resting in God’s Love
• Eternal Focus

Wrapping it Up

As you can see, it is important to discern when being faced with cultural trends in self-care. I am excited you are on this journey with me. I pray your time here will offer encouragement, support and allow you to practice biblical self-care. Biblical self-care is grounded in the truth and gives us the guidance to receive nourishment and achieve restoration so that we can become the best versions of ourselves while fulfilling our purpose! Biblical self-care is essential for our soul!

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