Discover Intentional Rest and Your True Self

A Quest for Intentional Rest

Michelle DeRusha takes on one of modern society’s biggest lies in her latest book—the badge of busyness. “Part of our need to be busy and productive comes from our desire to be valued and known,” she says. “If we are busy, we must be needed, and if we are needed, we must be important.” But wearing the busyness badge just makes us feel even more harried and worn out—when in reality, we need to seek intentional rest.

On her quest to find the antidote to busyness, DeRusha takes the reader along on a soul-searching journey. Using the metaphor of a tree, she shows how easily we let life turn us into a jungle of lists and things and striving. Like sucker shoots, all the things take energy from our true selves until we lose sight of our true identity—children of a loving Father.

We forget that God values us and knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. When we take time for intentional rest, we allow the Master Gardner to prune and shape us. Pruning and shaping might not feel comfortable at the time.  But when we ask God to do the work in us, we discover that his plan exceeds our wildest expectations. By scheduling intentional rest into our daily routine, we make room for God’s plans and shape for our lives to take root. We allow him to gently train us in the way we should go.

DeRusha combines her journalist’s skills with her memoirist’s eye to create the perfect combination of research and story. Each chapter ends with study questions that take the reader deeper into the quest of letting go and discovering the person God created.

This Book is For You If…

If you’re a busy person—the kind that constantly strives and secretly takes pride in having a full schedule—this book is for you. Our culture has built up the cult of busyness to unhealthy heights, and this book serves as a wake-up call to step away from the pyre.

If you feel empty, no matter how much you accomplish, this book is for you. You’ll discover a better way to live. A way that doesn’t include submitting to a never-ending to-do list, but instead includes submitting to a never-ending God.

Readers who enjoy Jennifer Dukes Lee’s book It’s All Under Control will enjoy this book.

I receive free electronic advanced reader copies of these books through an arrangement between the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion on NetGalley’s website. I only review books on my blog that I really love.