I can relate to Jesus’ remarks today: “[I] have nowhere to rest [my] head,” but maybe not in the precise way Jesus imaged. I, like many, am prone to filling up my calendar and life with every activity, task, and responsibility. With our busyness and responsibilities, there’s always more to be done.

When my husband, Will, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma in November 2022, I truly felt that there was no place in which I could find rest. At times, that was because we were busy – doctor’s appointments, scans, treatment plans, and Google searches for answers. But a lot of the time, it wasn’t because we had stuff to do. The internal unrest that unraveled forcefully within me shook me to my core: how could I possibly handle this? There was “nowhere to rest my head.” Trying to sleep or relax, even pray, made my feelings of panic, despair, and sadness even more difficult to bear.

It’s remarkable that as people of faith, God finds ways to remind us that God’s there amidst the toughness of life. My marriage is the most profound example of this in my life: something can and something will endure beyond the joys and pains of today. As my husband and I faced the reality of life and death up close, I witnessed my husband find a sense of peace in the journey ahead, placing Jesus at the very center of it and finding rest in the most restless and harrowing time in his life.

We are so blessed that Will is now over a year in remission; I know that is not everyone’s story. And being without disease doesn’t mean that every day is now wonderful or that every day then was so bad. The greatest message that remains with me is not that every story should end in a miraculous healing. It’s to work hard every single day to trust in God, no matter what that day holds. To find that deep, real rest that we all yearn for in the arms of Christ.