Just Rest
Receiving God’s Renewing Presence in the Deserts of Your Life: A Study of the Exodus
by Sonja Corbitt
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Pub Date 20 Aug 2021 | Archive Date 14 Oct 2021
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Description
The desert wanderings of the Chosen People—and the spiritual lessons and encouragement they offer to us today—come alive in scripture teacher Sonja Corbitt’s five-week Bible study on the Exodus account.
This dynamic study will help you to apply the spiritual lessons of the Exodus into your own life, identify areas of desolation and need, and better understand God’s greater purposes in times of adversity and dryness. In so doing, you will experience what it means to invite Jesus to nourish your spirit and guide you to the kingdom promised to all who enter into his rest.
Breaking open both the Exodus and overview of it found in Hebrews 3–4, Corbitt shows how the event is also a powerful metaphor for the spiritual life: everything we need—spiritual, emotional, and physical rest and replenishment—is found not at the end of our journey but in the desert itself. .Everything God desires for us may be found in the “Dew of Heaven,” Jesus.
Corbitt reveals that the heavenly sustenance God provided to the Chosen People in the desert is available to us today if we open ourselves to it. Whatever your questions, you will find the answers you seek as you come to understand how God delivered the Chosen People from their waywardness and blessed them with everything they needed to reach the Promised Land. And he will do the same for us if we ask.
Each of the five chapters of this study explores a different facet of the desert experience:
· rest in the wandering—God’s ways are desert ways: entering the desert;
· thoughts at rest: testing in the desert;
· emotions at rest: conquering the desert;
· body and spirit at rest: emerging from the desert; and
· the blessings of rest: entering the Promised Land.
Each chapter contains summary points, an invitation to respond, and Corbitt’s LOVE the Word lectio exercises.
A Note From the Publisher
Corbitt is the host of Evangelista Bible Study on CatholicTV and the Bible Study Evangelista Show on radio and podcast. She is in formation as a Third Order Carmelite. Corbitt is a columnist at The Great Adventure Bible Study blog and a contributor to Magnificat.
A Carolina native who was raised as a Southern Baptist, Corbitt attended Mitchell College and the Southern Baptist Seminary Extension before converting to Catholicism. She has since served as director of religious education at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Gallatin, Tennessee, and as executive director of Risen Radio in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Advance Praise
“Embracing the story of the Exodus—but with a refreshing twist—Sonja Corbitt leads the reader through the strenuous desert journey with the children of Israel, showing how God dwelt with his people and cared for their every need, desiring for them to rest in his love. Using engaging personal stories, Sonja invites us to pray the scriptures as she tenderly guides us through the deserts of our own lives, taking us through dryness and desolation to a springtime of spirituality. Like the dewfall, Just Rest gently nourishes the driest of souls. A must-read for anyone who could use a little spiritual spa time!”
Kelly Wahlquist
Founder of WINE: Women In the New Evangelization
“The human person has a habit of avoiding two things: suffering and rest. Sonja Corbitt does a beautiful job of not only giving us a new way of understanding these things but also bringing them together in order to find joy, fullness of life, and intimacy with Christ. This book is a must for anyone who has faced or is now finding themselves in the desert. Corbitt teaches us that the Exodus wasn’t long ago but is here and now, a true gift for all of us.”
Rachel Bulman
Contributor to Word on Fire Catholic Ministries
and cohost of School of Humanity podcast
“Having picked up Just Rest in a time of busyness and burnout, I was struck to the depths of my heart. With her usual biblical insight, Corbitt lays out why spiritual rest is more than just taking a break and invited me into the desert with her to find it. I left the book feeling renewed, refreshed, and ready to trust the God who leads his people out of bondage into the Promised Land.”
Shannon Schmidt
Cohost of the Plaid Skirts and Basic Black podcast
“Sonja Corbitt uses interpretations of quantum mechanics to provide a solid base for advice on how to engage with Catholic spirituality and to help us see how the science fits into our picture of the world. Often when I read a book I like very much, I think, ‘I wish I had written that.’ I’m sure I could not have written Just Rest, but I’m very glad I read it.”
Robert Kurland
Writer for the Magis Center for Faith and Reason
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781646800865 |
| PRICE | US$16.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Maria G, Reviewer
Just Rest: Receiving God's Renewing Presence in the Deserts of Your Life is a welcomed addition to the studies of the Biblical Book of Exodus.
Author Sonja Corbitt has created a highly-relatable work that speaks to our inherent need for rest and renewal in our lives.
As Corbitt wisely notes, "Rest is not a luxury; it is a spiritual discipline. It is a gift."
The writer convincingly uses examples from her own life to demonstrate the need to observe regular times of physical and emotional rest in order to be spiritually refreshed. In this way, Corbitt makes the Book of Exodus highly accessible to a modern audience.
In our hectic, overly-committed lives, Just Rest is the perfect spiritual antidote to what is ailing us as individuals and as a society.
Lisa S, Reviewer
When Sonja Corbitt first began writing, she went through a desert of despair, receiving rejection after rejection, and getting completely tangled up in her emotions. She felt that God wasn't listening, but eventually after praying and receiving answers, she discovered that she was suffering from her father's treatment of her. She compares this emotional desert with the one that the Israelites went through to get to the Promised Land and the desert that most of us have to endure at some time.
This is a powerful story about conversion, grace and healing. I found the parts about controlling emotions and the importance of forgiveness especially helpful. Sonja includes summaries and spiritual guidance at the end of each chapter. It's a book that needs to be read a few times intently.
I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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