Welcome to Sabbath & Shalom
Hello there! My name is Natasha. I am so honored to share this journey with you. It has been quite a while since I shared my writing with the world. I published my second book, REIGNITE, in 2018, but I have only been writing academically since then (with a guest blog or interview here and there). There is something about life that takes us on journeys we least expect. Journeys that take us away from what we are used to, but are so good for our soul. This is exactly my story. This blog is an overflow of my last five years. Like you, I have experienced highs and lows. Both of which came to define and refine me.
Like a beautiful flower, my life has unraveled in ways that I probably will not understand for some time. The dichotomy of that unraveling is that it has allowed things in my life to die that were not producing life, or no longer benefited me. And out of that unraveling has come a freedom and a beauty that has made me more alive, more whole, more complete. And it is from this that Sabbath & Shalom was birthed.
Why Sabbath & Shalom?
Sabbath & Shalom represent the rest and peace that can only be found in one person; Jesus. Sabbath is the English word that derives from the Hebrew word shabbat, while Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace or completeness. Why mix the English with the Hebrew? Because together, they remind me of the thread interwoven throughout history. They speak of two people groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, becoming one because of one man; Jesus. My hope is that you would find yourself wrapped in both as a place of safety.
For most of my journey, I have known Jesus to be my place of safety. He has been the place where I have learned to anchor my whole self, but to be honest, not as much as I would love to admit. Yet, how grateful I am for the opportunities I have had to learn this (and am still learning it) experientially. As I begin this journey with you, I am developing my Portfolio for my Doctorate on the keeping of the Sabbath, yet I am fully aware that I am still learning to live in the reality of it in my daily life. And, I am grateful that this blog will serve to benefit both as I explore what the Sabbath is, and how it works together with Shalom.
Recently, I have learned to love the Sabbath (and Shalom). Not just the day, but the gift it offers to me every single day. It has not happened overnight. In fact, my experience with the Sabbath began quite like most people, when I reached a place of overwhelm. It took me to arrive at the destination of burn-out, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, to recognize that my life desperately needed something that I had yet to attain. I had hit a wall. The place where I had to acknowledge that I simply could not go on any farther. The place where I had to admit that I was missing the whole point of being rooted in the vine as the Apostle John called it (John 15). When I choose to be still and acknowledge my lack, my weakness, and my incompleteness, the wholeness of the Sabbath met me. And my prayer for you is that it would meet you too.
Every week, we will explore the Sabbath and its friend, Shalom. We will discover the completeness we were created to live in that can only be found in Jesus. And we will practice the reality of cultivating rhythms of rest and peace as God has designed us to experience. Let us Sabbath & Shalom. Together.
~Natasha