Episode 00 | Simply Sabbath Trailer

Rest doesn’t have to be a four-letter word. If you feel like you’re going to break from exhaustion, let me invite you to Simply Sabbath, a podcast for the burnt-out Christian mom, who longs to get back to the core of who she is and reclaim the deep joy and stabilizing peace Jesus has for her in her every day– without the mom guilt that often accompanies self-care practices.

Hi, my name is Rachel Fahrenbach and I help moms just like you add a simple rest-filled family Sabbath to their week. So they can experience a refueling that gives them exactly what they need to live this life God has called them to.

A few years ago, I found myself in the middle of a very exhausting season of life. Unique hardships compounded on the everyday challenges of motherhood, leadership, faith, and finances. I sacrificed my physical, emotional, and social needs because I believed the hustle was holy and necessary. But I was at a breaking point. Fragile. I could have probably benefited from having a handle-with-care sticker slapped right across my forehead at the time.

Does this sound familiar? If so, you are in the right place.

During that difficult time, my husband and I were introduced to the question, what would it mean for your life if you were to take a break once a week and observe a Sabbath rest? We couldn’t shake it. So we decided to test it out. Soon, we had our answer: physical rest, reconnection, soul care, a return to our whole selves.

And I want that for you too.

This world has us fooled into thinking that to be a mom is to be tired. To be a mom is to self-sacrifice to the point where you don’t recognize the unique woman, God has designed you to be.

It has us believing that we’re in the trenches and we just have to wait for the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t know about you, but the idea that I’m supposed to just hunker down while bombs are crashing around me and hope I don’t get blown up in the process doesn’t seem like the abundant life God has intended for us. And it’s not the life I see written into scripture.

We’re living in an upside-down world, you were meant for more than simply surviving the seven days of a week. You have been uniquely designed, purposed with unique roles and responsibilities to steward, and set into unique spaces to impact those communities for the kingdom of Jesus.

And then you are designed to rest with Jesus and enjoy all you have worked with him on throughout the week. Six days of cultivating, creating, and working alongside Jesus one day of pure enjoyment and resting with him.

But, we move through our to-do lists and our to-be lists at a pace that ignores our humanity, rejects connected community, and barely acknowledges the sovereignty and grace-filled provision of Jesus.

Let’s change that together. Let’s put down the mantle of self-neglecting motherhood and put on a Sabbath identity of reflecting God’s image in both work and rest.

Each week, we’ll dive into all things sabbath. You’ll hear some of my thoughts on Sabbath and the things I’ve learned over the past few years, but more importantly, you’ll get to meet other women who are practicing Sabbath as well and learn what it looks like in their lives. Our conversations will center around God’s original design for the week and how that design can be implemented in a culture that is so enslaved to hustle and hurry.

We will discuss why implementing a family Sabbath practice rather than individual moments of self-care alleviates the mom guilt, minimizes the desire to just get away from it all, and puts the burden to recharge your life back into the hands of the one who knows exactly what you need to be recharged.

When I first started practicing Sabbath a few years ago, I struggled to find resources that would walk me through the actual steps of practicing Sabbath from a Christian perspective. I wanted a script to follow or a schedule to implement, but there wasn’t much out there. The resources I did find– and we will be talking about those awesome books and podcasts in future episodes–they focused more on the why of Sabbath rather than the how. They didn’t answer the questions I had like, how do I take a 24-hour rest when I have little ones that still need me 24 hours a day? Or how do I get it all done if I take a full day off? What about meal prep for Sabbath? What about church? Does that count as rest? What if my schedule changes from week to week, what do we do then? I needed some practical guidance but found very little to point me in the right direction.

So I turned to scripture. I read up on some Sabbath traditions and sat down to draft something our family could use. We stumbled through it at first, but soon it became a familiar and life-giving rhythm. We added in some activities and took some out. We even experimented with what day we observed Sabbath.

As I practiced Sabbath each week, I started sharing what I was learning about this ancient and wise practice. The response surprised me. I was not alone in my need for a Sabbath rest. And you are not alone either.

I want to be clear. What we are talking about in this podcast is not just another thing to add to your to-do list. This is not another expectation for you to live up to. It is a gift outstretched from the hand of your creator. An invitation to press pause on walking alongside Jesus in all the things he’s called you to do. And instead, sit down across from him and just be with him.

It is an invitation to Simply Sabbath.