Rest

by Evelyn Bates

This 56 page booklet by Evelyn Bates is surprisingly full of sound Bible teaching on determining God's will for our lives. When we know that, and obey Him with a gladly committed heart, the rest follows naturally.

She tells of growing up in Saskatchewan, becoming a country school teacher, and in answer to her prayers about not marrying a certain man, she was invited to Bible School, where she, Evelyn, became wholeheartedly committed to following Christ.

She became a missionary to India in 1950. When she returned in 1969, she found herself confused about God's will and studied and prayed earnestly about it. Her findings, and some books that helped her a great deal, inform and help her to write this booklet.

This booklet is for Believers, not the unsaved you know. It is addressed to those who earnestly desire to know God's will and want to be sure they are obeying Him, but who often wear themselves out worrying about whether they are truly in God's will.

Evelyn Bates lays a careful groundwork with clear definitions of faith, and the role faith in God has in us coming to real spiritual rest - which is both a trust and contentment that we are in God's will. She reviews the lives of the giants of faith listed in Hebrews 11, and goes into a fairly in-depth lesson on the spectacular or Extraordinary guidance of God. She sums up some of the best teaching on this topic, using some familar Bible stories to illustrate her points.

In the third part, she describes how we can maintain that rest in God by our continuing walk of faith, including a passage on romance and marriage aimed at singles.

This booklet is available from our mission office for 1.50 per copy. At that price you might wish to order two or three, so you have an extra copy when you meet up with a Christian, probably already very active in serving God, but who struggles to understand these points.

[as reviewed in our Reflections Spring 2006 issue].