Introducing Restful
A newsletter and gathering space for weary people to listen, love, and live their real lives in the restful way of Jesus
Hello, friends,
After a joyful book launch in June and a restful vacation in July, I’m entering August excited to share some updates to my email and blogging platforms!
Beginning
Every week since 2006, I’ve shared writing and resources on my website to help us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty. The blog posts, guidebooks, and essays I’ve published feature a blend of my own writing plus books, music, art, and other good work from creators and cultivators who have inspired me.
Over the past 17 years, we’ve become a small band of hospitable and generous internet companions. And I don’t want any of that to change, but Substack offers a more restful and sustainable way for me to share my work. I think you’re going to love the streamlined aesthetic, expanded subscription options, and simplified ways of connecting with each other through features like comments and notes.
If you’re looking for seventeen years of archives, you can still find them at TamaraHillMurphy.com. But, going forward, this is the place you’ll find the reflections and stories I’m writing.
Over time, I’ve written about all sorts of topics with varying degrees of charity and intelligence. But the theme I keep returning to is that we can take Jesus seriously when he invites us to come to him for rest in the middle of every kind of suffering and circumstance, from wherever we call home, and maybe especially when we feel like we don’t even know where home is anymore.
I’ve realized that more than adding more words to the internet, I long to offer a gathering space that evokes your own longings, is powerful enough to provoke a deeper connection with Jesus, others, and ourselves, and sends us back into our real lives to strengthen those connections.
That’s a bit audacious, isn’t it? I’ve grown wary of big ideas that prompt action without connection. We’ve all been there—the self-help lists and the self-referential think pieces that promise a shortcut around our fears to achieve our desires. But I’ve learned, and probably so have you, that there is no shortcut to what we long for most—intimacy with God and communion with each other.
Most of us are weary of settling for a kind of religious proximity to God and others. We long to remain present to God’s loving attention as our full, true, vulnerable selves, and then allow ourselves to find rest within God’s beloved community.
In the past decade, Jesus and my community have been helping me discern how to embody a faithful, non-anxious presence in this disembodied, digital meeting place. I long to add to the beauty of God’s goodness and truth rather than add to the noise of cynical rants and idealistic virtue signals. This is not loving, and it is definitely not restful—for me or for you. Instead, I hope—with words, yes, but also questions, art, and storytelling—to continually point us to Jesus’ invitation to come to him for rest. Keeping company with Jesus and each other, we find restful ways to express lament, amazement, and everything in between.
Beginning again
Many of us are wondering how we can find more rest and beauty in our lives, be more gentle with ourselves and others, and learn to offer humble listening and loving presence to others. We quickly discover a tension: being at rest is inherently vulnerable. It requires us to drop our guard and welcome our full selves and others. This is why it’s so good that Jesus is a gentle and lowly companion. When we keep company with him, we find we can humbly offer that same gentleness to each other.
Restful is the way Jesus holds all things together, including our own weary selves.
That’s why I chose the name: ‘Restful’. I hope that just by reading that word at the top of each page, it will evoke a sense of a spacious, welcoming place where you can drop your guard, and maybe sometimes just put your feet up and stay awhile. And like truly restful experiences, you will find yourself refreshed and wanting to offer the gift of your loving presence to others. And you’ll be able to do this in the restful way of Jesus.
Here’s what’s new:
Free Subscribers:
Once a week, you’ll receive my newly named blog newsletter, Pause, which will highlight resources to help us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty in the restful way of Jesus. If you’ve been receiving my blog posts in your email inbox, then you’re already a free subscriber here. Nothing more to do. If you’d like to experience more of my Restful offerings, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Monthly or Annual Subscribers:
The Wednesday email will always be free for everyone, but for $6/month or $60/year, paid subscribers get:
Exclusive access to personal reflections in both written and audio formats, reflective community prompts + my entire blog archive
Weekly bonus post with curated collections of scripture, music, art, prayer, and simple practices to help you follow the church calendar (a new and improved version of the posts formerly known as Daybook Meditations)
Restful Things Zoom hangout: an online gathering on the last Wednesday evening of the month where we can talk more about restful things we’ve loved lately.
Restful Patrons:
There is also a patronage tier for people who want to help sustain my writing and work a little more closely with me. Members of this tier are the first readers and patrons of my writing projects, receiving bonus content and occasional live or recorded book discussions.
A personal thank-you note and welcome packet
Exclusive access to my writing projects + bonus content, and occasional live or recorded discussions
My deep appreciation for your belief in me and my work
If you’ve read this far, I have a special offer: from now through Friday, August 11, click the button below for 20% off an annual paid subscription.
Whether you follow this newsletter for free or become a paid subscriber, thank you. It’s a privilege to share my work with you, and I pray that you will feel welcomed and respected in this space. If you’d like to be a paid subscriber but the fee is not available to you (been there!) please let me know and I’ll comp you, no questions asked.
I hope you’ll enjoy a restful rhythm of content here with my heartfelt gratitude. Thank you for being here, for reading, and for your companionship.
Peace of Christ to you today—body and soul,
Tamara
p.s. Will you please help me spread the word or give someone a gift subscription?