Cross in the Forest on FPU campus with man sitting at a picnic table

A Resting Place of His Love

November 10, 2026

By Cheryl Dueck Smith

Each week I start one of my seminary graduate courses for ministry and marriage and family therapy students with short readings on our belovedness, written by the late Henri Nouwen.

Weekly, we are reminded that we are loved not based on what we do or how we act but because we are God’s children and he delights in us.

These meditations are part of an ongoing intentional practice of allowing God’s truth to transform my mind, and lucky for them, my students get to join in.

Ephesians 3:17 in The Passion Translation states: “Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.” My resting place is often shame, springing from negative messages I repeat that do not yield the abundant life in Christ. The resting place of his love sounds better.

Paul urges us in Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Neuroplasticity teaches us that where we focus our attention shapes the way we think. So many things compete for my attention and root me in anxiety, comparisons, consumerism, and inadequacy.

Neuroscience studies echo Scripture’s truth that we can rewire our brains. Spiritual practices help us focus our attention on God, inviting us to dwell in the resting place of his love. It takes repetition to form new neural pathways. Transformation requires repeatedly shifting our attention, our worship, to the beauty and goodness of God and receiving his love for us.

So, I’ll end with a nugget from Nouwen that you also can use to rewire your brain and find a resting place of his love.

Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the ‘Beloved.’ Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.
Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

Grow in Faith at FPU

Have questions about faith or what it means to rest in God’s love? FPU’s Office of Spiritual Formation offers Chapel, spiritual formation groups, and people ready to walk alongside you.

Photo of Cheryl Smith

Cheryl Dueck Smith , D.Arts

Director, Center for Anabaptist Studies
Assistant Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy , LMFT #38497

Cheryl Dueck Smith, D. A., is an assistant professor of marriage and family therapy at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, where she also serves as director of the Center for Anabaptist Studies. She also works as a therapist at Link Care Counseling Center. 

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