Breath of Life

We all face hard things... disappointments, disillusionments, sickness, rejection, death... something...  Something that hurts and causes us to want to protect our hearts.  We want to run and hide, cowering against the harsh blast of pain and hurt.

But when we do we limit ourselves.  We limit ourselves to the power of what happened and who caused it, whether it be a human being or God.

We can't see very far when we are cowering and hiding our hearts. (note to self ;))

Ok.  Before you run away and think I'm telling you your pain doesn't matter, stay.
Because what happened matters.  How you feel matters.  What it did to you matters.

But there is something more and in time, the right time, I want to encourage you to see a little further.  To shift your gaze upward as you lay there, hurting.  To shift your gaze as we are sometimes left limping.

When we get gut-punched with pain and hard things it sends us reeling and the breath sometimes gets knocked out of us.
A job loss.
A failed marriage or relationship.
A death.
Another's choice that affects us deeply.
You fill in the blank ____________.

We are left grasping for air, clutching our sides.  Broken.  Devastated.

The LORD is nigh to the brokenhearted.  He hears the cry and bottles the tears. Psalm 56:8

How He cares... to bottle our tears.  Jesus wept.  He agonized in the Garden.  He agonizes with us because He knows.
He knows the pain of denial.  The sting of betrayal.  The gut-wrenching agony of not being understood.
After all, He is Life.  He has the power of Life...  How He wants to give that to us!  And that reality makes the stings of pain so much greater.

But He went to the Cross anyway.  He saw something and knew something that carried Him beyond that reality.

Pain, hard, disappointment were all a reality.
But so was the Presence of His Father.

Jesus never lost sight of His Father and I wonder if that was why He so often slipped away, alone.  Alone with the Father to shift His focus off of the pain and on to the Greater Truth of what His Father says.  To keep in focus the reason He was here on this earth.  To take the pain and agony and hear what the Father had to really say.

Alone with the Father.  To shift gaze.  To breathe.

God BREATHED INTO Adam the BREATH OF LIFE.
Breathe.
In, out.  In, out.  Inhale, exhale.  Inhale, exhale.

When we take a breath there is an exchange.  We take in oxygen and push out carbon dioxide.  We breathe in life and breathe out poison.

God still wants to breathe into us the breath of life.
His Truth.  His Words.  His statements.

He wants to exchange our agony with His Presence and His Words of Truth.
Our worry with His peace.

I will never leave you or forsake you.
When you walk through the waters, I will be with you, they will not overwhelm you.
The LORD is a refuge.
He is our Strength.
And so much more.

That broken relationship or marriage...  What does God say??
That rejection, whether it be loss of job or someone else getting a position you wanted, or simply another person....  What does God say??
Loss of health... What does God say??
In the midst of losing a loved one, death... What does God say??
What you put in the blank ___________ ... What does God say??

And when the breath is knocked out of us and we lay there clutching our sides... What does God say??

Picture with me.... you're running and you get a side ache to where you bend over trying to breathe but with every breath, it hurts.  Or you're playing a game and you get knocked over or punched in the gut, and you're struggling for the next breath...
The coach or someone comes running to you.  They put their arm around you, supporting you, most likely saying something to guide you until your breath evens out.
A mother labouring to bring a child into this world has someone telling her to breathe.  I remember taking those birth classes and one session included the teaching on how to breathe and the coach was given instructions on how to instruct the mother to breathe during those painful contractions.

And so, it is with God.  He is our Coach.  Our Father.  And when we're gut-punched with the hard things of life, He doesn't walk away or punch us some more.  No, He comes running, supporting us with His Truths, whispering what we need to hear until our breath evens out.  Telling us how to breathe in the middle of it all.

Inhale His Words.  His Truth.
Exhale the disappointments.

Inhale His Truth.  What does He say??
Exhale our lies and bitterness.

Sometimes to take a breath, hurts, but we do it anyway.
But at some point there will be more healing and the breath we take will be life abundantly.

Breathing exercises.  Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
And receive the Breath of Life because our very life depends on it.

Life.  He came to earth so that we may have life and have it abundantly.  John 10:10

Living the sacred dance of grief and seeing the gifts and joys of life.
Living again because I shift my gaze to the One who gives peace which passes my understanding.
Living again knowing I'm loved and cared for in spite of the circumstances that I'm experiencing.

Our circumstances don't always change or life doesn't necessarily become smooth, but we exchange our angst and worry for His promises and Presence.

Doing those breathing exercises because my life depends on it.
Inhale,exhale.
The Breath of Life.