“Mom, Just Breathe!”

What’s your word?

Many people have been talking and writing about their “word” for the year.  About three years ago I started choosing, or asking God to choose for me, a theme word.  He gave me “breathe” that first year.  My thoughts went immediately to the times our daughter told me, “Mom, just breathe!”  She’d say that when she saw me stressing and winding myself up into an emotionally tangled mess.  I never liked hearing it, mind you, but I have to admit that she was speaking truth.

It’s so easy to become anxious over a negative circumstance or become fearful of the future.  For me, my mind begins to sort through the issue and strive to come up with a solution.  In all honesty, I have become much too dependent on my own logic and resources to solve what comes my way.  I often fail to go to the Lord first.  And then…I am in such a hurry to fix the problem that I forget to breathe.

Can you relate?  Do you become anxious or fearful and catch yourself moving faster, thinking erratically, and not taking regular, full breaths?  I do.

So, for that year I focused on breathing more deeply, especially when I caught myself moving too quickly.  It became my way to slow down.  The Holy Spirit gently reminds me to take my concerns to our Heavenly Father.  Whew!

After a while I began noticing the words “breath” and “breathe” in Scripture.

Don’t you love it when the Spirit highlights “new” information just when you need it?

I contemplated how God breathed stars into existence:

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”-Psalm 33:6 (NIV)

He breathes life into man:

“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”-Genesis 2:7 (NIV)

“The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”-Job 33:4

“And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”-Acts 17:35 (NIV)

God destroyed the army of Pharaoh with His breath:

“But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.”-Exodus 15:10 (NIV)

God’s Word speaks about breath when it comes to idolatry.  Several Old Testament writers warned the Jews that their manmade idols had no breath.  (I love that!)  Not only were these images fashioned by human hands, but they were lifeless.  Compare them with us.  We were loved before the creation of the world, fashioned by the Creator Himself, and given life by His own breath:

“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.”-Jeremiah 51:17 (NIV)

God returned life to an army of dead bones by His breath:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ”So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.-Ezekiel 37:9-10 (NIV)

Paul even wrote that when the Lord returns He will overthrow evil with the breath of His mouth:

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”-2 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV)

So, how can I—we—respond to what we read?

“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”-Psalm 150:6 (NIV)

God’s Word is so rich, and His Spirit is anxious to teach us more and more as we make ourselves available to learn.  Because of the valuable experience of choosing a “word” for that year, I decided to ask God for a new word every year.  He has been faithful not only to direct my thoughts but also to teach me more of Himself and His love for me.

Have you chosen “a word” for 2018?

If not, I challenge you to ask God for one and be ready for an amazing surprise as He opens up “His Word” in ways you’d never expect.

In the next post I will share my word for 2018 and what I’m committed to for the year.  I’d love to hear from you in the comments as to what you choose and what you might expect from this adventure with God.

(I’ll also have a spectacular dessert recipe from Scotland! — mmmmm, good!)

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

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