Take a Deep Breath

This morning I was reading my 365 Bible Devotional on YouVersion and an incredible verse stood out:

“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” Psalms 28:7

“Take a deep breath”, I have been reminding myself a lot lately. It is so easy for me to get focused on the task at hand and throw everything else out the window. In my younger days, I didn’t have a clue what it meant to breathe. My thought, when my mom would tell me to breathe, was that I was already breathing or I wouldn’t be alive. I couldn’t figure out that we literally need to take in deep breaths, hold it, and let it out. Just by doing that I can change my atmosphere and rest in the truth at hand. God is with me and He is my strength.

This has been a busy season and I am not one that needs to prove my worth by being “busy” all the time. I don’t see life that way anymore, though I used to. Still, there are some seasons when I have to be busy. The holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas has it’s own festivities and fun, but this year we added renovation on a new building the second Christmas was finished and we hadn’t stopped since. Hubby is still going, I am so amazed by his endurance, but me, I had a weekend off! He went to San Diego last weekend to learn more about regenerative medicine and I spent the weekend in bed. I was worn. The problem is that I don’t know when to stop and even though I know he wants me to when I need rest, if I can’t see it, I don’t rest. This time I saw it, but didn’t see anytime that I could rest so I continued to go. Gratefully, I haven’t gotten to the place of being seriously ill, but I could tell I was headed that direction. We haven’t taken care of ourselves at all! We’ve eaten junk on the run, and quit exercising over a month ago which is something that we are rather diligent about. Not to mention I had a car wreck two and a half weeks ago and I just kept going.

Today, I feel rested. This Scripture reminded me of how I made it through the season, with His strength and shield. I do trust Jesus with all my heart and I know that He helps me in everything and He has brought me through to the other side of this one. We are not finished with the office, but it is far enough along that we can take a deep breath and finish the rest slowly.

The last part of the verse is my favorite because it is so true of me, “…my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving”. My heart sings songs of praise and love to Jesus every day and it doesn’t matter where I am or what I am doing, it just happens. I’m so grateful to be a daughter of the King of Kings and I know that as I take my deep breaths, He is filling me back up with His love. I hope you will take time to breathe today and know His presence, even if it is for one minute. I know you will be blessed.