When I swim, I sink like a rock.
I’d like to think it’s because I’m a solid mass of muscle. Isn’t it common knowledge fat floats and muscle sinks. ;)
But lately I’ve been trying to counteract that tendency. I’ve been going to the local swim club to improve my swimming technique.
One of the biggest hurdles I’ve encountered is how terrible my breathing becomes when I start to get tired. I can feel my body tense up. I start to panic. The mechanics of my stroke start to change. Overall, everything about what I know to do starts collapsing.
So often we can get overwhelmed with life.
You can’t find a job. You don’t know how you’ll pay the bills. The kids are driving you crazy. A past relationship is throwing you in a frenzy. You’ve been breathing from your reserve oxygen tank, but you sense it’s starting to run out.
It’s getting harder to breathe. You’re losing faith and trust in God.
But you know what was interesting about my swim practice the other day? You’d think my breathing would become more labored as I progressively got more tired. But it actually improved.
The reason?
I got better at staying calm when I got tired. I kept myself together instead of collapsing. I remembered to breathe.
That’s exactly what God wants us to do when we feel overwhelmed, confused or in a world of chaos. To remember to breathe.
But not on our own.
God wants us to increase our capacity to breathe through Him.
Rather than struggle and fight through a seeming lack of oxygen, we need to realize we have a God who will breathe for us.
Daniel 10:17-18 (NIV)
…My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”18 Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.
Just as I learned to breathe when I wanted to panic, we need to learn to rely on God whenever our current situation has us scrambling for breathe. We need to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and say “God, I trust you” with my current situation. (Click to tweet.)
When you want to quit, learn to take a deep breath, exhale and say “God, I trust you.” Deep breath. Exhale. “God, you are the source of my strength.”
Photo courtesy of ontwerpplus.