JUST BREATHE

Take a moment, re-read that title. Done? Hopefully. Now, do it again. But this time, relax yourself, your mind, your body. Close your eyes, sit back and say those words again to yourself, out loud if you would like. Hopefully you did not just passively read this above and move on, because that has been a big problem for me this past week and a half since I got back form spring break. I walked back into classes last Monday and was already freaking out about the amount of work I had due within the next week and a half. I sat in each of my classes looking over all of the work I needed to start working on and I was freaking out because I had this paper and that paper and that essay and this project and this book report and this literature review and…. Wait. What am I am doing? Why am I freaking out? I had just gotten back from break where I told myself (and the friends that asked if I wanted to do this or do that for break) I need rest. I need to go home and just exist for a little bit. I Spent a whole week to just re-assess myself and look into how I needed to go about things to finish out this semester without losing my sanity (I kid you not, if you asked a single person on Liberty’s campus how they thought I was doing, if they knew me they would tell you they were probably a little concerned with my overall level of sanity). I was hitting my peak with the many things that I had on my plate and was continually trying to balance. So, what to do? Who to talk to? What to say? So many of these questions were running through my head in this past week and a half and I wasn’t sure how to escape this pit I was being driven into. I hadn’t felt this level of anxiety in a long time and I was scared because I didn’t know how to escape it all. But then those two words came to my attention.

Let me give some happy ending to that story of confession: I got out, and this whole thing was simply solved by coming across these two words: JUST BREATHE. Actually, I had another post ready to go, but I felt this one was something that needed to be shared first. So, the origin of this post comes from that story, and from those two words.

Say those two words again, let them really sink into your mind. We are too often getting caught up in the go-go-go of this world and our lives, but we don’t take the time to stop-stop-stop ourselves. We cannot go one hundred percent all of the time and expect to not crash and burn. We have to take time to sit back and just exist or we are not going to be any good to the kingdom of God or for ourselves.

How do we do this? In John 16:33 Jesus tells us,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

So that in him you will have peace. Notice the word in? Important key to understanding how to find peace and comfort in the trouble that the word will give is to be in him! This means being in the Word constantly, in prayer constantly, in meditation constantly. This requires the obvious action of stopping. Slowing ourselves down from our busy schedule and just stopping and being in Christ so that we can find comfort. How does he do this in this world of business, hurt, and anxiety? He says that he has already overcome the world! This means that there is not a single thing the world can throw at you that Christ has not already dealt with.

Another scenario we see that God promises that his presence offers peace is to the people of Israel in the book of exodus. Moses is interceding on the people’s behalf and during this conversation, God assures Moses he will go with them wherever they go. Exodus 33:14 says,

“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

God will give you rest in your stress, in your anxiety, and in any circumstance that you face that comfort is needed. In our times of distress, we only need to call out to him for comfort as guidance in our uncertainty. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God is no stranger to repeating the rest that he will give us if we only go to him. So, we need to actively learn to stop. Yes, I know that sounds a little contradicting, but think about it. If we are so busy and we feel that we cannot stop or else we fall behind, we have to actively tell ourselves that among the business of our lives, we need to rest.

Jesus actually even commanded his disciples to take time to rest after he sent them out in two’s. This account take place in Mark 6:30-32,

“The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.”

Even Jesus knew the value of taking time to find rest, to get away from the business, and to take the time to just breathe. For this reason, so should we!

FOR THE ETERNAL

If we think we are some sort of super human and never stop, we will find ourselves crashing before we do anything productive for Christ. Sometimes, most of the time, we are so active in our lives and schedules that we can go into this mode that cause us to stress and gain an unhealthy level of anxiety that will drive us to a brink of overload. We can actually become so missionaly and eternally minded that we push ourselves past our own limits and cause distress in our lives. We have to train ourselves to stop and just breathe. We can do this because we know one amazing truth: JESUS IS ENOUGH! “But I just so stressed.” “Just breathe!” “But if I stop I may never catch up.” “Just breathe.” “But if I don’t…” “Just breathe!”

We can find time to stop in our busy lives and find rest in him because any fear we have, any anxiety that may come upon us is not bigger than what Jesus did on the cross. He died to not only save us, but to sustain us. So, as we go into the world, living for the eternal, we have to remember, we will not be any good for the kingdom if we are burnt out. So, after reading this, go, do yourself a favor and take some time to just breathe.