When Life Leaves You Breathless

It’s been awhile since my last blog post, almost 7 months actually.  It’s not that I’ve had nothing to write about nor lacked the motivation to do so, it’s just that life has left me, well, breathless.

I realize the irony of that statement as I type it … I have a blog entitled “Breathing Life”, meant to encourage others in that regard, and yet here I am stating that life has left me breathless.

What am I supposed to do with that?  Do I give up, throw in the towel, and determine this endeavor a failure?  Do I tell myself that I gave it a good try, but that it just wasn’t meant to be in the long run?

I could do that.  And admittedly there are things that run their course that we need to let go of.  However, there are other things, deep desires and passions that God has placed on our hearts, that we need to hold onto.  There may be interruptions and setbacks, and things may not play out like we thought they would, but we need not be discouraged.

Discouragement is a key weapon of the enemy, and the best way to combat it is to keep trusting God.  If God has given us a vision, He will carry it through, but it will be in His way and His time.  We just need to let go of our own expectations, surrender control, and trust in God’s will and God’s timing.  He will never fail.

That is what I’m clinging to.  These last several months have been a very trying time in my life.  I’ve faced a multitude of difficult circumstances, many of which don’t have a quick or easy solution, and some that have left me so brokenhearted that I feel like a shell of my former self.  And I have run the gamut of emotions.  I have questioned God, and I have wholly trusted God.  I have been angry and bitter, and I have been joyful and thankful.  I have wrestled with God, and I have totally surrendered to Him.  I have felt like giving up, and I have resolved to persevere.

But through it all, though my feelings and emotions have vacillated, though my actions and reactions have been inconsistent, though my energy and determination have waxed and waned, what has remained constant is God’s grace and love.  His grace covers it all, and His love is unconditional.

And through it all, I have seen God’s hands at work.  Though it has been painful and difficult, I have seen God’s goodness, and I know that someway, somehow He will work it all out for good.  So I press on, as God calls me to keep fighting the good fight and to continue to walk in His light.

That is why I write today, and I will continue as long as God places it on my heart to do so.  I don’t know when or how often.  It may be a year before I write again, maybe a month, maybe a week.  I don’t know because I don’t know what the future holds.  But I do know that God holds the future, and that’s all I need to know.  The best I can do is take each day that God gives me, one day at a time, and do whatever He allots me to do in that day.  That’s the best that any of us can do.

And when life leaves us breathless, may we fall into the arms of God, the one who breathes life into us.  Moment by moment, day by day, as we rely on God, He will strengthen us.  He will sustain us.  And He will finish what He started.

“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6 (NIV)