Who Needs To Take A Deep Breath

I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

I WAS TRYING TO OUTSING KINSEY RAYMOND. That’s just the truth of it. It was 1997, and we were in the fifth-grade honor choir together. While we had sung together in dozens of performances, this time I decided to match her volume.

By then, I knew that Kinsey had a much louder voice than I did. In fact, she had a much louder voice than all the children in the choir. And every song seemed to be a self-appointed solo for Kinsey. For some reason, that drove me crazy. It wasn’t that I wanted to be louder than her. I just didn’t think it was fair that she was the only voice that could be heard among so many. So I attempted to join her.

During this concert, if Kinsey sang loudly, I sang loudly. If Kinsey sang softly, I sang softly. I matched her throughout every song. The problem was that Kinsey sang loudly far more often than she sang softly, and I just didn’t have the breath to keep up.

For years Kinsey had been taking deep breaths, forcing more air and power through her vocal cords, and training herself to carry her voice long and loud. For years she had built up the endurance required to sing that way. And as the room went dark around me and I fell face-first toward the floor, I learned just how important breath really was.

Breath is mentioned often in Scripture. One of the most notable examples involves the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, who was once shown a vision of a valley of dry bones by the Lord, who asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3). Then the Lord continued, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezekiel 37:5). The Lord told Ezekiel that indeed, the bones would rise up and live again.

Momma, sometimes we feel like that valley of dry bones. Sometimes our hearts just feel weary and without life. We need to take a deep breath, but more than that, we need the breath of God to come and revive the dead places in our souls. Sometimes we just need the Lord to remind us that our weary bones can live again.

You know your own breath is important. Tonight remember that God still breathes into the wounded and weary places in your heart. You won’t always feel this overwhelmed or exhausted. You won’t always feel this dusty and dry. Let’s ask the Father to breathe new hope and new life into the places that haven’t felt fully alive in a long time. Breath matters. Friend, let’s take a deep breath together.

Tonight we pray for the momma who needs to take a deep breath. Lord, she is always thinking about something or someone. She is constantly going from one thing to the next. Sometimes she gets so busy and tense that she just forgets to breathe. Tonight we ask that You would breathe life back into her weary heart. Strengthen this momma, Lord, with Your love and Your power. Fill her with new hope. And as You come close to her right now, melt away the stress.

We ask in Jesus’s name, amen.

Holy Spirit, please breathe new life into this part of me: