Look up
“I can’t breathe.”
“You are okay. I am with you.”
“NO- I can’t breathe.”
“Calm down. I’m breathing life in you.”
“I can’t! What?”
“You can. Close your eyes. Breathe.”
This is a very real conversation I had with God one time when experiencing anxiety. To be honest, I think it’s a real conversation that most of us have with God, often, especially when we get anxious. Those feelings… the ones that make you curl up in a ball, cry endlessly and fear life… those aren’t God. That’s called disappointment. Disappointment is a funny thing, really, because as humans we can comprehend what disappointment means, how it feels and how we get there, yet we always set ourselves up to return back to this dark place. Disappointment is easy to achieve, all you have to do is trust yourself.
You read that right. Now read it again.
Everybody always seems so upset when they experience disappointment, as if they didn’t set themselves up for it. When we fail to trust God, follow His plan and guide our lives according to His word, we tend to lead ourselves astray. God didn’t change, God didn’t leave, God didn’t speak negativity into our lives… we did. We did. Anxiety and disappointment aren’t new, they have existed ever since that day in the Garden of Eden. What is new, though, is this idea that we are reliable in our sinful human nature, it seems to be very popular nowadays. “You do you”--- NO, PLEASE DON’T! Please don’t ever trust yourself that much. You’ll end up with disappointment. Whenever I feel myself being anxious, nervous, sad or disappointed, I take a step back and reflect on where I’ve been going for support, and low and behold, it’s not where, or Who, it should be.
Listen to God, trust Him with your life.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
God wants us to trust Him, rely on Him and go to Him with all of our fears, doubts, concerns and anxiety. Let him breathe life in you. Have you ever heard that saying “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”? That’s a total lie. God constantly gives us more than we can handle because we aren’t meant to do it alone.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in The Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
The next time you’re feeling anxious and disappointed, I want to challenge you to look up, pause and let God breathe life in you. Stop trusting yourself and start trusting the God that created you.
XOXO,
Tay