One Simple Breath

"He Said To Them, Because Of The Littleness Of Your Faith [That Is, Your Lack Of Firmly Relying Trust]. For Truly I Say To You, If You Have Faith [That Is Living]

Like A Grain Of Mustard Seed, You Can Say To This Mountain, Move From Here To Yonder Place, And It Will Move; And Nothing Will Be Impossible To You."

Matthew 17:20 (Amplified)

I love the last 6 words of that passage - Nothing Will Be Impossible To You... Nothing, nada, zilch.

A beautiful passage that makes you stop and re-examine your faith, or lack of.

Can you honestly say that you have the faith to move a mountain, that you trust Him with every single aspect of your entire life?

That your worth is found in Him, and not any one here on Earth?

Just writing that takes my breath away.

For 2 years I have wandered around in the valley, a valley filled with fear, darkness, sadness, anger, uncertainty...

Cloaked in a thick fog that never seemed to end.

Day by (sometimes never-ending) day I walked, I stumbled, I fell, lost, sometimes walking circles around myself, seeking a way to overcome the valley I had been tossed in to.

Angry at Him, for even allowing this to happen...

That hurts my heart to admit, to think that at one point in time, I was so self-centered, I actually thought this was all about me, and that I was arrogant enough to think He would "make it better," just because I demanded it.

Humble pie is now being served at my table.

See when you allow others to establish your worth, you can come out thinking you are so much better (or worse) than you really are.

You may come across as arrogant, hostile or pompus, you may be rude or temperamental, a liar or a person who is domineering, condescending or a control freak, you think you are so much better than those around you.

On the other end, you can come across as indifferent, anxious, hopeless, disparaging or doubtful, pessimistic or timid, fearful of everything (sound familiar?) and woe is me seems to be the theme you live by because you think you are so much worse than those around you.

Since I was in the second batch of those traits listed above, that was something I had to overcome, a balance had to be found in order for me to get out of that portion of the valley.

Not a medicinal balance either, I sought His hand, His light, and His strength out of the valley.

And I will say, it wasn't easy, some days seemed like they weren't ever going to end and in the beginning the days just ran into one another.

I was speaking to a friend last night and he said something that stood out to me...

"There have been days I wondered if I even wanted to keep breathing?"

Followed by "Thankfully, God reminds me what a gift a simple breath is."

Those two sentences are so completely different, one filled with sheer pain and the other, well to me it is just breathtaking.

In order to overcome your valley, you have to be thankful to even be in the valley, just as he has shown with these two statements.

So what happens when you get to the end of the valley?

When you actually see a light and can take a breath without feeling like you are going to crumble?

Only to look up and discover that you are now facing a mountain, standing as tall and as far as the eye can see?

You can't go around it, nor go through it and expect to learn all of the valuable lessons awaiting you.

You have to go over it...

One single step at a time.

One simple breath at a time.

FOUR YEAR STRONG
Sometimes It Takes A Second To Sink In
That Your Life Is Never Gonna Be The Same Again
Breathe In, Breathe Out, It'll Be Okay
Breathe In, They Say The Pain Will Fade Away