"THE HELP" with minty Breath

“…look around investigate, and write. Don’t waste your time on the obvious things. Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else.” (pg. 83)

“It is your time Skeeter…I’m not going to let you miss this just because your mother convinced you you’re not good enough…” (102)

“My soul finds rest in God alone...” –Psalm 62:1
“For in him we live and move and have our being.”-Acts 17:28)

I recently watch “To Save a Life” it had its moments of Christian cheesy movie BUT the end has an interesting quote:
“What’s the point of this life if you’re not going to let it change you?”

You, my dear sister are a warrior who IS on the frontlines of the things that should be disturbing us as individuals, as people and as a world. When we talk about the things we do people brush it off or don’t respond the way we THINK they should. So we have stood up regardless of their questioning and doubting to what we know to be Truth from Abba that we have heard. We are the few who have heard our calling and believed in the “this is your time, don’t let anyone convince you differently….” mentality and pushed on. But just like the quote says, “what’s the point of this life if you don‘t let it change you?”

While we are giving people the bread and water of Life on the battlefields, but we not to forget to be women who are engaged with God so much throughout our day that it becomes our inhaling and exhaling.
Here’s where I’m going with this…We have been trained from a young age to block off a portion of our time to have what we call “quiet time” or “spending time with God.” While I think this is important it is what I have come to realize only half way to where we are suppose to be. You see, these days we tend to box off parts of our lives for God…BUT that’s not the way Discipleship is supposed to be.

In 1 Corinthians Paul expresses that the body, mind and soul are all intertwined, nothing is separate it is all connected all flows together. If all we do is blocked off time with God and then go about our day and not let it change us or cause us to breathe a different rhythm, what’s the point? Bottom line: a simple 30 minutes daily with God and then we walk away still makes us queens of our kingdoms with our own agendas and have not given Abba our day. We breathe only when we “have time” or it works for us…

But what if spending time with God looked more like breathing? What if we were so open to the Spirit moving in us that we allowed God to use us in HIS DAY rather than us fitting HIM into our day…what would that look like for you?

What’s the point of fighting if you only take 30 minutes to get re-energized and that’s all? A warrior needs to be ready to go at a moment’s notice; energy is always needed to keep going. Warriors are stead-fast in all they do. I agree there are retreat times, but daily we should be allowing God’s presence saturate us in such a way that being with God become a lifestyle not a section of our day alone. Spending time with God becomes spending our day with God and no longer a checklist or deed, but allowing God to flow in us.

When people ask me “how do you make time with God?” I simply smile because it’s not God who is going with me through MY day but me going through HIS. He makes time for me when I simply know I’m in His presence in ABSOLUTIELY everything and everywhere I go-everything then becomes Holy. And let me tell you frontline women the air is a sweeter longer lasting fragrance than any 30 minutes at one time.

Our lives should be focused more on breathing God throughout our day than gauging ourselves or others on the amount of times they have “been with God” in a week. After all isn’t every moment God’s? We have the power to choose to spend each moment breathing God. So be involved in the things that disturb you and fight till there is blood and sweat and don’t let moments pass you by because IT IS your time by golly (hehe so cheesy), but know battles can only be won with THE KING taking the reins of each breathe we breathe.

Spiritual Rhythm:
This week I’m challenging you to the spiritual rhythm of ‘Breath Prayer’. This will begin the journey extending our “quite time” to the whole of our days, with every step, every interaction, every thought, every outreach, every telephone call, every meeting THAT IS time with God. Here are some simple steps to take to practice this (Taken from Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by: Adele Ahlberg Calhoun):

“God is the oxygen of our soul, and we need to breathe in all day long. Breath a prayer reminds us that each breath we are given is God’s gift and that God’s spirit is nearer to us than our own breath.”
1) Deeply breathe in, repeating any name of God that is dear to you
2) As you exhale, voice a deep desire of your heart. When you exhale, offer up the desire of your heart
Example:
Breathe in “Abba” breathe out “I belong to you”
Breathe in “Healer” breathe out “speak the word and I shall be healed”
Breathe in “Shepherd” breathe out “bring home lost son”
Breathe in “Holy one” breathe “keep me true”
Breathe in “Lord” breathe out “here I am”
Breathe in “Jesus” breathe out “have mercy on me”