Breathe.

The car’s check engine light is on again, the stove’s gas is leaking in the kitchen, unexpected bills arrive at the doorstep, and there is little money for groceries(I’m talking, counting your quarters at the check out). This has been life recently. Yet, despite the worry of how the bills will all be paid, or the nights where I eat the same meal of nothing but pasta and peas for one week straight (just being honest), I was reminded in my Bible reading this week of these three simple words.

“Do not fear.”

Did you know that “Do not fear” were the first words that came forth from the lips of Jesus when the disciples discovered Him after His resurrection? Because of His resurrection power, we have nothing to fear.

Despite the broken car, the lonely questions, the drowning loans, and credit cards stacked high, I am reminded…When life’s worries steal your peace, look to the living God who repeats, “Do not fear.”

We take so many things for granted, including breath in our lungs, and in this season, where things may not always be going beautifully, I am reminded of the miracle to be able to just breathe with our own two lungs. While the turmoils of life swirl around us, take a deep breath, fixate your eyes on the joy of God’s love, keep giving to the Kingdom, and know that His promises will come true.

“Trade your fears for His peace
and let Him tend to every worry.
Let Him pull your hear in rhythm
to His never-ending grace.”
-Morgan Harper Nichols

“Breathe.
Place your hand on your heart and feel.
That, my friend, is a life worth living.”
-Arielle Estoria (Listen to this beautiful spoken word here.)

Take a deep breath, my friend. Look to God’s love, the only love that will never fail us. People will fail us. Jobs will fail us. Dreams will fail us. But, our breath, as long as it is in our lungs, will remind us of the miracle, the miracle it is to be flesh and blood, to be life that has the given opportunity to pursue the God who breathes life into us forevermore.

Do not fear.