As the leaves begin to change and the air turns crisp, there is something about the change of seasons that can awaken a sense of awe and wonder. The warm days of summer become sweet memories, gardens finish yielding their produce for another year, and we settle into the routines and responsibilities of Fall.
For me, this season often causes my mind to turn to the goodness of God.
I begin reflecting on His faithfulness over the past few months. But once you really start looking for the faithfulness of God, it is difficult to stop there. You begin looking further back. You see moments you didn’t understand at the time differently. You recognize places where He sustained you, protected you, carried you, redirected you, or simply stayed with you.
There is a phrase in a worship song that has always stood out to me:
“It’s Your breath in our lungs.”
Those words carry a particularly deep meaning for me.
My daughter had a genetic condition that affected her respiratory system. Over a relatively short period of time, she went from breathing normally to being hospitalized because her lungs could no longer stay inflated without intervention.
Eventually, she needed a tracheostomy.
It changed everything.
She went from being a little girl with medical challenges to needing someone awake and attending to her respiratory needs 24 hours a day. Eventually she required oxygen continuously through her trach, along with regular interventions to help her breathe.
For the 18 months she lived this way before the Lord took her home, so much of my life centred around making sure there was breath in those little lungs.
There were moments of crisis with several adults gathered around a hospital bed doing everything necessary to save her life. I became so attuned to her breathing that I could often tell she needed intervention before the monitors began to beep.
People sometimes asked me, “How did you know?”
The answer was simple: we lived that closely connected.
I knew the subtle changes because I knew her. I had listened to thousands upon thousands of her breaths. Something that might have gone unnoticed by someone else immediately stood out to me.
Dear friends, that is part of why those words still affect me so deeply today: It’s Your breath in our lungs.
I know how faithful God was through every breath of my daughter’s life. He was in those rooms. He was present in the ordinary moments and the moments of crisis. He ministered to us in ways that continue to ripple through my life even nine years later.
But those memories also challenge me.
Am I living closely enough to God that I recognize the subtle prompting of His voice?
When He directs a change in my path, will I notice?
When He tells me to stop, will I listen?
When He prompts me to speak to someone, pray for someone, encourage someone, or serve someone in a practical way, will I recognize His leading?
I don’t want to live so distracted or so far from God that I miss those cues.
I want to know Him so intimately that His presence becomes as necessary and natural to me as the breath in my lungs.
Reflection:
Maybe today is an opportunity to look back over your own life. Where has God been faithful? Where did He sustain you when you didn’t think you could keep going? Where did He provide, protect, redirect, restore, or simply remain beside you?
And then ask Him:
“Lord, help me walk closely enough with You today that I recognize Your voice and respond when You lead.”
The same God who was faithful yesterday is present today. And as we step into another season, we can trust Him with every breath and every step ahead.
Scripture to reflect on:
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” — Psalm 150:6
“In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” — Job 12:10
Here is a worship song that may bless you today:
https://youtu.be/uHz0w-HG4iU?si=WJWMfsKA0Zl9211w
Dawn Berry
Executive Assistant
