Breath of Life

About a month ago, I was sitting in the main chapel at Wesley and a burst of beautiful colors came streaming through the stained-glass window right where I was sitting.

 I remember tears streaming down my face as I poured my heart out to God, telling Him how broken I felt. I was battling an unknown sickness. I was so, so tired. I was dealing with difficult family circumstances. And I was realizing for the first time how much anxiety I was carrying. As I was contemplating the overwhelming circumstances of my life, God brought my attention back up to the stained-glass window. He revealed to me that it is the broken pieces of glass all put together that make the stained-glass window so beautiful. The sun doesn’t need the window to shine, but it creates a beautiful image when it does. God, like the sun, can shine regardless of whether there is a window or not. But he chooses to turn our brokenness into something beautiful and shine through it.

In that moment, I was reminded that God is so much greater than our brokenness. He wants to heal us. Restore us. Breathe life back in us. But he is also using us right where we are in such beautiful ways.

 I am reminded of the story of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37. The prophet Ezekiel is brought out by the Spirit of the Lord and set in the middle of a valley full of dry bones, where God asks him if the bones could live. Ezekiel said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones and tell them to come to life. The bones did as Ezekiel commanded, first forming flesh, then breath. God told Ezekiel, “These bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’”

 God goes on to say, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it.”

 God, through this prophecy, restores both life and hope back into his people. He is not afraid of death because He has already conquered it, risen again, and given us his Holy Spirit! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, people are enabled to live.

Titus 3:5-6 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

You have the Holy Spirit poured generously out on you. Like the bones in the valley, God wants to breathe life back into you. He wants to restore your hope and heal the brokenness in you. Nothing is too big for him. Not your anxiety. Not depression. Not your sin. Nothing.

Though the season you are in may feel lifeless, keep choosing to believe that God is a God who shows up. He is also a God who uses every one of your seasons – the seasons that radiate life and the seasons when you feel like the dry bones.

Author | Makinizi Hoover