Waiting to Exhale

Yesterday, I stopped holding my breath. I'm not sure when I started I just know it's been a long time. I've kept going, kept living, kept fighting, kept praying but I wasn't breathing. I never decompressed. I never stopped and really evaluated where I was, I just kept piling. I think a lot of you know exactly what I mean. You have taken on so much "stuff" that you are close to exploding. Sure, you know how to handle your life. You know how to say the right things and even how to pray but you haven't given yourself the time or space to release...to breathe...to exhale. Well, saints, it's time. It's time to stand up in your closet, on your porch, in your yard and take a deep breath. Release all of the weight, the pressure, and the expectation. God said to me yesterday, how can you be filled with Me when there is no room? Sounds strange? It does but He is right! Sooooo right! It is so easy to pack your life and mind with responsibilities, projects and people, to the point where it is hard to slow your mind down enough to pray or meditate or just relax. Today, God wants you to exercise the power of the exhale.

He led me to Psalm 55:22 in the Amplified version this morning and it really made His instruction clear. It says, "Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail)." For too long, you have struggled to hold up under the weight of your position, someone else's expectations, or life. But God did not ask that of you. He wants you to release it to Him and He will handle it and He won't let you fall. It's time out for superhero syndrome. It took some hurt feelings and hard lessons for me to see that I don't have to be everything to everyone but I finally got it. I just have to be Ebony. The same goes for you. Let all of the weight and pressure go and just be you.

Yesterday, I exhaled. I opened everything up and released. Think about this as I close. When Jesus was at the very end of His life, He said the words, "It is finished" and He breathed His last. He signified with that last breath a deep trust in God and His process. At that moment, He surrendered to God's plan and purpose for His life. He was released into His next level. How much more do you think God can and will do for you when you decide that release is better than control. I challenge you today to identify what may have caused you to hold your breath and cast it upon The Lord because He can handle it. Amen...