I have had a wonderful thing happen to me in the last 24 hours, I can breathe again. I have had a nasty cold and it shut off my sinus cavity for over 4 days. Last night, as I was going to bed, it actually opened and I could breathe through my nose the glorious flow of air that we all need to survive. 

It was overwhelming to me; the sense of hope that came back as I actually realized my condition of not being able to breathe wasn’t permanent (and no, I am not being overly dramatic).

It made me think of all the times that Jesus has saved me from myself. Times when I was overwhelmed and drowning, so to speak, and yet He came and saved me. Isaiah 59:1 tells us “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear…”

Too often we are all guilty of assuming that God sees and interacts with the world as we do; but He doesn’t. Our entire experience is one of sinus pressure; never fully being able to breathe right, then God graciously redeems us and sets us free. Being born again means we can experience God and creation as He intended, but we are still awash in all of our memories of when it was hard to breathe.

God knows this about us, He understands this about us, and yet when He gives us freedom He doesn’t let us wallow in our old places. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come…” (2 Cor 5:17) You can breathe again; you can hope again, all things are made new, including you. Breathe the breath of life given to you by God and live a new life, not the old one.

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.