In through your nose … out through your mouth ….
When you have been to see your therapist and you start to learn new coping skills, what is the very first one that comes up? Deep breathing, of course!
Sometimes we tell clients to “imagine you are in your favorite place” or “notice how your body feels.”
We encourage clients to “breathe in a square” or “breathe with your belly” or “breathe in peace and breathe out anxiety” or a numbers technique: “breath in for five seconds, hold for five seconds, breathe out for five seconds.”
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The reason breathing techniques work is because when our brains sense that we are being faced with any sort of a real or perceived threat, our bodies jump to action and our breathing becomes very shallow. Our great God made our bodies so perfectly in his infinite wisdom that when we are in danger, our brains and bodies work in tandem to fight our enemy, to run away fast, or to freeze like a deer in headlights — all just to keep us safe. It’s like a built-in alarm and protection system.
Taking some slow, deep, intentional breaths calms down our bodies and brains and reassures our internal systems that we are, in fact, safe.
Safe place
The Lord gave us something else to keep us safe — Himself. Jehovah. Elohim. Adonai. El Shaddai. Yahweh.
That’s it. Say it again. Yahweh.
YAHWEH.
It means “I am who I am.” He is.
It’s the name God told Moses to use for Him in Exodus 13:14 when Moses was leading the Israelites to the land flowing with milk and honey. A safe place.
“Yahweh” — a breathing in and a breathing out of the very name of the Lord our God who saves us and is our rock, our refuge, our hiding place.
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are safe,” (Proverbs 18:10).
Now let’s say it again but a little differently this time.
Breathe in His name and breathe out His name. Like a whisper.
Breathe In “Yah” … Breathe Out “Weh” …
Breathe In … ”Yah” … Breathe Out … ”Weh” …
In … ”Yah” … Out … ”Weh” …
Just like a whisper. Just like breathing. Deep breathing.
The very first interaction our Creator God had with man was to “breathe into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). It’s the very first coping skill, and by far the most important, given to us by the One who breathed life into every pair of lungs on this earth. He gave us Himself as our coping skill, our safety, our All in All. There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), not even coping skills. It’s been here all along.
He is who He is.
Breathe in Jesus and breathe out Jesus.
Connect
You are doing it, Christian. Don’t do it alone. Call on Jesus. Connect to a local gospel-centered church. Call your therapist. One deep breath at a time.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Erin Goodman is a member of Heartland Church in Paducah, a Kentucky Baptist Convention Missionary Service Corps missionary and executive director of The Papillion Center.
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