Sharing God's Breath in a Prayer

Psalm 104:29-30

When you hide your face, they panic.  Take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust.  Send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth.

Being the fact that I almost died from pneumonia in 2007, I can totally relate to the symbolism of breath representing the Holy Spirit, God's presence to us in this world. These two verses truly represent my experience. I know that in God's breath is life.

One night I woke up and I could not catch my breath. I had went to the doctor earlier that day and explained that I felt bad, run down, and just could not take a deep breath.  I also had a pain in my shoulder area and my upper back. I thought I was maybe having heart problems. He said that I was fat and out of shape.  He gave me a muscle relaxer for the pain in my shoulder.

That night I woke up and could not breath. My wife rushed me to the emergency room.  My right lung had collapsed. The other lung was full  of fluid. It was not a good prognosis. I never panicked, I was actually calm.

A doctor, who I had never met before came in before anesthesia and surgery to explained what was going to take place. Then he asked me if I knew Jesus Christ. He asked if he could pray with me. Not pray for me, pray with me. He asked God to protect me, heal me, and be with him as he treated me. That experience was one of the most powerful witness for Christ I have ever had given to me. Through a doctor's witness, God was breathing his spirit on me. I never saw the doctor again.  Still,  I was not afraid

I did tell the surgery team to make sure that they had all the XXL tools.  They said no problem. However, when they were operating they found out that none of the tubes and surgery supplies were long enough. So they had to send for additional supplies while I was on the table. It made the surgery quite a bit longer than it should have been. This I may have been concerned about, if I knew about it.

I woke up on a ventilator. My mind rested. I was able to be quite and listened for God's voice. I saw how God had been with me throughout my life.  No matter how bad I thought things were, God never hid from me. On that ventilator, I did not panic because I truly saw how God was in my life and had been there throughout my life.

God's breath is his spirit. God's breath allows and sends forth his Word. The Word is Jesus Christ.  In our witness of Christ we bring the breath of God to the world. Something as simple as praying with a stranger can be the greatest witness of God's breath in the world that we can share.

Payer:

Lord God, Do not hide your face from us, send the Holy Spirit to renew us and the entire world.  Amen.