Stop. Breathe. Close your eyes and allow your mind, body, and soul a moment to pause. What do you feel? What do you notice?
So often, we get so caught up in the work of living that we are completely unaware of what is going on inside us. We are unaware of the tensions and worries that are twisted around our bodies. We don’t recognize our souls’ thirst for an intimate moment when only God exists with us. We have no idea what our souls might need in that moment. But, the Holy Spirit continually invites us into mini-Sabbath experiences and offers us a rhythm of breathing and being that will not only reveal the longings of our hearts, but satisfy the deepest of them. We talk about these concepts often on the Soul Care Collective. However, sometimes it is hard to know how to apply these spiritual practices to our lives in practical ways.
This practical need is why the Soul Care Collective is introducing a new type of weekly post on our blog:
The Soul Care Weekly Breather
The Soul Care Weekly Breather will be published each Friday. This post will include a brief word about personal soul care from one of our amazing Soul Care Collective authors and will include an exercise for you to use at home to deepen your connection with God and nourish your soul. Consider this your invitation to stop, breathe, and take a moment to meet with God at the end of a busy week. We hope you enjoy it.
The following Weekly Breather exercise comes from our friend, Laura Beach, and her ministry with Equipping Lydia. For more information about this ministry, visit their website here.
Calming the Soul
The soul is the mind, will, and emotions, the part which we can control.
Invite the peace of Christ to calm your soul.
As you take deep breaths in and out, pray:
“Jesus, you are always interceding on our behalf to our Abba. By the power of your Spirit, guide our thoughts. Rise to the surface of our minds those things that you know to be most important for us. Bring a calm as we trust you to guide our thoughts into your order. Reveal those things that are distracting or heavy. Jesus you have already taken these things upon yourself when you died on the cross. Help us to acknowledge this as we release them to you today.”
Think of things that have burdened you and pray:
Jesus, I release to you ____.
Scriptural Reflections:
Romans 8:34 – “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”