Exploring the Transformative Power of Breath in Our Spiritual Journey | Ep 6

Tiffany & Mary explore the concept of breath in our spiritual lives, a potent metaphor for the Holy Spirit being the breath of life, and the life-altering moments where we experience the shared breath of divine connection. Ever wondered about the profound influence of prayer songs in our spiritual journey? Prepare to be enlightened as we dive into a heartwarming conversation with Mary, revealing her friend's extraordinary journey of creating 500 meaningful prayer songs and the transformational impact these songs have.

In this candid discussion, we delve into faith, the challenges life throws at us, and the tiny steps of obedience that bring us closer to God. We shed light on the ACTS of prayer - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication, emphasizing their significance in our spiritual growth. Moreover, we share our personal strategies to overcome fear, invite God's partnership, and replace old habits with healthier ones. By the end of this episode, you will find encouragement to magnify God in your life, transforming your problems into faith and realizing that you're not alone in your struggles. Listen in and immerse yourself in a thought-provoking conversation about faith, growth, and the power of prayerful songs.

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Episode Transcript

Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to In His Hands podcast from Women for
Women.
We're here to help you findpeace in knowing you are in
God's hands.
Our goal is sharing the Word ofGod in simple conversations.
We're here to help you thriveevery day.
And now, here are your hosts.

Tiffany (00:18):
Good morning.
I'm Tiffany Windsor and I'mMary.
And Mary, what's on your mindtoday?

Mary (00:24):
What's on my mind today?
It's a really interestingcombination of having a friend
text me who started singingsongs to the Lord and she has
over 500 recorded songs.
Her husband is in the industryand this is just for her, just
between her and the Lord, andshe just posted some of her

(00:45):
prayer songs and sent one to me.
She's been sharing with me forprobably a year now.
It's been neat to watch theprocess, but she just shared
online so I asked her if wecould share too.
We can play it.

Tiffany (00:58):
We can play it.
Oh my gosh, let's take a momentand listen to it.

Other (01:02):
Okay, in the name of Jesus, you guide our hearts to
our God.
In the name of Jesus, psalm 343.
Oh, magnify the Lord with meand let us lift his name

(01:24):
together.
Your joy is my year, don't youforget it.
Your joy is my year.
You lead our hearts.
Who are loving God.

Mary (01:39):
So interesting her titles.
The first one she shared withme was your joy is my year and
we give a shout out to JoyceMeyer.
I know everyone you know mightnot be a fan, but she has been
through a lot, joyce Myers, andshe's used that pain to bring
others to Jesus and I think thatat the end of the day, she's
done that for one person.

(01:59):
That is worthwhile.
Another one she shared with meis Lord, these tears and God,
god, we need you.
I just feel it's so interesting.
It ties in with our message atchurch today, which is about our
breath, how the Holy Spirit isconsidered the breath of life
and God gives us breath and herethis dear friend is using this
breath to praise him and bringpowerful worship through her

(02:21):
songs.

Tiffany (02:22):
It's so interesting to me to see how breath comes up in
so many different ways, becauseit is the breath of singing,
and I was laughing today becauseI cannot carry a tune when I am
singing in church.
I love it because it's so loud.
No one can hear that I am veryoff key.
It's just a joyous moment forme.

(02:45):
What was interesting to me,Mary, is when we were walking
into church today we weretalking about a block, an issue
that had the perception ofblocking stepping forward, and
you made a statement andimmediately I could feel breath.
I could feel a deep breath.
Sometimes I get words.

(03:06):
Today it was.
I was able to breathe with you.
Then walking into church andlistening to these beautiful
ideas about breath, Starting, ofcourse, with Genesis and I also
want to share this from Job33.4,.
The Spirit of God has made me,the breath of the Almighty,

(03:27):
gives me life, and how often dowe stop breathing and stop
accepting life?
So I wanted to share that withyou.

Mary (03:37):
That is really timely, especially for me.
I have spent a lot of time inthe church and had a closer
relationship with Jesus and thenwent through a lot of hard
things and I've talked aboutthis before deconstructed my
faith, and a lot of that endedup with me walking away from I
want to say, religion andorganized churches, because a

(03:58):
lot of the painful things I wentthrough that was the source of
it.
God has brought me around tothose small steps of obedience,
and those small steps ofobedience created a room to take
that breath.
And those small steps ofobedience were returning back to
church, trusting that the Lordhad the right place and time for
that.
And then I've done little babytithing and I know there's lots

(04:22):
of different opinions abouttithing, but for me it's a
posture of.
It's all God's money anyway,and if he wants me to use some
of it to donate to church, thenthat's his choice.
And if I am lacking and have aperception of lacking in that
area, then I need to turn itover to him too.
And so those two things, thosetiny steps of obedience, made

(04:45):
room for that breath thismorning that you're talking
about Really cool.

Tiffany (04:50):
It's really profound.
I'm trying to go back into thefeeling at the moment of what
that moment felt like, and youcan even hear me take a deep
breath before I start speaking.
It is important for us to fillour lungs and to fill our hearts
and to fill our minds and tofill our souls with the Lord's
word, and breath is somethingthat we can take for granted.

(05:12):
I just realized today howstrongly that came to me, not to
take it for granted.
I definitely want to bring thatmore into my prayerfulness.
One of the other things that Ilearned today you may have heard
of I had not which was acts,which is talking about the steps
in prayer, and I found thatvery helpful.

(05:33):
And you know we talked aboutjournaling recently and what did
I do?
I brought my journal today andI was so busy writing I hope it
didn't distract you, but I wasbusy writing all the notes and
it gave me a lot more depth toprojects that I'm working on
right now because as we werepraying I was writing other

(05:53):
notes that popped up that Ineeded to get out of my head so
I could get back to listening.
But I love this because the A soit's letters A-C-T-S.
The A stands for adoration andthat's the moment in starting
our prayer, that we magnify God.
Sometimes that's done withworship music.
The C is confession thiscleanses you.

(06:16):
The T is Thanksgiving thatproduces peace.
And S is the supplication, andI loved this because this is
what brings the miracles andinvites God to partner with you.
We can forget that part a lot.

Mary (06:34):
I can forget all those parts quite a lot.
I wrote that down too.
I love the magnifying Godbecause when he's magnified, my
problems are diminished.
That really struck me is I makemy problems bigger than my God,
and I need to stop that already.

Tiffany (06:52):
And why do we do that?
What happens in that momentthat that thought becomes so
strong?
It's fear.
It has to be fear, the fear andanxiety that just swirls around
in our head, that we need tostop that thought.
We've talked about this before.
How do you stop that thought?
For me, it's cancel clear,bless the fear, choose again,
choose God.
What I've added to that is aprayerful moment, and I'm going

(07:16):
to probably add these four stepsis to ask God for specific help
in that moment to help merelease those thoughts and
release that anxiety and releasethe thought of that fear,
because that goes intopartnering with God.

Mary (07:34):
And that's a powerful partnership.
And that's a really goodquestion about why do I do that?
Why do I make my problemsbigger than God when I know I
know better?
All I can think of is that it'sanother season, there's layers,
and I'm going through a seasonof unlearning some unhealthy
things and replacing or fillingup those spaces with the better,

(07:56):
healthier thing, and so my oldhabits aren't serving me and so
I need to evaluate and get ridof.

Tiffany (08:03):
And I do want to point out this is not just you.
I have talked to other friendsthis week who are experiencing
those same challenges.
This is why this communitymeans so much to me, because as
soon as we start talking, itstarts to change the thought
where, when you are by yourself,you can just go deeper and

(08:24):
deeper and deeper.
I'm still working on trying tohear what God is telling me as
to how to help more people,because these one-on-one
conversations are awesome, butwe want to communicate with more
people.
I'm working on that, but I'mlearning so much through these
one-on-one conversations with,again, really strong women who

(08:48):
are really struggling right now,and so it seems to be more
universal.
The enemy wants you to feellike you're the only one going
through this and there's no wayout.
It's so important for us totalk.

Mary (09:01):
I'd agree with that wholeheartedly, and when I was
thinking about those baby stepsthat I was doing, going back to
church, that's being vulnerable.
Church was a place of pain painat the hands of well-meaning
religious folks and it was hardfor me to go back in.
I was really skeptical.
But what it does is it helpsfind the community and be

(09:24):
vulnerable, and that's whatwe're missing.
We have our own conversationswith each other, but a lot of
times we're isolated, just likeyou said, and it doesn't help us
grow and we're meant to be incommunity.

Tiffany (09:37):
I know you heard this conversation when we were
walking out of church today andthere were two women who were
walking down the aisle with usand the one woman asked another
oh, is this your first time?
And she said no, this is mysecond time at church.
And then the first woman saidthat her first time was during
the 21 days of prayer.
So church is calling, the Lordis calling us to get into a

(09:59):
space to commit and dedicatetime.
Of course, we should be doingthis every single morning when
you can set a time on yourcalendar.
Sunday mornings are good for alot of people.
If you're not in church yet, Ireally encourage you to look in
your community.
The first one you go to may notbe the right match, and that's
okay.

(10:19):
Go ahead until you find onethat really speaks to you.
It's time for all of us to takethat time to reconnect with the
Lord.
We need to listen.
We need to take the space toget all of the clutter out of
our head and listen to themessages that are there all the
time.
We just have to clear all ofthe clutter out of our minds and

(10:43):
listen.
What I think I want to do toclose today, mary is talking
about breath.
We started about breath.
We went into mind.
I want to end with Psalms 156.
Let everything that has breathpraise the Lord.
Praise the Lord and Mary.
I just want to thank you forbeing part of this community and

(11:06):
I thank you, dear friend.

Announcer (11:08):
And thank you.
Dear friend, thank you forjoining us for today's podcast.
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