Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: BREATH (11/19/20)
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TITLE: Inhale | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tana Craig
11/25/20 -
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Ever lose your breath and get panicky until you could get that first bit of air again?
We moved to what was then a small town with an almost non-existent main street close to our home. We liked to walk around and enjoy the few businesses there; breakfast at The Hungry Bear, good buys at the small unclaimed freight store. One day we tried the new exercise classes offered in a converted storefront.
Middle-aged (if we lived to be 105;) we went to the back row to go at our own pace. But, being new at this, we tried to keep up. It was too much for me. I lost my breath; my legs gave out, and I sank quietly to the floor. My face was crimson, and I could barely breathe yet was embarrassed to have people turning to stare at me. I quickly recovered my breath and didn’t think much about it, but we decided that class was too advanced.
One hot summer morning, I played tennis with a powerful male player. He could return every ball that I shot across the net, a veritable Tennis Machine. Plus, he was a bit younger than I. I slammed the ball, took a deep breath, and nothing happened. I doubled over, struggling for a sip of oxygen, and making strange, strangling noises. My tennis partner raced to my side, helping me sit up'
“Are you o.k.?” He kept asking. I waited, unable to respond.
"You’ll be fine in a minute,” I told myself, wondering if I was telling the truth. Was I going to die on this tennis court?
As quickly as it came, the episode passed. I began to gulp lungsful of the precious, invisible desert air. Denial kicked in; this was a one-off experience.
Every breath we take is a gift from God, which we don’t fully appreciate until we lose it. It would be years until I got an accurate diagnosis: Severe restrictive lung disease due to the thickening of the sack surrounding my lungs, caused by my life-long connective tissue disease and, chronic bronchial asthma. The tightening of the surrounding tissue is squeezing my lungs. The small bronchia of the upper lungs constrict, causing the cut-off of air. Two separate problems.
As bleak as this diagnosis sounds, I turn 82 this Christmas Eve. I was supposed to die of my disease by age 20. God has added many years to my life.
I am blessed since I invited Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. He has allowed me to have a productive, fulfilling career. An M.S. degree in counseling permitted me to serve Him in a wide variety of settings.
I have had two husbands, not at the same time, my last for 42 years; one son, two granddaughters, one grandson, and a great-granddaughter due in December. I enjoyed tennis for over twenty-five years before I had to quit.
Though now on oxygen round-the-clock, my husband carries my portable oxygen condenser as if it was a small gym bag. I hook my arm through his arm, and off we go.
Looking under ‘Breath,’ the Bible Concordance references the following verses:
Genesis 2:7 records God making man from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the “breath of life.” All life is from Him.
In John chapter 20, after His resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples telling them to receive the Holy Spirit as a symbolic promise of the coming Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
When a person receives Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit, the very Breath of God, lives in that person forever.
Psalm 150:6 states,“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”
That’s what God created us to do so long as we have breath.
Non-fiction
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