It was nearly a decade ago. My husband and I were invited to have dinner with our then-pastor and his family. It was the typical get-to-know-you dinner where we shared our salvation stories, discussed our interests, and talked about what brought us to that particular part of the Carolinas.
During our conversation, I mentioned writing and blogging about the things that inspired me in a positive way. Then, with the warmth of raw honey and a drawl that dripped like sweet tea, he said, “You know, the Holy Spirit is considered the original inspiration.”
At that point, I’d regularly heard about the scriptures being inspired, but never heard anyone say that.
It made a lot of sense, considering the Greek word for inspired is theopneustos, which means God-breathed. The notion of God breathing is also something we see throughout the Bible. God breathed life into Adam (Gen. 2:7) after creating the earth. Jesus breathed on his disciples and commanded them to receive the Holy Spirit when he appeared to them after the resurrection (John 20:22). And God breathes life into all people on the earth (Isaiah 42:5).
That day changed the way I saw inspiration. From that day on, I wrote about the God-breathed version that acknowledged the original source and its excellence, as opposed to the kind that never caused me to consider it.
God, in his grace, allowed me to see that finding inspiration is making room for the divine inspiration that gave us the Bible. It is a life where God moves in it and breathes on it—where our will eventually becomes a desire to do God’s will, and His Spirit motivates us to take action. It is where we draw near to Him as He draws near to us, where we cling to the vine and our branches grow fruit.
God’s word was breathed out with sobering intention for us to read, to study, and to use. So if we seek and find the wisdom in it, we can learn a lot about how to navigate this thing called life.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
And I, for one, know I need those things.
After all, life is hard. We go through a variety of seasons that send us on a rollercoaster of emotions that are oftentimes hard to regulate. Some seasons bring joy and happiness, while others leave us sad, weary and full of grief.
And yet, life goes on, no matter what we’re going through. We have households to manage, loved ones to care for, and work to do.
It would be wonderful if life was always joyous, stress-free, and predictable. But that type of easy is not what we’re promised. Instead, we’re promised a God who will never leave or forsake us (Heb. 13:5, Deut. 31:6) and His word, which will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8, Matt. 24:35) and serve as a light to guide us (Psalm 119:105).
That means we never have to go it alone. And we’re not meant to.
So, I want this newsletter to be a place where I can remind you of that. I want to encourage you to live faith-filled, hope-fueled, fruitful lives in good and hard times—as I encourage myself to do the same.
We’re all on this journey together. But in God, there’s hope and in His word, there’s wisdom.
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