Have you ever had a time where you felt like you just couldn’t breathe? Stress weighs you down and the “to-do-list” becomes the “too-much-to-do-list.” It’s during those times when we just need a friend to come breathe life into us. And one of the most beneficial ways they can do that is with words.

I’m not a swimmer, and I’m not brave enough to go scuba diving. But I had a conversation with someone who actually went scuba diving. My first question to her was, “weren’t you scared?” “What if you can’t breathe with the oxygen tank on?” Her response, “the guide who took me below the surface of the deep, strapped an oxygen tank on his back, a mask on his face, and flippers on his feet. I only had on a mask and flipper?” Her response left me with a puzzled look on my face. She then went on to explain how she asked the guide where was her oxygen tank. His response, “I’ve got it,” as he patted his back.

She further explained how they jumped into the ocean with the guides arms around her like a sack of potatoes. “The guide drew oxygen from the tank and then passed the breathing apparatus to me. We took turns breathing in the oxygen in what he called “buddy breathing.” As she laughed, she said, “at that moment I realized I was totally dependent on this man to keep me alive!”

As I reminisced about the conversation with this woman, “buddy breathing” or “buddy breathers” is what I prefer to call it, reminded me of life-giving words of friends that I’ve experienced through the years. Words that have been like oxygen when I’ve felt like I was drowning.

Solomon wrote, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body (Proverbs 16:24 ESV).

Life-giving. Soul nourishing. Buddy-breathing words.

Solomon also painted a beautiful portrait of the power of a woman’s words to her friends in  in (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10,12 ESV).

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken”

It is often with words that we pick up a friend who’s fallen down. 

Throughout the years I’ve noticed that a true friend is one who knows what you need without you even asking. She’s someone who will offer to pitch in and help when she sees you growing weary. A true friend cares about the state of you heart. She listens without toxic critique, but will set you straight if she sees you straying off course. A true friend believes in you and has no problem celebrating you. A true friend will check you with love and offer to walk the journey with you. A true friend passes the oxygen of encouragement when you feel like you’re drowning.

Let’s embrace a woman with words that warm a chilled soul, words that fill an empty heart, and words that lift her up when she is lying face down in defeat.

I thank God for being that friend who breathes life into my aching soul. I praise God for allowing me to have “buddy breathers” in my life and for equipping me to be “buddy breathers” to other women.
 

PEARLStoPONDER: Are you a “buddy breather?”

Proverbs 16:24-- Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 27:17-- Iron sharpens iron, and one man{woman} sharpens another

Proverbs 18:24-- A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

1 Thessalonians 5:11-- Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.