What is COPD? It is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It is usually associated with emphysema and/or chronic bronchitis. So it is often common with smokers or people who have been exposed to environmental irritants, like asbestos. This is what I have too, but not from bad lungs but from weak muscles that keep the lungs capacity to work limited. The best illustration to demonstrate to you the breath of a COPD patient is for you to take a deep breath, then without exhaling, take a second breath. That second breath is what every breath with this disease feels like. It does make a person easily fatigued but can be managed with the right lifestyle and medicine.
'If you're still breathing, you can keep going.' Yes, sometimes I have to take a breather break but that doesn't mean you succumb to a quitter attitude. ''In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.'' John 16:33 ''In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of every human being.'' Job 12:10 Maybe with the weather being so hot and humid now, you can feel the increased effort to breathe for yourself. It is one of those gifts we easily take for granted but without it we cease to exist. I picked out the following verses to remind ourselves how much each breath of ours means, Who gives it and what to do with it.
Job 33:4 ''The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.''
Psalm 39:5 ''You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.''
Psalm 150:6 ''Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.''
