It’s important that we try to reach out to each other during these days of worry, concern and uncertainty. Staying connected has never been more valuable, or important, than these days!
So, let me encourage you that when someone comes to your mind, first of all to pray for them, then give them a call and check in on them. They will appreciate it, and you will receive a blessing for doing so. We really DO need each other!!
Life is looking a lot different than usual for most people. Even though this global pandemic is an experience unlike any other, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about how this season reminded me of a season I’d walked through before.
I remember going through a pretty tough time in my life when I felt like everyone had turned against me and had turned their backs on me, even the church. I was many miles from any family, and felt stuck and alone, fighting a battle I had never fought before. I began to feel uneasy about how this could be good. My world, once abundant in relationships and activities was feeling empty.
Maybe right now you’re feeling this way too—distant from friends and family you love, living life in a way you never have had to before, missing the normalcy of your old routine, and feeling the loneliness sink in. But my story didn’t end in the emptiness, it blossomed again into abundance. I believe that with patient endurance, God will do that again for each one of us!
So today, I am reminding myself and you of these truths that I clung to within that season:
We Are Loved
Hold tight to this truth—Jesus loves you! Even if we have known this all our lives, for some reason, in seasons like this, we can begin to doubt it. The more trouble hits home, it can feel even harder to believe. Why would a good God let bad things happen?
There are many circumstances we will face in our lifetime that will not have a clear answer to that question. Isaiah 55:9 NIV says: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We aren’t always going to have an answer for why things like this happen the way they do, but we know who has the answers AND He loves us. We can always trust Him and remember His love for us— a love so powerful that it drives out fear.
Only Jesus Can Give Us the Peace We’re Looking For
Distractions might help for a while—binge watching tv shows, cooking new recipes, scrolling through social media, chatting with friends. But if you’re like me, when night falls and bedtime calls, I find myself struggling to sleep unless I take my anxiety to Jesus.
In John 14:27 NLT, Jesus says, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Nothing the world gives can help our hearts rest. We find serenity for our souls when we lay worries at His feet.
We Don’t Have to Put on a Brave Face
There might be a lot of different feelings we are processing in this season. That’s okay. It’s important to embrace vulnerability in order to stand in strength. Sometimes the biggest act of bravery is admitting our sadness. Bravely sharing the parts of our hearts that aren’t so joyful with God can deepen our relationship with Him, and help us face each morning with hope.
When we look at Scripture, before Jesus went to the cross, we can see His heartache in knowing what He was about to face. In Matthew 26:37 ESV, Jesus actually says to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, “My soul is sorrowful.” He spent the moments after, praying and sharing this with His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.
While Jesus knew what was to come, we don’t always know. However, we do know that out of the sorrow of Jesus’ story, came the hope we have today. This part of His story lets us know that God cares about our emotions and that it’s okay to admit to God what we feel in this very moment. We don’t have sweep today’s emotions under the rug just because we know that someday it will all be joyful again.
We Don’t Have to Have it All Figured Out
When things are out of our control, we can feel a great need to rein it all back in. We might find ourselves wracking our brains to try to figure out how to make things better, easier, or more routine. Plans and goals, of course, aren’t inherently bad, but when we make them out of a motivation to keep up with others or society’s expectations, it can leave us caught in feelings of comparison and failure.
Let’s simply approach each day seeking Him first and doing the next right thing. In case you need this reminder today, here’s how God’s Word puts it (Micah 6:8 The Message): “He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love. And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”
He Will Give Us All We Need
In seasons like this, it can become especially easy to start asking, “What if?” This often leads to feelings of anxiousness and fear, powered by our imagined understandings of the scarcity in our world. But our Father offers the opposite—a hopeful sense of incredible abundance. Time and time again in Scripture and in our own lives, we have seen Him do more than all we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
If our God is unchanging, then why would this season be any different? Let’s trust that He will provide our daily bread and choose not to worry about tomorrow, like He encourages us to do in Matthew 6:34.
We Can Bring Hope to Others
Who knows what God is doing in the midst of seasons like this? For me, as I acclimated to a new way of doing life, I found both comfort and encouragement in knowing I wasn’t the only one walking through this experience.
I found new friends and connected with many that were feeling the same way about having a new life situation. All of these people were gifts from God to encourage and challenge me to grow.
In this season, all of us are walking through this big, scary situation together. Let’s choose to view this common experience as an opportunity to spur one another on toward sharing God’s Love Over All!
As Hebrews 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering,” and let’s not neglect to gather together (even if gathering looks a little different), but “encourage one another” through this time.
Let’s choose to live with the perspective that looks for hope in each new morning so that during this season and especially afterward, we can share a story of God’s faithfulness through it all!