Dear Reader,
You may not know this but you and I are intricately connected at this moment, probably more than we ever have been or will be again. We sit at home, surrounded by those we love wondering what the next day, month, or even year may hold for us all. An unwelcome guest entered our homes like a thief in the night and seems to have stolen everything we cherish and enjoy. COVID 19, I can confidently say we all wish you never existed. We close our eyes at night and hope this was all a terrible dream. We wake up and realize it simply wasn't, and we are forced to muster up the strength to get out of bed. We turn on the news and see schools closing, parks closing, and whole states locking down. We talk to friends who are forced to cancel their weddings, graduations, vacations, and other precious events. As the days roll on and the news becomes more ominous, we slowly let fear creep in and paralyze us. The crazy thing about fear is, that it acts like a virus within our hearts. We often don't know it exists until it starts to affect everything about us...we get weak, we lose our faith, our trust, and mostly our joy. The difference between the virus that plagues our world today and the virus of fear that plagues our hearts is that...
We have to fight against fear today my friends. We cannot effectively live life while also being paralyzed by the unknown. We have to wake up as if we are at war, and instead of mustering up our own strength to fight, we have to put on the armor God gives us. We must hold firm to the shield of faith to protect us from the weight of this world and the worry that is flying towards us relentlessly. We must pick up the sword of the spirit, the Bible, and start swinging like your life depends on it because it does. We must be like warriors today. We have got to fight fear with faith.
Fear is a conversation with yourself about things you cannot control.Faith is a conversation with God about things He can control.
Faith tells us that no matter what lies ahead of us, God is already there and in full control of the outcome. Faith reminds us that we will never suffer beyond God's ability to save us or make us more like him. Faith proclaims Jesus conquered sickness and death on the cross for all time! Tim Keller says it well,
“Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed, so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is being cast away from God. He took that so that now all suffering that comes into your life will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11
"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end."
The truth is, COVID 19 will end. When it does, though the pain and loss will be devastating, HE will do the unthinkable and somehow make it all right. He will have stripped us of all the good and beautiful things we tend to worship in place of Him (work, school, music, money, recreation, parks, restaurants, travel, weddings, births....the list is endless) and allow us to be singularly focused on Him. HE WILL MAKE EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN HIS PERFECT TIMING. He will re-plant eternity in our hearts and draw us to Himself again. He is more near to us today than he was before COVID 19 was in existence, and for that (though I shed tears of sorrow for losing all of the beautiful things in life for a time) I am thankful.
Lastly, remember Christ never turns from suffering, He moves toward it. On the darkest day in Jesus' life, he didn't give up on us and was hung on that cross for our sins, so don't think for one second he will leave us in our darkest days now:)
Much love and lots of stir crazy,
Annie
