What I wouldn't give to be sitting on my Grandparents porch in the mountains with trees all around, you could hear the falls and birds. It was peaceful! Or to be sitting in a lounge chair on an island listening to the waves come in and out. Simply a life in paradise.
Unfortunately, right now I am sitting in my living room trying to live life as normal as possible. I have lived through lots of hurricanes and other illnesses but none of them have ever been to the extinct of this Corona-virus 19. Every time I turn around there is another recommendation given out and more closures. Life is far from paradise!
I don't sit around watching every news update or continuously check my Instagram or Facebook accounts, but that hasn't stopped me from hearing about it. I mean I do watch the news for the daily weather update and usually news highlights. I still take a peek at Facebook, just not every second of the day.
One of the hardest things for me at this time, is no public worship and no small groups. Worshiping and learning about God is the highlights of my week. Sure we are worshiping virtually and tonight we're going to try virtual Bible study, but somehow it just won't be the same. There is nothing quite like worshiping as a body of Christ and a hug from a friend.
Some of us are worried that someone we love will end up sick or we'll end up sick none of us want that. But we live in this world where there is sickness, diseases have been around for a long time. The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? Proverbs 18:14 Deep down we all know someone we love will die or one day we will die because this world is just a temporary place. Of course we want to be in this world as long as we can, but when we know where we are going we can have a peace that when our time does come we will see Jesus face-to-face. Because I have this assurance that Jesus is my Savior I am not afraid when my time comes. Hopefully, that isn't for a long time yet.
What do we do when this craziness gets overwhelming and we just need to find our peace? I pray and let me tell you a lot of praying has been going on. Breath prayers are a big comfort, a simple cry out to God doesn't have to follow a ritual prayer. One can simply say a sentence prayer, "God please help me."
Of course things have crossed my mind, do we still go out to eat? What about getting groceries? Saturday we had to decide on how to celebrate worship on Sunday, that was a hard decision but we trust we made the right one. Not an easy thing to do even when we trust in God.
I also read my Bible, there is a lot of comfort in reading God's words. He gives us all kinds of assurances in His word.
Turning off my media and crank up praise songs is a big comfort. There is nothing like singing praise songs to the one who created it all.
Then I reach out through text or phone calls to my faithful prayer warrior friends. I know I can simply share where I am struggling and they will also be praying for me and with me.
Then I am reminded that when God's people pray wonderful things happen-so where are you prayer warriors? Are we all ready to tell this disease to go away in Jesus name? Or like in "War Room" tell Satan he can't take our joy, our family, our paradise. I say when we all pray together we can all find our paradise and soon be back to normal.
