Quarantine is a bit Overwhelming

    According to the Barna Group, 72% of women say they have too much stress in their lives,  more than half of all moms say they are overcommitted.  This was BEFORE our current plague outbreak.  Let’s face it,  life is overwhelming,  especially now. 

   We have been asked to ‘work from home,  school your children at home,  connect with friends from home,  attend church online and keep your family calm”.  When I write, I often turn to my thesaurus to find better words.  Overwhelmed has an overwhelming number of words to express it.  Dazed, stunned, astounded, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, overthrown, conquered.  Read through that list again, slowly.  Feels like the days we are living in, doesn’t it?

   My head spins at all the numbers the reporters throw out at me on a daily basis.

   I was stunned to see the empty shelves in my local grocery store. 

   It astounded me to pull into the Costco parking lot and see a line of 600 people waiting to get inside the store.

   Small business owners are closing by the dozens and  restaurants begging us to carry out their food.

   Schools, churches closed.  Hospitals off limits unless you’re a patient.

   Coronavirus has conquered our country.

    Fear is always going to weaken it’s victims.  As we stand in these moments,  I want to proclaim in the words of Isaiah to everyone who is discouraged, 
         “Cheer up!  Don’t be afraid! Your God is coming to punish your enemies.  God will take         revenge on them and rescue you.”   Isaiah 35:4 CEV      

   Several years ago, an acquaintance waited in a hospital waiting room outside a burn unit where two of her three children lay.  They had been injured in an explosion and the doctors had never given them any hope. After only a few days,  the doctor came out of the unit to deliver the news that her daughter was gone.  Instead of bursting into tears, this mother began to sing,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiEqKpN90W4

Thinkin’ on this today.  

Guardian Angels

   I go to bed every night these days and thank God for health.  None of my immediate family is infected.  I get up every morning and am grateful for no headache or cough.  I haven’t always been that intentional.   I have six grandchildren, the product of my two children.  My daughter and her brother chose very wisely in their selection of a mate.  These ten people are the most important people in my life.  I always pick up their phone call and answer their text.  I’ve been known to jump on a plane or in a car at a moment’s notice to race to their side.  I would spend my last dollar for their benefit.  I’m a mother and a grandmother. 

   The enemy is well aware of my weakness for these people.  I am an easy target for his arrows of fear if I am not careful.  Just this morning I was awakened by a text from a neighbor and before I could go back to sleep, the thought crossed my mind.  My son and his family were flying home early this morning, what if their plane crashed or they contracted coronavirus on the flight?  Fear for those we love is perhaps the most crippling fear that can come upon us. 

   I do not confess this with any pride, in fact, I’m ashamed.  I am the Queen of “What If”.  I have lived in crippling fear and heart-pounding anxiety.  For many years I lived in the land of half empty and imagined every possible catastrophe.  Bad news would send me into a tail spin of “never” comments and attitudes.  Finally, I had enough and stepped into the realm that Jesus wants to bring to all of us. 

   The Bible is chock full of “do not be afraid” scriptures but I want us to think on Psalm 34:7 today.   It is not a “do not be afraid” scripture, it is the reason for us to not be afraid.  “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” (ESV) The New Living Translation says “For the angel of the Lord is a guard, he surrounds and defends all who fear him.”    The angel of the Lord is a guard around my loved ones.  He surrounds them.  He delivers them.  My family is under constant care of an angel army.  The simple fact is that when I refuse to relinquish them to His care, I remove them from the very one who can save them.

   I recently read a quote from Elisabeth Elliot.  (If you don’t know her story, google her!)  She spoke right into my life, “There is no grace for your imagination”.   Right?    Be there a mother who hasn’t imagined the worst?  Paul must have known some mothers when he admonished the Corinthians to take their thoughts captive.  In other words, QUIT imagining the worst, think instead about the angel of the Lord who is standing guard around your loved ones.  Change your thoughts to what is true in this moment.  The truth is that almighty God surrounds you and yours.  

Think on that for a while. 

Plan like you're Gonna Live Forever

    I'm a planner,  I have a Happy Planner,  I use it as a mini journal also adding pictures and brief entries about what's happening.  If I wake up with a chorus running through my mind,  I jot it down there.  I keep track of specific prayers and their outcomes. It works great for me. 
    I have used all my “cancelled”  and “ rescheduled”  stickers over the last month.  I cried as I marked though ten days of tropical stickers with a red marker.  My long awaited cruise to Hawaii has been sidelined by a bug.  That was the day, I despaired.  I wasn’t worried about the future, I couldn’t see any future.  As we hunker in lock down,  it’s hard to see any future.  My planner sets blank because I have no idea when I can make nail appointments again or have lunch with a friend.  No trips or events can be written into my planner.  Even doctors and dentists don't want to give me a date. It’s very easy to be hopeless  about the future.  Some days I wonder if this is the way we are going to live till Jesus comes.  A friend told me today this is going to wipe out humanity.  That's not Biblical but I can see how one could come to that conclusion.   It’s no surprise we feel out of control,  because we are. 

    Today’s Bible verse is Luke’s interpretation of the same teaching Mark wrote about in yesterday’s post.   Mark focuses on Jesus’ actions rather than His words.  Luke, the physician, is very practical.  He, too, talks about birds, flowers, food and drink and he acknowledges that we are worth more than birds.  But, Luke, throws in a little barb, (NLT)  “ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?  And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?” (Luke 12:25,26.)   He calls adding a single moment to our lives a " little thing".  It's an obvious point,  no amount of worry is going to help anything.  We can’t control the smallest thing in our lives any more than we can contol the Coronavirus.  Worrying about our future is futile.  Being out of control is frightening but the fact is we are out of control.  Knowing we can't control anything  requires us to make a choice.  Trust or Fear?  The birds are not fearful, they trust the God of all creation,  maker of Heaven and Earth.  

    I memorized a little couplet in college that comes to mind today:

“Your love in times past, forbids me to think, you’ll leave me at last in troubles to sink.”  

Me and Jesus,  we have a history.  I have found Him trustworthy

Today,  I'm going to Think on that. 

Show me the Money, if it's still there

   I don’t have a lot of money, I sold a house in Oklahoma a couple of years ago and put that money in “low risk” investments.  I haven’t had the desire to check over the last few  weeks.  I’m sure it’s depleted a bit,  but I’m okay for now.   I’ve heard some friends and family in extreme despair over the amounts “lost in the stock market”.   Indeed the news wants to shout  “depression”  several times daily.   I know some small business owners and restaurant owners who are in dire straights now.  My nail tech and my hairdresser are without income and I understand their fear and frustration. 

    Jesus did too.  He knew humans need money, He understood its purpose and He knew how it could corrupt the heart. In Matthew 6, Jesus was giving some practical tips for life and in verse 25, he spoke of money.   Even in this very practical discussion,  He desired that we would trust in Him. 

   “Look at the birds”.  I am not a bird watcher,  but last spring a hummingbird built a nest on my string lights over the patio.  My grandkids and I watched in wonder daily as she buzzed around that nest.  One morning we saw three itty bitty triangles peek out the top of the nest.   It was amazing to watch the mother drop food into those little mouths for days.   Finally,  one day we saw tiny bodies attached to the tiny mouths.  And, then, the nest was empty.  It never occurred to any of us to worry about those little birds.  The kids never asked to feed them.  The afternoon the wind blew the nest to and fro,  no one suggested we rescue it.  We  just assumed the hummingbirds would be all right. And that’s exactly what the Word says,  “ Look at the birds in the sky?  They don’t plant or harvest.  They don’t even store grain  in barns,  your Father in Heaven takes care of them.”   And then He asks the most interesting question,  “Aren’t you worth more than them?”  Matthew 6:26  CEV

   On my worst day I don’t compare myself to a bird. I definitely think I’m worth more than a bird.  Jesus thought so,  He came to die to save me.  God thought so,  He sent His only son to die for me. He promised to provide for all my needs. I can testify,  I have been the recipient of His provision many times.  I have never gone hungry,  never been unable to pay my bills, still gone on vacations, bought new clothes, eaten at my favorite restaurants.   When money grew scarce in our home,  my Mom would quote  Psalm 37:25  “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread.”  And we never did. 

Jehovah Jirah,  our provider.   Thinkin' about that this morning.    

Unwrap the right Gift

   There is a constant barrage of news and social media posts regarding coronavirus. So much information is swirling through our televisions, computers and personal devices, it’s staggering.  It’s near impossible to know what’s true and what is not.  Mental health experts have three important words for the times we live in.  “TURN IT OFF!” 

  Social media is full of doom and gloom.  But,  if you love Jesus,  you'll share this.   Prayer chains, fake cures, political comments, it’s no wonder there is panic in our grocery stores! Some people are constantly “stirring the pot”; some by accident, more by purpose.  It’s so easy to panic and forget the peace Jesus offers.   It’s likely many of us are closet terrified while we desperately try to hold on to the peace we’ve been promised.  

   There’s never been a better time to focus on who Jesus IS.  In some of His last words to His disciples, his best friend, John records “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. ( NLT John 14:27). 

   A GIFT.   According to dictionary.com, A gift is “something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient”.  What?   He’s given us the gift of peace of mind and heart.  This is a divine legacy, direct from the Messiah who will conquer death and the grave just a few days after giving this gift.    It’s not necessary for me to pray, memorize scriptures, sing 12 worship chorus’ in panic.  Clearly this gift can overthrow panic.  Jesus even called it “My” peace. We don’t need to be “troubled” (translated as stirred up or uncertain), we’ve been GIVEN peace of heart and mind.

    

I’m thinkin’ about opening peace over panic today.  How about you?

How is it?

   A social media post making the rounds points out that you have a 100% survival rate of surviving your worst days so far.  Those are excellent odds.  In the face of today’s news, social media posts and talking heads, it’s easy to forget that.  So much bad news is swirling around us. Many of us know those who are fighting Coronavirus and life still goes on with cancer diagnosis’, broken bones, broken homes and child abuse.  Our military continues to fight on foreign fields and now must fight this disease also.  We have been isolated to our homes and our children have been pulled from their schools and routines.  We are told that these are unprecedented times. I don’t know if that’s true, certainly, in my life it is unprecedented. I read reports from the  depression and the 1918 Spanish flu, they rival today’s news.  I daresay, our fellow humans living in the middle east, might think we are having it easy. Nonetheless, it’s a turbulent time. 

   In Mark 4, Jesus and his disciples faced a turbulent time. It’s a familiar story about a trip Jesus and his friends took to the other side of the lake. A huge storm comes up, Jesus is sound asleep, the disciples get terrified and wake Him.  He calms the sea and then says something I've often overlooked in verse 40.   

   “Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  One translation says “How is it that you have no faith?”   Think on that for a minute.   These men had been with Jesus for months now, they had watched him heal the sick, cast out demons, speak to multitudes; and still cried out in fear,  “Don’t you care if we perish?” 

   I confess, that over the last few weeks, I have cried out, “Jesus, Jesus, where are you?  Don’t you see what’s happening?  Don’t you care?” 

   It would be easy today to wonder if He cares.  Coronavirus is sweeping our world, the ill are frightened, the children are confused and adults are disappointed.  And He says to me, “How is it?” 

  The lyrics of a song from the 90’s speak to this for me.  

Link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUba66K6Zk

How is it that my faith waver in these days?   Thinkin’ about it. 

Reject Fear & Anxiety

   Back in February, seems like years ago, a 30-day prayer challenge sailed into my inbox.  I subscribe to ibelieve.com.  They send inspiring blogposts and challenges by email.  I glanced at it and hit “save”.  This particular piece was titled 30 Day Prayer Challenge:  Fighting fear & Anxiety with the Promises of God by Debbie McDaniel.  It was originally published in September 2016. 

   Back in February, I was living a pretty peaceful existence. A family member was having medical tests for a potentially serious disease but the Lord had spoken such peace and assurance to me, I wasn’t overly concerned.  Fear & Anxiety were not currently a problem for me.  I must confess that these have been crippling in the past.  Perhaps that’s why, I was saving the doc for future use just in case.    

   On February 23, I opened the document and read the brief devotional and three scripture references. By March 2, our world had changed drastically, my personal world took an even sharper turn. Suddenly, fear and anxiety reared it’s ugly head. Providentially, I was 9 days in to this study; even more fortunate,  I had been journaling each day, choosing one of the 3 suggested scriptures for in-depth study. 

    Several years ago, while reading The Daniel Prayer by Anne Graham Lotz, I adopted her Bible Study method and use it almost daily for whatever scripture pops up in a devotion or sermon.  From Beth Moore studies, I learned to pray before reading the Word, asking God to show me what he wants me to see.  The God of all creation wants to speak to me, I owe Him my attention and ears!   I’ve linked Anne’s method and the ibelieve document below.

   For the next thirty days, I am going to blog the scriptures and insights that I have gained from the reading regarding Fear & Anxiety.  In many cases, these are not the most well-known scriptures.  I hope they speak peace to you in this tumultuous time. I invite you to think on these things with me. 

Tonya

https://www.ibelieve.com/printables/30-day-prayer-challenge-fighting-fear-and-anxiety-with-the-promises-of-god.html

https://www.annegrahamlotz.org/directions-to-3-question-bible-study-method/