I think I am finally able to write. Since the Coronavirus hit, I have not been able. Not out of any grand preparation for isolation, but for the simple fact that I just had nothing productive to say. I was actually afraid I might do more harm than good if I opened my mouth about how I was feeling. At first, I was in denial. Felt nothing. Then the anger came. The layers of disappointment ( and you can all fill in the many blanks that describe your personal areas of loss/disappointment/and important life events that have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely) were almost more than I could bear. I know they are rich people problems, but they are the ones we have nonetheless. I won’t bother to list mine, because I like to keep my blogs under 1,000 words 😬.
Next came the grief and sadness and feeling sorry for myself. I was crossing my arms stubbornly and ignoring God because who else could I blame? Yesterday, after processing and talking with friends and forcing myself to listen to teachers wiser and more grounded than me, I started to defrost. Now, everything makes me cry…but in a soft and ready to move forward kind of way.
Here are some of the inner conversations and revelations that helped me be able to type even one word. I hope something I say helps you wherever you are at today.
I started to be “willing to willing” to accept the reality of this virus and all it brought with it when I watched a Beth Moore lesson on “Breaking Free.” In a nutshell, she told a story about being in a third world country in a hotel lobby when the lights went out. She could hear chaos and yelling, but not in English. Her husband was still up in their room. She said she stood still, terrified, not knowing where to go and knew it would do no good to yell since no one could understand her. Then, she heard heavy feet coming down the cement staircase and walking towards her. She could tell it was a man, which scared her even more, and even though she knew no one would understand her, she said, “It’s me. I’m just standing here” (she had no idea what else to say!) . He responded, “Baby, this is your man. You just stand right there and I’ll be there soon.” So she did. She just stood there like a little child, held out her arms and wiggled her fingers in the direction of his voice and repeated, “Come get me. Come get me. Come get me.” She said, “And sure enough, he came and got me.”
Her point was, there will be some times in your life when as much as you believe in and after all the places you have been with God, that things will seem dark and you will question where He is. You are terrified to even move, the darkness is so all consuming and you can’t even see the hand in front of your face. But, even though you can’t see where He is, HE KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE.
I have been having a hard time getting to God because of my fear, my anger, my sadness. But luckily, God still knows how to get to me when I call for him. I just kept praying, “Come get me. Come get me. Come get me.” And sure enough, he came and got me. Just being willing to ask him to come was enough to melt my heart and let him Him in again. Finally, I am (mildly) open to listening to what he can do in me and through me during this time.
Ya know, I think that’s enough for today. I have several more things to share, but just for today, I think that is plenty to digest. Until I asked him to “Come get me”, nothing else could get through to my heart.
I’ll give you a day or two to ask him to “Come get” you too. Then we can chat some more. 😘
I’m having a bit of a different response but that’s primarily because I get to go to work store so I have some structure in my life. One of the things that I am finding pretty exciting is that I am finding that God is giving me a lot of Joy during this time because if people are having a hard time I can tell them about my God, of my understanding, the great Jehovah for him none of this is a surprise at all of this is coming to us through his hands. I believe this is an opportunity for people to take stock of their lives and to recognize that they need to saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We can tell them that He carries our cares And wants nothing more than a relationship with them so much that he sent his son to die for us. If we look beyond the current situation to the big picture it is exactly as it is supposed to be at this moment in time