Hey Guys, welcome to Maranatha Blogs where we explore the heart of God for us and shoulder each other on our Christian Journey, as we await the return of Jesus. Join me as we talk about practical life experiences and how they affect our daily walk.
I hope everyone’s well and coping well as we learn to navigate in this Covid-19 season.
Here’s how I have been doing;
So recently two of my friends decided to mess with me for the fun of it. I had reached out to one of them earlier that day telling her how much I miss church. I had expressed to her how tired I was in this season of social distancing. I honestly really just wanted to escape from the four walls of my room to go on a really long drive. At this point I’d fantasized about just seeing the trees, feeling the wind brush across my face and just staring off into the ocean. LOL. mhmm…
Later that day I got a message from my other friend. She was basically telling me lets go for a drive. Her words were “lets break all the rules.” At this point I’d told her how much I needed a new setting and explained to her our restraints in this season. Little did I know they had both concocted this plan to mess with me being fully aware that none of us could go anywhere together right now. We were all sharing the same sentiments that day. Flat out over it.
A few months ago when I’d heard about the new Covid-19, this was January. I had taken it seriously since then. Therefore, by the time it had become a pandemic, my family was already prepared. I remember since about February I was sanitizing my entire work station before the virus had even been detected in my country. My coworkers probably thought I was crazy at that point. The level of sanitizing that was happening in my space every morning was world class. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the virus had been detected in my country. The panic buying began. Hand sanitizers became a rarity. I felt so proud that my family thought ahead and bought ahead, before all the essential items became a rarity. We narrowly escaped the influx in prices that became the experience of most. We were prepared. I felt satisfied that at least people didn’t think I was crazy without reason. It was all worth it in that moment.
Notice how the two paragraphs above conflict with each other? I had been prepared months ago for the effects of this virus. Why is it a few months down the line I am now romanticizing about trees and sunsets? I felt the Holy Spirit witness to me in that moment. The thought came to me, were you really prepared? I had been blind sided. My view was narrowed on the physical. I didn’t see the whole picture of what this would eventually become. I had missed the mark. How is it that I had prepared for my physical health and entirely missed even giving a thought to how I’d be affected mentally and spiritually?
I was so ready for church to close, I was ready for work to close and I was 100% ready to be done with socializing. I was really focused on the physical aspect. Not disregarding that these things are important but my view was narrowed. I had not given full thought to how this would have affected me holistically.
Sometimes we do that when preparing. We are all guilty of tunneling our vision from time to time. Most times it’s not even intentional. We can only prepare for what we anticipate in the spectrum of things. What we have in our spectrum of things is an accumulation of what we have allowed ourselves to gather or how far we have expanded our minds when evaluating an experience. In this instance I had not expanded my mind to think beyond the “now” of what I was experiencing in that moment. Then there’s the even scarier aspect of preparing and realizing that some things are really out of our control.
In this season you are probably realizing that you were never prepared, you are partially prepared, your vision is tunneled or even in all your preparedness some things are just not in your control. This is an authentic part of your life experience. A vital part that will affect how you show up in the world.
My encouragement in this season is that as you evaluate your preparedness;
- take a step back and begin to take a holistic view of what you are seeing.
- Consider all the aspects of it (whether it be home planning, career choices, your walk with Jesus, family building, your job, parenting). Are you really allowing yourself to see around and beyond what may be seemingly primary?
- Invite Jesus into your experience. Some things we will not see beyond what our natural frail will allow us to. Jesus is the best guide in helping us to be prepared. John 16:13.
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Release the things you have no control over into the hands of Jesus… Allow the lord to fight your battles through prayer. Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
Even if you’re looking back and realizing that in your preparing that there are things you forgot to prepare for; like wanting to just see trees or feeling the wind hit your face. Be encouraged. Some things are just out of our control, even though we may have prepared to the best of our ability.
Do have a blessed day!
Hey Guys, Here’s my IG; @maranatha.blog23. I have some shorter inspirational blog content there to reach the needs of all readers.
Maranatha 