Whoever believed we would run out of toilet paper on the store shelves?
How have we coped without chips and salsa and cheese dip from our favorite Mexican restaurant?
Who in the world thought we would be having online school?
Online church? Online everything?
Life is challenging on a good day. Then you add a pandemic into the mix of an already busy, full and often challenging life, and it just messes up everything.
In February, we were all moving along in life – going to doctor’s appointments, dentist appointments, visiting family, eating out, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, shopping, getting haircuts, manicures, pedicures, adding new babies to the family and sadly burying others.
It was life, our life, just what we’ve always done. Then Covid arrived.
We all embraced the first 2-3 weeks at home. In fact, some folks really enjoyed it. They deep cleaned their homes. They spent extra time with family. They spent extra time with God. And the expectation was that we would all be back to ‘normal’, at least our own ‘normal’, by Easter.
But Easter came and went. And Mother’s Day came and went. And Father’s Day came and went. July 4th came and went. And now we find ourselves in August. No longer quarantined under a mandate, but definitely not the same as we were in March.
A lot has changed since March – some folks have lost their jobs, others have changed jobs, gas prices finally dropped, we wear masks, we wash our hands incessantly, we bulk shop, we go to online doctor appointments, some of us desperately need our teeth cleaned, some have lost weight, others have eaten everything that isn’t nailed down, we stay home more often, and the list goes on and on.
A lot emotionally has changed as well – fear is a reality, depression is real and powerful, disappointments are many (weddings postponed, weddings and funerals with only a small group of people, graduations cancelled, birthday parties with no friends or grandparents), loneliness is prevalent, and the list goes on and on.
A lot spiritually has changed as well – overwhelming fear, extreme panic, non-stop worry, missing our church gatherings and the list goes on and on.
One morning, I was reading a devotional by J. H. MCC. No idea who this is or what his initials stand for. He was at a speaking event and the speaker said this, “I have been a Christian, an officer in the church, a Sunday school superintendent and yet I don’t think I have fully yielded by life to God.”
He wasn’t talking about his salvation – the moment in time that he asked Jesus into his heart and life. He was referring to a moment in time when he absolutely trusted God with ALL that concerns him.
He went on to say, “I did not see the better things God had for me, so my soul was shrinking back; and then for the last time, with a swift rush of convicting power, came to my innermost heart that searching message; “My child, you can trust the Man that died for you. If you cannot trust Him whom can you trust?”
He continued, “That settled it for me, for in a flash I saw the Man who so loved me as to die for me could be absolutely trusted with all the concerns of the life He had saved. Friend, you can trust the Man (Jesus) that died for you…You can trust Him to lead you in the path which is the very best in this world for you.”
So here we are in August. Still in a major pandemic. Whether or not you believe the numbers, whether or not you believe what the media is saying, regardless of your position on Covid, most of us now know someone who has been touched by this pandemic is a negative way.
So I say to you who are struggling emotionally, spiritually and physically, do you trust the Jesus that died for you?
With fear at an all-time high, with depression at an all-time high and with panic and worry at an all-time high, do you trust the Jesus that died for you?
Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all…”
1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God…”
You can trust the Man that died for you.
Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
He died for you and that is the most that can be done.
So we can trust Him with all the ‘less than death’.
Death is the biggest thing He did for you.
So He can handle your family, your finances, your health, your fears, your depression, your marriage, your heartache, your loneliness, your questions, your worry, your children, your grandchildren, your doubts, all your issues, everything.
You can trust the Man that died for you.
Jennifer Cook is the President of Jennifer Cook Ministries and the Women’s Ministry Director of First Baptist Church of Snellville. Church location: 2400 Main Street Snellville, GA 30078. Service times are 9:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
Phone: (770) 978-7000
Website: fbcsnell.org/
Facebooks:
https://www.facebook.com/JenniferCookMinistries/
https://www.fbcsnell.org/livingroom/
https://www.facebook.com/fbcsnell/
https://www.facebook.com/fbcsmoms/
https://www.facebook.com/fbcswomen/
