How to survive the crazy days

There's a lot going on right now, isn't there?

People's lives have been displaced and homes rearranged to make space for us all.

So much of all of this is reminiscent to our past year.

From the white masks strung across faces to the feelings that come with being quarantined. It's almost as we've been walking in this for a while and yet it's so different as I see people all over our world dealing with the same thing too.

Worry, fear and anxiety seem to be filling our feeds as well as our thoughts these days and it all can be overwhelming.

But I want to share with you something you already know

-worry is not a good option for us.

It affects our health and even our well being and it causes us to lose trust in God.

And I truly believe God doesn't want this for our lives!

But what do we do?

How do we deal with all of this chaos + uncertainty?

We have bills to pay and not enough funds . . . our kids are running around like they're going crazy and the schools are telling us they'll be doing "distance-schooling" , which really means we will be homeschooling them and the teachers on the other side of the screens will be worried sick if they’re doing enough to help their students pass . . . and forget the reason we are all in this mess - the devastating threat of this virus invading our world . . . with all of this craziness, how can we settle our worried souls?

Have you realized lately - God isn't worried?

He isn't shocked or even freaked out about all of this.

In fact he knows how this will all turn out, because he is God.

So again I ask what do we do?

I shared on a facebook live today (which you can find on my feed) about the time when Joe first received his diagnosis and we gathered with the church leadership and some of our friends for a time of worship and Joe prayed these words . . .

"God, if I have to have cancer so that someone else can know you, then I'll do it . . . "

I shared how these words shook me up and caused me to look inside my own heart, inside my own fears.

These words honestly broke me.

Because they made me realize people knowing God is what it's really about.

And because it's so easy for my heart to wander from this as my main focus. Joe’s prayer caused me to shift and realign my priorities that day.

It made me think about what I place in front of God's pursuit?

It caused me to search my heart and my prayers too.

And the prayer I began to pray was no matter the outcome or results of all of this, past all of our circumstances, are people who need to know you, God.

What about you right now in the middle of this pandemic?

How are your priorities shifting?

You see, what we learned in the midst of traveling through that valley was not the length of the valley or even how desolate it appeared. It was how many travelers there were walking beside us who needed us to bring them some hope.

There is something entirely mind blowing about this crisis and it is . . .

What is happening across the world is happening here too. And despite how rich, poor, or what you do for work, single, married, none of it matters because we are in this TOGETHER.

And this is what God's been putting on my heart that we aren't doing this alone, but together.

Yes, we may be isolated in our own homes and separated but we aren't doing this by ourselves - There's a world full of people going through it right beside us and this alone brings comfort to me.

I've always been someone who loves doing hard things with others.

And although I want no one else to suffer, to know we are doing it together builds connection, a potential for greater impact for his good.

So, friends this week, within these days let's be people who usher light into the darkness, crowd out the despair and hopelessness and bring Jesus into our days and back into our homes more.

Because I truly believe God is using these moments to bring our hearts back home to him.

-And not just some of us, but all of us!

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Last year as we walked through Joe's cancer we leaned hard into a few things, which really helped us.

We poured ourselves out to God in prayer (the good, the hard and even the ugly ones), we poured God's word into our hearts and we poured our praises upward toward him . . .we did this again + again, day after day.

And you know what happened?

He supplied all of our needs and filled us with so much peace.

Thinking of you all and worshiping today to . . . We Rise by Cageless Birds

Don't forget our ten grounding words . . .

Ps. 59. 16b

"You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble."