weet Sisters,
As most of you know the last few weeks have been quite an adventure for Paul and me.
We left on October eleventh on a road trip to Oklahoma to spend time with our daughter, Rachel, and her family and with my parents and my sisters. We arrived on Wednesday, the thirteenth. Paul was really tired and did not feel well. We figured it was because it had been a long trip and we aren’t as young as we used to be. We hung out with Rachel and our grandchildren and went to Olive Garden for dinner. We ended up going to the hotel early just because Paul felt so tired.
Thursday morning, Paul woke up still feeling bad and with a fever. For some reason, an “inner voice” prompted us to pull out one of the Rapid Covid tests we had brought with us and to make sure everything was OK.
It wasn’t. The test came out positive. We waited two hours and did it again. Still positive. I did one and it came back negative. But it didn’t stay that way.
WOW!!! This was not in our plans! We called Rachel and told her the news. We decided that our only course was to quarantine for the next 10 days in our hotel room. Rachel contacted the Memorial Drive church of Christ and they immediately began to call to see how they could help us. One member dropped off a small microwave at our door. Others brought food and supplies or called to let us know they were praying for us.
What do we do when the bottom suddenly falls out of our lives? Do we panic? Do we become paralyzed by fear? Or do we turn our eyes to God and trust that He is going to catch us?
I have Bible verses that I have attached to the walls and tables around the chair I sit in when I do my devotions. Before I left on our trip, I took pictures of these verses so I would have them with me. Suddenly these verses were my lifeline to God and powerful weapons in the battle I was about to engage in.
Let me share some of them with you.
Deuteronomy 10:17
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
Zephaniah 3:17
“The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Psalm 86:10
For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Proverbs 3:5 – 6
5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Daniel 6:26 – 27
26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
“For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
27
He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
Psalm 91:1-16
1
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
I read them over and over again.
I incorporated them into my prayers.
I have mentioned before that God is faithful and He will honor His promises. There is nothing more powerful than when we approach the throne of God, armed with God’s own words.
Psalm 34:4 was especially powerful for me (see above). The Psalmist says that he went to the Lord for help and the Lord listened to him and saved him from what he feared.
Whenever I thought about catching Covid, my #1 fear was that I wouldn’t be able to breathe. I have some issues with my lungs that could have made this a real possibility. So I prayed, “God you know that not being able to breathe terrifies me. Please keep my lungs free from this virus. Please keep them strong. Nothing is impossible for you. I am trusting you that you will do this for me.”
Sweet Sisters, HE DID!!!
Never once during my Covid experience did I feel any congestion in my lungs.
Let me share some excerpts from a prayer I wrote to God when we first found out that Covid had entered our world:
“Father God – This is your chance to show how powerful and awesome you are. In the name of your Son, Jesus, and the power that raised Him from the dead, I come asking you to rise up and work mightily in this situation. Please keep Paul strong and healthy and give his body the power to fight this virus. I trust you and believe you have the power to do this. You have been faithful in our lives before and I know you will be now.
You do awesome signs and wonders! You protected Daniel in the lions den. You went before the Israelites into battle and defeated their enemies. You were with Gideon. You were with David when he fought Goliath.
Please be with us now. Go before us and fight this demon virus. Show Your great power and might.
Thank you for whatever you decide. I am yours regardless.
Sweet Sisters, let’s go back to Psalm 91:14-16. I found such comfort and reassurance in these verses. Because I love the Lord, He will rescue and protect me. He will be with me in trouble and deliver me.
Because I totally believed this, I was completely at peace during our Covid experience. I was never afraid. I trusted God to go before us and provide everything we needed.
HE DID.
Does that mean it was all easy and a “piece of cake”? No, but it was far better than it could have been and our hearts are full of gratefulness and praise to God for that.
I can’t help but wonder why God chose the time and place He did for us to have this experience. I would much rather have been sick and quarantined for fifteen days in my own house, but that’s not how it happened. Maybe by happening like it did, it took our faith and trust in God to a whole new level. It allowed us to experience the kindness and generosity of a group of fellow Christians who we didn’t even know.
It allowed us to also feel the powerful force of the prayers being offered on our behalf by those who love us here at home. We never felt alone.
So what do I suggest you do when you feel like the bottom has dropped out of your world and you are free-falling towards who knows where?
I suggest you take a deep breath and remember to whom you belong and that he will never leave you or forsake you. Like a giant eagle, He will catch you and you will find refuge under HIS Wings.
Debbie 