Faith

Faith.  It’s easy to make declarations about having faith when your world is going at a typical pace.  When every day is not great but not horrible either.  When life is average, you can hope for the extraordinary and not be too terribly put off when the extraordinary doesn’t occur.  Miracles are only special because they don’t happen all the time.  So, we hope for the things not seen, but we can get complacent in our faith.

You can go back to my first postings in January 2020 and practically smell the hope.  You can almost tangibly feel the anticipation.  Something great was on the horizon.  Things were clicking along in February 2020.  Not too shabby.  Then March 2020 hit.  The coronavirus arrived on American soil, and there was a shift in the atmosphere.

It became real to me when I went to the grocery store after all the schools were closed in Central Arkansas.  I was only going for fresh fruits and vegetables.  People said that the stores were a mad house, but I waited for the dust to settle before I ventured out.  I was greeted with a pretty barren fresh produce section.  It really was like a scene out of a movie, but this was real life.

As the week progressed, news of more deaths rolled in.  The number of cases of COVID-19 continued to climb.  I thought today of what the funerals must be like for those that have passed on.  With recommendations that gatherings are limited to ten or less, it gave me pause.  How are they dealing with saying goodbye to loved ones in a time when social distancing is the new normal?  What must it be like to not be able to comfort those you love when they are in the throws of this disease?  What does faith look like in these times?

Well, my faith is certainly not complacent.  I’ve been praying and expecting God to perform miracles, signs, and wonders since the beginning of 2020.  I couldn’t know then just HOW much I would need for those things to happen in the upcoming months.  My faith looks like prayer.  My faith looks like believing God for great things when the world is in disarray.  My faith looks like holding on to His promises that He is a healer, protector, and provider.

I not only have faith in God, but I also have faith in humanity. I believe that we can come together during this time to encourage and uplift each other.  That may take the form of uploading a silly video.  It may be dropping food off at your temporarily unemployed cousin’s house.  It may be pulling your elderly neighbor’s trash can to the curb, so they don’t have to get out.  I’m a firm believer that prayer and faith can move mountains.  #wepreach