Coronanxiety (Part 3)
Here are a couple more thoughts on how we help our kids and ourselves cope with the current situation:
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Remember the power of God’s presence.
You are not by yourself in this. The whole of heaven is with you.
Psalm 139 is a great set of verses to hold on to here. Verse 2-6 (NIRV) says:
“Lord, you have seen what is in my heart. You know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know what I’m thinking…
You know when I go out to work (or when I am forced to work from home) and when I come back home. You know exactly how I live.
Lord, even before I speak a word, you know all about it.
You are all around me. You are behind me and in front of me. You hold me in your power.
I’m amazed at how well you know me. It’s more than I can understand.”
(Again, I have added the brackets.)
God sees us and He know us. He knows before a word is on our tongues what we will say. There is nothing about us that God doesn’t understand.
He is close.
He gets you.
He gets your kids.
He gets your fears.
He gets the uncertainty around your job. Or your health worries.
It’s ok.
2. Fear versus faith.
Sometimes we have to work to replace our thoughts. If we are fearful, we might need to work on our worship. I love the song we sing at the moment in church that has the line, “Your praise will ever be on my lips.” When praise is on our lips, it evicts fear, anxiety and a lack of peace. There is simply no room for it. Praise takes priority and precedent.
Deuteronomy 11:18- 21 tells us to “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”
God wants us to use these days (and these opportunities where we might be on lock-down) to tell our kids more about Him. To share in testimony of what He is doing and how He is working in the world.
Look for good news stories that are coming from Corona-related issues and share those with your children and families. Look for other good news to declare too. Here are a few to start you off!
1. Check out the videos of people in Italy on lockdown SINGING together from their balconies which went viral this last weekend.
2. All across Spain, people went to their windows to give healthcare workers a huge round of applause.
3. A video of doctors and nurses in Wuhan smiling and removing their mask has been making the rounds on social media. China closed the last of its emergency hospitals last week after spread of the virus there finally leveled off.
4. For the first time, South Korea had more recoveries in one day than new cases.
5. After Disneyland shut down, they donated all their extra food to a food bank in Orange County in California.
6. Last week, a distillery in Oregon was making hand sanitizer and giving it out for free. Now more distilleries are doing it.
7. Internet providers are offering unlimited, free public wifi during the crisis. And the big phone companies are stepping up to help too.
8. Many communities are doing grocery runs for elderly people to reduce their exposure.
9. A convenience store in Scotland has been handing out free facemasks and hand sanitizer to people over 65.
10. Pollution across the world is down due to less planes flying.