I don’t know where you are in reference to COVID-19 — geographically, emotionally, mentally or physically — so this is simply me processing out loud, not hoping to heap more words onto your already full plate. Plus, only you and Jesus can decide how you’re going to feel about all of this. But maybe this can at least be another ray of light.

COVID-19 is exposing not only my lack of control but also my dependence on life going as I want to have joy and peace. I heard recently, ‘Dependence on God is life. Independence is a deadly myth.’ In the Kingdom of God, dependence on anything other than Him will cripple us.

Depending on life to be manageable, or uninterrupted by scary or sudden things, or always within our realm of capability will produce a lot of fear, pressure and exhaustion in us. Can we hope for resolution? Can we strive to make wise decisions and take care of our families? Can we pray for COVID-19 to disappear entirely? Absolutely. But if we are paralyzed from loving our neighbor or knowing the smile and peace of God because of it, we’re asking life to do something for us it cannot.

“Remind yourself continually: it takes the same amount of energy to worry as to pray. One leads to peace, the other to panic. Choose wisely.” Todd Wagner, TGC

Oftentimes, in crises like this, we feel like peace is on the other side of a raging river. The effort it seems it would take to get over there feels far too overwhelming and challenging, so we settle for our comfortable place, which is often anxiety or research or grumbling to a friend or ignoring reality altogether. But do you realize you have a Spirit, a Person, of peace inside you. His peace is indestructible, truer than your worry and strong enough to handle anything thrown at it. It is already yours. Agree with it. Believe it. And give it to others.

Proverbs 12:25 says “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” What is the truth you need to repeat over and over again to settle you down, to calm your soul, to give your mind breathing room to relax? Repeat it. Tape it up everywhere you can see it.

I like these words from Dane Ortlund: “From heaven’s shore we will see how eternally safe we were all along, even amid the global upheaval and anxieties that loom so large as we walk through them… How un-harm-able we are, we who are in Christ. Be at peace. All is assured.”

Anything can be an invitation to deeper intimacy and dependence on Christ. He is our reality. He is our life (John 1:1-4), our safety, our joy, our rest and our good.