Thoughts on COVID-19

Guys.

This Corona Virus thing has been hard. 

Trust me. I know.

Plans have been canceled.

People are stuck inside going absolutely insane.

People are bored out of their minds because they've done everything they could have done a million times and now there is nothing else to do.

There are some things that God has been showing me during this time of trouble, and I want to be able to share some of it with you all 

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During this time, some of the things I've seen (even from myself, you guys, I'm not perfect) is that people start thinking about themselves when they're going through a hard time.

Trust me. I have been doing the same thing. I thought I was going to be able to spend an entire week in Olathe Kansas with all my friends in June, and now I don't even know if I'll be able to go and it's been hard for me. But something that I have to keep reminding myself is that... It's not all about me.

My counselor told me something this week that I didn't think about since this entire thing started. She told me that a bunch of her PTSD camps had been canceled and that she was super sad she wasn't going to be able to speak. I had to pause because I realized, "Oh yeah... Other people's plans have been canceled. It's not just me." It was kind of embarrassing because I saw how selfish I had been through all of this.

Maybe you have thought about all the people who's plans have been canceled. That's awesome! You're not as selfish as me! But I know there are times where we look around and think, "Man. I have nothing to do."

the problem is... There is always something you can do.

Something my counselor challenged me to do was to just take a moment and think about what you could do /for others/ that would make their day. It doesn't have to be some grand elaborate thing. it could be you taking a couple minutes out of your boring day and making your siblings bed. Or your parent's bed. Write your parents a note. Tell them how much you love them. They're in the same boat as you, give them some encouragement! Wash the dishes, make dinner, vacuum the living room. Or just ask your Mom or Dad "Is there /anything/ I can do to help you with this or that thing?" Just that question alone could make their day. But you wouldn't know unless you asked, huh?

Something else I've wondered is, "WhEn iS tHiS gOiNg To Be OvEr?!?"

Well. Only God knows when it's going to be over, and quite frankly, I shouldn't even be thinking about the things of tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34 (KJV) says:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

To be quite frank. Tomorrow is none of our business. We have plenty of problems with the day we are in now, why are we stressing out about what's going happen tomorrow, or the day after?

Yes, this is a little preachy, but I'm preaching at myself here too. I worry about what's going to happen tomorrow all the time! It's just our human nature, but we need to cling to God and his Word in the time of uncertainty and trouble. Yeah, You've probably heard that a million times just this last month probably. But we can't stress it enough because it is so important right now.

Being thankful is another thing that we humans brush off. Yeah, it's hard to be thankful when you're in a bad mood or scared or whatever, but take at least five minutes of your day, and think about what you're thankful for. Our family has family devotions every night and something we've been doing differently each day is just go around the room to say something we're thankful for. God has blessed us with so much, and we tend to forget that God was the reason we were blessed with it in the first place. So take a few minutes out of your day, and just think about what God has blessed you with and what you're thankful for.

Another thing I've found to be helpful is just... writing down words that make me happy. In no particular order. I just sit with a piece of paper and a pen and jot down these little words that make me smile when I think about them. It is a way of being thankful after all.

I hope this little bit is a help to some people. It's just a bunch of things that God is teaching me and I just feel like other people need to know.

God Bless

-K8