No doubt, 2020 has been bizarre. I've had many conversations with friends about the good, the bad, the difficult and the blessings in disguise throughout the last few months. Some of my favorite conversations so far are ones about seeing the way God works in our lives during a season of being pushed out of familiarities and comfort zones.
As much as I wish I had the answers, I don't know why COVID has affected lives the way it does. In the beginning of the year, when people talked about their hopes and dreams for the New Year, many declared this year to be filled with 20/20 vision. Three months later, everyone was living their lives from home. Looking back at it, I can see this as God's pre-workout for 20/20 vision. If I could describe what the last few months have been like, I'd say it's been a cycle of resetting, recovering, reviving, and repeating.
Reset. Normal life has rushed us into the routine of over commitment. One of the reasons why 2020 has been such a difficult year is because people finally have time in their schedules and we have forgotten how to deal with the silence of sitting with hours of free time. In the Bible, God spoke a day of rest into existence when he created the world. Jews did literally nothing once a week on this sabbath day. They didn't even have work to do, meals to prep, not even instagram to scroll through on this day. God designed sabbath as a reset so what is done on the working days won't consume the core being of who we are.
Recover. Along with resetting, most of us deal with our own personal baggage of problems and pains that the over committed lifestyle doesn't provide adequate time to heal from. The truth that is some people struggle to accept is that not all injury's heal miraculously over night. While sitting in a more regular routine of resetting, I've found that there was still areas of my life that hurt from before having a relationship with God. I thought that inviting God into my life miraculously healed me, but in reality I've pushed it aside. When you decide to partner with Jesus Christ in your life, you choose life over death. (2 Cor 5:17) But out of the abundance of God's love for his children, He also desires us to be healed and whole. (Isa 53:5) Healing is the process that comes from choosing life through Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 says "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." No matter how old you are, God is constantly healing, shaping and delivering you to completion.
Revive. Imagine for a second that you are the blind man in Matthew 9 and Jesus has just miraculously healed your vision. Imagine the rejoicing, the excitement, the awe and wonder you would have of the Lord. When I think of revive, I think of the external and internal restored vision of this man. We all have blind spots in our lives, and part of resetting and restoring is to shine light on the areas God wants to heal you in. When you persist through the discomforts of healing, that paves a way for a revived perspective. The revived version of you is what directs your attention to the 20/20 vision that is unique to your life.
Repeat. Part of the faith journey is to endure. Paul encourages everyone "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Rom 5:3-4) As I quoted earlier, God is bringing you to the day of completion. It's a process, not a one time work and wonder. Whatever God is teaching you in this COVID season, choose to live it out daily. It's not a lesson exclusive to this year. And remember, your hopes and expectations for 2020 might be canceled, but your prayers aren't.
xxKY
