Our January unexpectedly turned into one long quarantine as our family got Covid. My husband and I started symptoms at the exact same time, so we were especially aware of our dependence on the Lord for spiritual strength to sustain us as we parented our four little ones while we were lacking physical energy and strength.
First, I want to give a shout out to the Holy Spirit for graciously planting an idea. I cannot explain the Holy Spirit because He is too Wonderful and Mysterious, but I know it was Him and I believe God’s Word confirms it in John 16:13:
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
All winter, I stored up freezer meals and told Mark, “We will dip into these if we ever get Covid at the same time.” I never expected that to actually happen and I did not know the Holy Spirit was disclosing to me what was yet to come! But I believe the Good Lord, who delights in every detail of our lives, had graciously prepared our family to have our most basic needs met while we were both sick.
He doesn’t just do this for our family . . . God takes care of every member of His family!
“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalms 37:23 (NLT)
With headaches, nausea, and brain fog, I had flashbacks to pregnancy. I was only able to comprehend about one piece of Scripture daily. During that month, He was teaching me about grace and He repeatedly calmed me with one truth found in Isaiah 30:18a:
“Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you” (NIV).
Lesson 1: The LORD longs to be gracious to YOU!
As you are reading this right now, I pray this Truth is sinking into your heart and taking deep root.
I want to share a few ways He was gracious to me, through the lovingkindness of His people, but first:
Lesson 2: No need to ask . . . Just do it!
I tried to say no to friends and family who offered to help because I didn’t want to inconvenience them, but the people who brought me to tears are the ones who just did it anyway.
Jill Savage eluded to this in her episode on The Savvy Sauce Podcast.
It’s hard for most of us to receive anything, whether that’s due to our own pride, guilt, shame, or desire to not feel like a burden. But Galatians 6:2 reminds us to
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (ESV)
So what is His law? I think the lyrics from O Holy Night succinctly answers this question:
“His law is love and His gospel is peace.”
The day I had the hardest time parenting was when I couldn’t get myself out of the fetal position on the floor. I just pathetically moved from room to room, laying down wherever my kids were so I could supervise from the floor.
The thought of food made my stomach churn, but I was weak and needed to eat. My friend April was an answer to a prayer I’m not even sure I prayed. I needed God to help me, and He chose to help me through April. She texted, “Hi friend! Wanted to let you know there are some bagels on your porch. We’ve been praying for you guys this week and hoping you’re doing ok.”
Bagels sounded great! And it restored my strength. I cried at her tangible act of love.
Around that same time, my mom dropped groceries off and sent tearful air-hugs through the window. She texted how she and her siblings were storming the gates of heaven on our behalf (I cried more) and she was reimbursing her friend, Eva, who was dropping off some supplements for us.
Eva humbles me all. the. time. She spent her Saturday afternoon driving 30 minutes to a specialty pharmacy, inquiring about natural supplements, then dropping them off at our house. I don’t know if it was her act of love, answer to prayers, time, or the supplements, but that was my turning point with Covid!
And God didn’t stop there.
To sweeten our day, our friends, Kelly and Diana, dropped off pumpkin bars. They stayed to chat for a moment (as we remained approximately 30 feet apart outside). We were encouraged by their smiles and encouragement that it would feel like a long time, but we would get through this!
My sister also dropped off a surprise on our porch to let us know she was thinking of us.
To bless us further, someone my husband works with told us she wouldn’t take no for an answer, but she needed our order because she was paying for a DoorDash delivery for our family. She was persistent until we sent her the order! And it felt like such a celebration to have food delivered directly to our door!!! (Thank you, Lauren!)
We may be odd, but we’ve never done delivery as a family. This was a treat!
God’s character was revealed even further with . . .
Lesson 3: God lavishes on us what we don’t even allow ourselves to enjoy.
Quality time is my love language, so quarantine made me really miss my friends. Words of affirmation is my secondary love language, so more tears came when my friend Julie dropped off the most caring box ever: homemade chicken noodle soup, oranges, bread, salad, dessert, Lysol, a parenting book, and a hand-written letter.
Isn’t that an awesome idea?! Her thoughtfulness is profound and taught me:
Lesson 4: Notice others and respond creatively, asking God for specific ideas to love others uniquely. (He has the BEST ideas!!!)
Our friend Shalome recently finished her own lengthy quarantine and Covid experience with her family of 7. She texted one day about Sundays being the most difficult day to be isolated because we notice how deeply we miss being with the body of Christ more so on that day. She then dropped off a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and fruit on Saturday night to give us something to look forward to the next day!
Her example reminded me of a principle my mom taught me in my youth. Mom would repeatedly tell me we often get to use the trials we face to grow in empathy and know how to comfort others well. She learned this truth from 2 Corinthians 1:3 and I’m thankful she passed it along to me.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
I would sum it up this way . . .
Lesson 5: Allow God to use my hardships to bless others going through something similar.
Sometimes I hold back from sharing something wonderful because I don’t want others to think I am bragging. I can also tend to keep disappointments to myself or only share them with my husband or family because I don’t want to bring others down. But as Drew Hunter taught us in the Friendship episode, joy shared is double joy and sorrow shared is sorrow halved.
So, I want to get better at opening up more with my community. This realization was highlighted during Covid because I was grateful for the few people who found out we were sick. Staying connected through text messages and receiving their prayers helped carry us through that long month. Looking back, I actually wish I would have shared more real-time updates with my group of friends.
When I look at the reverse, I know I want my friends to share their joys and struggles with me!
For instance, I just got a text from my friend Francie saying she and her daughter just returned from a beach trip. She noted she didn’t want to rub it in, but she would send some pics. That was certainly not rubbing it in! I loved looking at the sunshine and happy faces in each picture, rejoicing with my friend for enjoying a getaway from our cold, Midwest winter. I felt closer to her because of her choice to share her experience with me. Francie is delightful and if you want to learn more from her, check out Pursuing Your God-Given Dream.
That’s also why I invite you to share at the end of each post. I truly want to hear your perspective too! Adult conversations are one of my favorite things, regardless of the platform where they take place! And that leads me to . . .
Lesson 6: Share trials and triumphs with community in real-time. It helps us to remember lessons ourselves, encourage others, and ultimately, glorify the Lord.
Psalm 16:3 “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
Something I want to get better at is storytelling, especially for the benefit of my children. An easy way to begin is simply recounting what the Lord has done in our lives. I don’t want to hone this skill simply to entertain them . . . there is far more purpose beyond that. God uses stories to get spiritual truths into our heads and hearts. It affects the way we live and it helps us remember Him as we go about our day. That’s my hope in typing my story for you today.
I want to share faith-building stories with anyone who will benefit!
Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”
If you want to hear more stories to encourage your own faith, you don’t want to miss these episodes:
17 Being on Both Sides of Forgiveness
18 Clinging to Jesus as I Lived Through My Worst Nightmare with Angela Braker
19 Grief and Triumph and God’s Pursuit Though it All
20 Joy in the Lord Even Through Tremendous Loss…Twice
43 Joys and Challenges of Motherhood with Podcaster and Author, April Hoss
66 Sharing God’s Love With the World with Author and Amazima Ministries Founder, Katie Davis Majors
113 Supernatural Restoration Story with Bob and Audrey Meisner
115 From Addiction to Christian Minimalism
120 Our Story for His Glory with Mercedes Cotchery
122 Incredible Story of Overcoming with Rob Mitchell
123 Pornography Addiction and Meaningful Recovery with Crystal Renaud Day
Patreon 20 Personal Stories of God’s Provision with Hope Ware (For Paying Patrons Only)
This also ties into my final lesson learned during this season:
Lesson 7: All these lessons are contagious. When we are the recipients of love, we can’t help but pay it forward! So I want to look for ways to pay it forward today. And I invite you to do the same!
All these lessons can be summed up in these words found in 1 John 3:18.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (NIV)
Would you share with me now, what is an example of a time God was specifically gracious to YOU?
Love you so much,
Laura
P.S. In case you are going through your own difficult situation or if you are battling Covid yourself, I want to offer one final piece of encouragement. Have you ever heard that song, “Raise a Halleluiah” by Bethel Music? One line in there wrecks me:
“My weapon is a melody.”
I don’t know what was happening in the spiritual realm at that moment, but the instant we offered a “sacrifice of praise” (see Hebrews 13:15) when we weren’t feeling well, but chose to turn up worship music in the kitchen, something changed.
Our spirits were lighter, our hands were raised, and our hearts were open to whatever God wanted to do in and through us.
This simple application was a practical way to push back darkness during Covid. If you want to hear a powerful story related to a sacrifice of praise, I hope you listen to 62 Unexpected Grief and What Helped Me Through It Can Help You Too with Singer and Blogger, Brittany Price Brooker.
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