Day 18
Author: Meg Parangalan
July 01, 2020
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Have you prepared to be about 2 arm-lengths apart from
others when we enter Phase 4 of restoring ourselves into this world of the new
way of life? The virus by the way is
still around – its only been 97 days and there is still no vaccine to protect
us.
How can I be joyful about all this?
My heart breaks for the elderly,
the ones with compromised immunity,
the ones who by sight of wearing a mask, can be at risk
simply by the way they look …
What do these circumstances do to you? To me, it brings me
to my knees in prayer. At the moment (ATM) – there is an abundance of time to
go to the Lord in prayer. I am extremely thankful that we have the blessing of
quarantine community with my parents-in-law who have made their family visit
with us a wonderful retreat and solace that we all get to dwell in scriptures;
fast in prayer; and take communion as a family. (we also like our Nanay
Aurora’s yummy meals too). We get to call out blessings and spend time together
versus feverishly checking off touristy sights and chasing down getting them to
see another state. (though we did get to take them to Michigan this past
weekend, that was a treat! We are practicing phase 4)
I do get a peaceful
feeling when I can cry out and lament on what we see, and trust in the Lord to
use us according to His will with what we don’t see and have hope for what is
yet to come.
We ask the Lord to break our hearts for what breaks His –
and we are thankful that God created us in His image with unique abilities to
determine where we are called and challenged to act and allow ourselves to be
sent out in His name. The random text to check in, the banana bread deliveries,
serving at a food distribution site, praying with someone in isolation…. having
unity with the essentials – what matters most. We’ve also allowed conflict to
be voiced, declared and heard, listened and agreed to disagree – and call on
the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and send us wisdom.
Prayer
Our dear Lord, we thank you for your ever-present protection
and love. We sincerely find joy in this season and declare that our sorrows do
get lifted and we find joy in the morning! Your mercies are new each morning
and we embrace all of it Father. Thank you for your Son Jesus, our Savior our
brother and our friend. We ask that we be obedient to your Will in Christ Jesus
and as you send us into the midst of 50 or less, may you name be glorified, may
you use us to be your hands and feet to others, and may you break us Father –
in your own timing, in your own way. Amen.
Meg Parangalan
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