SPECIAL POST INSPIRED BY COVID-19 CIRCUMSTANCES AND REALITIES
My health is a wreck. I have another perfect storm of symptoms hindering me from living life as I would’ve liked. No, I don’t have COVID-19, but that novel virus has complicated my efforts to seek treatment or find answers regarding what is going on in my body.
Strange health issues are not new to me. In 2009, my digestive and immune systems were turned inside out, upside down, and have never been the same. Adjusting to that new normal took time, but is so much a part of my daily routine that I don’t let it phase me anymore—or I at least don’t let it stop me from being who I am and doing what I feel that God has called me to do.
Having lived in Venezuela, I have experienced shortages of food, scarcity of goods, isolation for safety, lockdowns, and other uncertainties. That aspect of new normal, at the time, created tremendous reverse culture shock when I returned to the U.S. finding a dozen different types of ketchup and forty types of bread (before I ended up gluten intolerant in 2009).
While on the phone with a friend today, diligently practicing social distancing, but two extroverts struggling with social isolation, I had a meltdown and a revelation.
1. Everyone’s longing to “get back to normal” will never be “normal” as we once knew it.
2. Many of us who have navigated a “new normal” in the past know the pain, the agony, the grief, the challenge, and the extra grace in the transition that all come with the adjustment.
3. My previous and current health issues, my experience in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, may trigger PTSD type symptoms, fears, and exhaustion....
4. BUT God is not surprised by any of this. He is still sovereign. His power is made perfect in weakness. He’s got this. And I can trust Him.
5. God gives us permission and space to lament. Don’t believe me? Just read the Psalms!
Some may find these words ironic in the midst of the publication of a video series on being Victorious and Joyful in Battle. Suffice it to say that I have lived through a few battles (most of which don’t bear mentioning here). With greater authority as someone who is currently in the trenches, I invite you into the acknowledgement of the trenches of the battle in order that we might together declare victory with the King.
Love, a fellow warrior and Iron Rose Sister
M.