For me, this will be the school year that I said goodbye to my students for Spring Break and we never came back. School has officially been closed until next school year with teaching going online. Yet it’s not the same. I miss being in my classroom. I miss my students and I miss teaching.

Being at home for so long has had its ups and downs. For awhile, it felt like mostly downs. I was trying to figure out how to balance and full and part time job during the week and still manage to get stuff done around the house. I wish I could say that everything was perfect and fine during this whole quarantine situation but I would be lying. I have felt angry, sad, anxious and depressed on and off through out this whole ordeal. I miss the life I had, the people I saw and met with and the places I got to go.

Then I started focusing on just taking things one day at a time. I started getting into God’s word more and praying more. With each passing week, things would seem to get a little better. I was able to manage my schedule a little bit more. I was able to sleep a little bit better and longer than I had previously. Things seemed to be looking up. So what changed?

Perspective.

The situation is still hard and has not changed but my mindset has. I am more focused on God and taking things one day at a time than I was before. Then this week, I cam across a passage in the book of Psalms that really stuck with me.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

Psalm 34:4

This verse seemed to just jump out at me. This is what I was wanting to do and what I have started to do now. I realized I needed God and could not do anything on my own. The last month I had been trying to do everything while depending on my own strength and it was exhausting and getting me no where. It was draining and putting more stress on me and my husband. God spoke to me through this verse. I needed Him. I need him every day.

I did some research on Psalm 34 and realized it is one of the Psalms that David wrote while Saul was trying to kill him. 1 Samuel 21 and 22 talk about this event. It was while he was hiding in a cave that he wrote Psalm 34. The first verse of Psalm 34 starts off “I will bells the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” It amazes me that while he is being chased and sitting in a cave, David said he will always praise God, no matter what. He is called a man after God’s own heart for a reason.

Sometimes, we get into hard situations and it is easy to allow our situation to over take us. It is easy to ask God “Why?” and shake our fists at him in anger. It is easy to fall into a depression and feel as if we can not get out. The hard thing is to continue to praise God and thank Him for what He is doing. Yet when we are able to bring ourselves to the point where can praise God for what He is doing or has done, it tends to lift spirits. I know from personal experience that praying for someone or helping someone in some way, helps me get out of my head and changes my perspective.

Not only does praise God change things but talking to Him about our fears. When we pray to God, tell him what is going on and honestly seek after Him, he takes our fears away. He grants us peace that we need to get through the day. I am finding more and more that I need His peace each day.

He did it for David.

He can do it for us to.

We are surrounded by things that cause us to fear. The Pandemic, the isolation, the media, the fear that this will never end or what if this is the end? Yet worrying about all of these things does nothing for us.

Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?

Matthew 6:26-27

Worrying won’t stop things from being hard or change how things are right now. Trusting in Jesus and giving Him all of your fears and worries can change your perspective and how you live.

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

Cast your fears to Him today. He can handle them. There is nothing that God can not handle. He loves you and He will see us through. He saw David through his hard time. God will do the same for us. We have to trust Him.

Do you know Christ? Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior?

I pray that you do. I pray that you trust Him and will seek him this week. If you don’t I pray that God places someone in your life who can personally talk to you and lead you to Christ. God loves you so much that He sent Jesus, His only son, to die on the cross, for you, so that you would not have to die. He did this so you could be with Him in Heaven one day.

I pray you come to know Him as I do.

Until Next time,

God Bless.