At first I was afraid, maybe even petrified . . . ok, ok, enough of the Gloria Gaynor references. But we ARE finding ourselves in survival mode. Our world is facing an epic epidemic that has us all wondering what tomorrow will bring. Whether concerns lean more toward health, wealth or both, there’s a looming cloud of uneasiness that has brought most of us to our knees at some point during this grueling quarantine.

We are living history. COVID-19 has altered our world as we know it and it has cost everyone something. For some, it’s cost their hard earned savings, for others it’s cost their freedom to engage in face-to-face relationships, and yet others have found that it’s cost their health or ultimately their lives. It doesn’t matter which angle you’re viewing this from, it’s tragic in many ways and striking fear in the hearts of most of us.

So what do we do with this? Do we lay down and let it consume us? Do we fight back in a blind rage with hot tempers and clinched fists? Which response is the healthiest one? I don’t pretend to know all of the answers to this seemingly endless thick fog of catastrophe, but I do know that I have my faith to lean on and that’s enough to sustain me as we walk through this valley as a family, a country and ultimately as a world forever changed.

With that said, I’m making every effort to tame my fear of the unknown. II Timothy 1:7 says “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” I don’t know about you, but power, love and a sound mind all sound like things I wouldn’t mind having in my arsenal right now. Please don’t misunderstand me, I have in no way perfected this attitude. I’m a very clunky work in progress but these words give me HOPE that, one way or another, I will survive.

We will survive. And we will be better for it. We will hug tighter, we will love harder, we will forgive faster, we will stop to notice the little things and the big things won’t seem so big any more. When the fog has lifted, and it will, we will embrace life on all levels with a sincerity that we’ve never experienced.

So fear not my friends, the battle with this virus might be far from over or maybe a return to “business as usual” is closer than we think. But we can be confident in one thing for sure - we were created to withstand this and our Creator is above the chaos. Power, love, a sound mind, they are ours for the taking!