Coronavirus – He Said What?!

Setting the Mask Example

You know how you feel if you see a sign while you’re driving that says, “DANGER AHEAD!!” Well, it’s not like we see those signs often, if ever, but in my life with our autistic Aaron there are most definitely sure pointers to a certain danger lying ahead of us.

Take, for instance…masks.

I knew when this COVID issue was ramping up and masks were becoming suggested…strongly suggested…then required…

Well, I knew we were probably in for a rough road ahead with Aaron.

Aaron…who would come home from school at a very young age with holes torn in his shirt because he had angrily ripped the tag out. The tag irritated him and so I learned to cut tags out of each of his shirts.

Aaron…who furiously rebelled at wearing jeans when he was young because he only wanted “soft pants.”

I could go on, but you understand. And so do many of my special-needs friends and other parents I don’t even know who are facing this mask dilemma with their tactically sensitive children…young or adult.

Aaron and I pulled into our Aldi parking lot when I decided to have him wear a mask for the first time. Actually, I had been plotting this day for awhile. I took Aaron for a nice walk nearby at Nellie’s Pond. We sat on a bench and watched a family of ducks. We watched people fishing. We watched geese munching on grass nearby. We were relaxed and happy. A perfect time to broach the irritating subject of…MASKS!!

And to break the news to Aaron that on this day…in just a few minutes…he would be wearing a mask and I would be wearing a mask when we went to Aldi.

GULP!!

I helped Aaron with his mask before we exited the van. He was not too happy, to say the least, but he did keep it on. We hadn’t even opened our doors yet but I was telling myself, “So far, so good!! The mask is ON his face!!”

“Okay!!” I happily exclaimed as we met at the back of the van and I took out my shopping bags. “Let’s go shopping!”

We had taken only a few steps when…

“This is all TRUMP’S fault!!” Aaron angrily responded.

Oh boy.

For some strange reason, since the virus first became an issue, Aaron had an issue with Trump. He blamed the virus and the disruption in his personal life on Trump. Who knows why?!

“Aaron,” I reprimanded firmly, “stop saying that! Do NOT say that in the store!”

Aaron was quiet as we walked inside. As he looked at some cookies, he made a comment about them and then stopped mid-sentence.

“My VOICE sounds funny!!” he blurted out.

“Then just don’t talk, Aaron,” I replied with impatience. I walked away and Aaron followed, with me dreading what the next outburst might be. I just wanted to hurry and be done with our shopping. When Aaron gets upset like this, there is no pleasing him. No pep talks. No consolations. No smiles (he couldn’t see them under my mask anyway!!).

Really, nothing helps but to end the misery and I was determined to not give him an easy out.

Through the rest of the store he pointed out people who weren’t wearing masks. I glared at him with my best glare!

He complained about being uncomfortable. He said his ears hurt. And the second we stepped up to the register line, he was done. Off came the mask!

All in all, though, I thought it went pretty well. Trust me. It could have been FAR worse!

The following weeks have seen progress with Aaron and his mask. Look at him here at his doctor visit in June!

But there was a big hurdle ahead…one I really dreaded.

Going back to his day group, Paradigm.

Masks were being required there, although his wonderful staff said they all understood that not only Aaron but several of the clients might have serious issues with wearing a mask all day.

His first day back last week started out a little rough. I walked in with him and my heart sank as he at first refused the hand sanitizer, and emphatically said NO each time he was reminded to wear his mask. I left there and drove home with a very heavy heart. But later, after he ate, he was told to look around at how everybody else had on a mask. So he put his on and has done well every day since.

I was talking with some of the staff later in the week. They are amazed at the resilience and adaptability from these special-needs adults. They have so many challenges already on many various levels, yet there they are in their day group…happy, chatting together, eating, laughing, not able to go out in the community right now, some sitting in wheel chairs, struggling with all sorts of health issues and other problems…and they’re wearing their masks.

They’re not arguing about whether masks do a good job. They’re not talking about conspiracy theories. They’re not reading the latest media stories or listening to all the debates. They just know that they are, at this point, required to add one more uncomfortable thing to their already uncomfortable lives…so they do it.

They just do it.

Sometimes I wonder if our special-needs ones, full of so much discomfort already, have an easier time adapting to just one more discomfort than do we.

We…who are acting a bit spoiled, I might add.

I have ONE thing that’s irritating to me on most days. A mask.

I don’t have the myriad issues that Aaron and his friends at his day group have.

Then why am I the one that is quick to complain?

I am humbled, once again, at our wonderful special-needs population…many of whom were unable to be with their families for weeks as they were in lockdown in their group homes.

I am humbled by the parents of our special-needs angels…parents who are exhausted and worried and have yet one more huge concern to add to their already full plates.

So let’s follow their example and just do what needs to be done right now, thanking God for each day and not letting our little inconvenience of wearing a mask turn us into absolute grouches.

Smile along with Aaron, everyone!

Masks, Mandates, and Believers

Our governor announced a mandate today saying that we must wear masks when in public, starting this Friday. And now it begins – the mask debates and opinions and shared articles, pro and con. I get it. All of you know I do. You know that I have shared my portion of opinions on various subjects. I don’t think it’s wrong to do that, but I do wonder what we as Christians are accomplishing.

Have we forgotten that God has ordained this time in history, and has also planned for you and I to be alive right now? What does He want us to say and do?

Just this morning, in my study of the book of Acts, I read the first four verses of Acts 8. Stephen had just been brutally stoned. Then Saul went on his horrible rampage, even entering the homes of Christians, dragging them out and putting them in prison. Christians were scattered all over Judea and Samaria.

Just think about that. Think about the fear you would feel. The awful fear of facing that kind of persecution or of having to run away from your families and friends, from your home and your town. Fearing prison or even death. Being hungry and homeless. And probably battling deep anger.

So what did these believers do? Verse 4: “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”

They shared the gospel.

If they were us, today, in our crazy world – what would they do? Argue about masks? Complain about quarantines or stay-at-home orders? Scour the internet for articles that confirm their beliefs? Deride those who don’t agree?

Doesn’t quite fit what I read in Acts about our early church family. And they were going through tons more than we are right now.

I find that thought, that knowledge, to be very personally convicting. We have a chance right now to talk to people who might not ever listen otherwise to the good news of Jesus. People who are vulnerable and scared and angry.

Why waste energy and time on feeding the frenzy right now? We need to feed people the Bread of Life. We need to get together with other believers and pray. We need to be in our Bibles.

Satan wants to mask any effort to share Christ with a hurting world by making us distracted by the unimportant. We can’t let that happen.

How I pray that we, the Church, will be the light in this darkness that will point others to the Light of the World.

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What I Know

Based on my title, I should just stop right now. That’s because what I DON’T know would fill a large book. What I DO know…quite the opposite.

Unless what I DO know is based on a big book about our big God. Now THAT would fill a big book indeed…actually, it already has.

Something this pandemic has shown me clearly is that there is a lot…a LOT…that I don’t know. I have an opinion about a lot of issues, but I don’t truly KNOW with certainty about most of those things.

The theories and conspiracies surrounding the world’s situation are running rampant on social media. It’s so easy to get caught up in the swirl of it all. Is this article true? Let me research it! But is the research that I am reading correct? Maybe. Maybe not.

I simply, really…all too often…don’t know for sure.

This uncertainty and this holding on to our beliefs leads to so much confusion and so much angst. Right there are two traits that God does not want us to have.

Yesterday I was continuing my slow reading through Psalm 33. I was interrupted by a pretty light out my window, so of course you know what I did. I grabbed my phone, ran outside, and snapped a quick picture of our sunrise. I love how God delights me with the beauty that He creates all around us, especially in the sky.

This moment was the perfect accompaniment to Psalm 33:6:

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.”

All around me today I am reminded of how much I don’t know.

But all around me today I am also reminded of how much I DO know.

The difference in the two depends on where I choose to place my focus.

My desire, more and more during this unsettling time in our world, is to place my eyes on God and on what I know about Him. Just as I know that the sun will rise in the morning, there are some other things I can surely know as well.

I know that God is working in this world right now, today.

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.” (Psalm 33:10)

“God doesn’t keep Himself marooned in creation; He messes in politics. He gets into the dirty stuff of history. This is partly what makes the God of the Bible so unnerving – you simply can’t box Him up in one arena of His world. He simply ‘takes over’ everywhere.” (Dale Ralph Davis)

I know that God’s plan will stand forever.

“God’s plan will stand forever, the design of His heart to generation after generation.” (Psalm 33:11)

I know that God loves the world and gave us His Son to save us from our sin and provide the way to heaven.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

I know that when I lack wisdom, God has told me to simply ask and He will give me the wisdom I need.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, Who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

This includes the wisdom to live correctly and to live in His will during COVID-19. Wisdom to make God-honoring decisions. Wisdom to trust God even when I can’t trust anything else that I see or hear.

May I hold on to God tighter than I hold on to my beliefs about non-essential issues.

May I trust God to reveal truth to me, and not let me make decisions that are Biblically incorrect.

May I react with a bent knee rather than a balled-up fist.

May I not waste this moment in history, but may I use every part of it for the glory of God.

No Wallowing!

I am NOT where I thought I would be this week!

I am NOT where I planned, carefully planned, to be this week!

But I do believe that most of us are in the same boat and could say the same thing. How many plans have been totally disrupted due to all this virus mess and stay-at-home orders?

Trust me, I know that there are some very heart-breaking situations in people’s lives right now – far worse than anything I’m going through.

So, where was I supposed to be this week? Texas. I was to be in Texas this week.

My husband and I were going to the Houston area this week. Our daughter and her husband, Kyle and Andrea, live there. And our son, Andrew, who lives near Indianapolis, was to be there as well. Andrew works for an NHRA drag race team. They have a big national race in Houston every April.

Gary had bought our tickets. I had lined up caregivers for Aaron, who doesn’t attend these events with us. He loves his own version of a vacation, which is to stay in his comfort zone of home and of eating out every night, loving the undivided attention from caregivers…and calling us multiple times every day, just because he always has something to tell us.

On Facebook this week, the memories from this time last year have been popping up on my page. As if I need any help with memories of our fun time we should be having!

We should be doing this:

Enjoying time together:

And watching Andrew work:

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I was talking to my friend, Joyce, about it a couple weeks ago. I told her it’s sad not to be going on our trip to see our kids. How it’s OK to acknowledge that sadness, but that I can’t stop and wallow in it. We laughed as we thought about that and laughed even more when Joyce mentioned being like a pig wallowing in the mud.

In the park where Aaron and I like to walk, Swanson Park, there is still a depressed area in the prairie grass where buffalo wallowed in the 1800’s. In fact, there is a plaque there for us to read about it. And it’s simply called a “buffalo wallow.” I had to inwardly smile as he and I stood there looking at it once again the other day.

Then nearby, a short distance from the trail, is this muddy area.

As we looked at it, I could imagine buffalo and wild pigs wallowing in the mud there. I could see them with my mind’s eye rolling and relaxing in the goopy mud, in no hurry to move on.

Much like I am tempted to do as I think with regret about where I thought I would be this week.

Oh, I have reason to wallow. Our kids live far from us and we see them so seldom. In fact, for many reasons, we haven’t seen Andrea and Kyle since last July. Their jobs, Andrew’s travels, Gary still working, the difficulty of finding caregivers for Aaron…all make it very hard for us to up and travel as we would so desire to do.

I could most definitely stop and wallow in my misery. And with each roll in the mud, I could find plenty of reasons to condone and excuse my wallowing!

But there’s this verse that makes me stop my wallowing and listen to God instead.

“God is my allotted portion and my cup; You take charge of my lot.” (Psalm 16:5)

Simply put, this means that God takes care of my circumstances. Things around me may become shaky, but I can be unshaken as I stand firm IN my circumstances.

Why? Because I believe in God’s direction and providence in my life. I love the note on this verse in my ESV Bible: We can have “…contentment with the arrangements of one’s life, seeing them as providentially ordered.”

What a difference it makes to know and to trust God! To know without a doubt that my interrupted plans are because of His plans for me that are far better than I can know or imagine.

Isn’t that what trust is all about anyway?

So, I acknowledge my sadness as I look at what might have been.

Then I move on. I don’t jump in the mud and relish it.

“I have set the Lord continually before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)

And I will not wallow!

Stashed Away

Remember Y2K? How lots of people were afraid that the world as we know it would be so greatly disrupted that civilization would be in chaos? People were storing up supplies of all sorts out of fear that at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2000 we would see the beginning of the end.

We were living on Fort Huachuca, Arizona during the time that people were prepping for the possible end. We lived in military quarters. Just inside our back door, the door the kids always used to run in and out, was a pantry/laundry room area. There were multiple shelves there on which I would put canned and boxed food.

You have to understand that I was – and still am to a smaller degree – an avid couponer. I enjoyed finding items that we needed on sale AND with a coupon. My kids can still fill in this blank: “It was on sale and you had a coupon.” As they roll their eyes, I might add.

In fact, one day Andrew told me that he bet I’d feed them rat poison if it was on sale and I had a coupon. I told him it depended on what size box it was. That’s important to know if you want to get the best deal. 😊

Back to our military quarters in Arizona. I had quite a few boxes of cereal that I had bought at the commissary…on sale and I had a coupon. OK. I had LOTS of boxes of cereal on my shelves that were on sale…never mind.

One day, in ran the kids with some friends. One little boy stopped suddenly in the pantry as his eyes focused on ALL those boxes of cereal.

“Mrs. Moore?” he asked. “Are you getting ready for Y2K?”

I laughed and laughed.

“No,” I explained. “Cereal was on sale and….”

You know the rest.

Now here we are, 20 years later, with images of shopping carts overflowing with toilet paper and Lysol wipes and detergent as people were panicked over the Coranavirus. People weren’t just stocking up, and it had nothing to do with a great sale and good coupons.

It was fear. So many people reacted out of fear, for various reasons, and hoarded all the supplies they could find.

It’s certainly understandable, to some degree, that human nature wants to stash away all we might need in case things get really bad.

Did you know that God does some “stashing away?”

Yes, He does!

“How massive Your goodness which You have stashed away for those who fear You, which You have worked out for those taking refuge in You before the sons of men. (Psalm 31:19)

I just LOVED reading that verse this morning!

For those who reverence God and who follow him in trust, God has stored up blessings and goodness.

It’s “…as if God squirrels away stockpiles of His goodness in hidden storage sites. But the goodness doesn’t remain there – God ‘works it out’ for those who take refuge in Him. So it is ‘stashed away’ in reserve but then ‘worked out’ in our experience where it becomes visible.” (Dale Ralph Davis)

I can just imagine God’s shelves stocked full of goodness for each of His children, ready for the time that we need it the most. He is prepped and prepared for every contingency in our lives.

“The overall impression we should have is that we are not left impoverished even in our worst troubles. Provisions are in place.” (Davis)

During this unprecedented time, when literally the entire world has been brought to a stop, I know there are thousands of stories of God’s goodness being poured upon those who fear and trust Him. Sometimes His goodness doesn’t even take the pleasant shape that we would choose. But His goodness is like that – coming in all shapes and sizes and ways that we might not like, but that are always for our growth and our good.

Just soak up the amazing promises in this Psalm:

“Blessed be God! For He has marvelously demonstrated His faithful love to me in a city under siege. But I, I said in my panic, ‘I have been cut off from before Your eyes.’ But in fact you heard the voice of my pleas for grace when I cried to You for help.” (Psalm 31 21-22)

We certainly do feel like we live in cities and towns under siege from an enemy we can’t even see. We may feel cut off from God’s eyes.

BUT!!

God does, in fact, hear our pleas for His grace and for His help. He has plenty of grace, help, peace, promises, and miracles stashed away – ready to be brought out for us when He chooses and when we ask.

On Saturday evening, a pop-up thunderstorm quickly formed over our house. Soon we had a short downpour of rain with a little hail mixed in.

And then, in our front yard and in the street, there appeared a rainbow. It was just beautiful…so near to us and so amazing!

God’s goodness to us is like that rainbow. We had to have the storm and the hail, the lightning and the thunder, in order to see such a rare display of a rainbow right in front of us.

May each of us know that in this storm of COVID-19 and all its effects on our lives, we will also see God’s visible goodness displayed right before us.

Let’s not miss what God wants us to see!

Remember When?

Last summer, Aaron had a dentist appointment…and in his usual fashion, he plotted and planned where we could hopefully eat afterwards.

“Mom?” he asked. “Tomorrow after my dentist appointment, can we eat at Jimmy’s Eggs?”

Yes, he calls Jimmy’s Egg – Jimmy’s Eggs. I mean, who just eats one egg, right?!

The next day found us sitting at Jimmy’s Eggs enjoying a delicious lunch/breakfast. And yes, Aaron did happily eat every bite of all this food!

There was, though, another big reason why Aaron loved Jimmy’s Eggs. Well, it was actually a very little reason that was quite big to Aaron.

Can you see it?

An ant!

Aaron wasn’t alarmed at all by having an ant join us for lunch. In fact, Aaron put a little piece of carrot from his salad on the table so the ant wouldn’t feel left out about not being allowed to order lunch. Next, he added a piece of bacon.

The server was embarrassed by the ant, but I told her not to worry. Aaron loved having the ant company, and it made me happy to watch him trying to care for the little guy.

We haven’t been back to Jimmy’s Egg(s) since then. It just hasn’t been on our dining list, but not because of the ant.

One day not long ago, when the closure of restaurants during this virus was hitting home with Aaron, he thought about Jimmy’s Egg(s).

“Mom?” he asked, “remember Jimmy’s Eggs and how we used to eat there before the virus?”

He said it so wistfully that it made me sad. Like now he measures time as Before Virus (BV) and After Virus (AV).

All of us, though, are having similar thoughts.

Remember when?

Remember when I had a job…was planning that trip I had to cancel…was going to march in graduation…could be with my mother in her nursing home or hospital…was having a huge Easter celebration…could go to church…didn’t fear for my family’s life?

I certainly don’t understand everything that’s going on around us and why certain decisions are being made, but here we are.

What I CAN do is pray, a lot, for God’s wisdom and protection for all involved in this mess. That’s basically the whole world, and for our nation in particular.

When I zoom down to my own life, or the lives of so many that I love, I do find myself at times remembering when…and if I’m not careful, fear and sadness can rule my thoughts.

That’s why yesterday morning, when I read these verses, I was so tremendously encouraged.

“But as for me, I trust in You, Oh Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.” (Psalm 31:14-15a)

The word “times” here doesn’t just mean that my lifespan is in God’s hands. David also meant “…all the kaleidoscope of circumstances that meet him left and right. Calvin rightly draws attention to the plural form – ‘times’, and says that David uses it to ‘mark the variety of casualties by which the life of man is usually harassed.’ (Dale Ralph Davis, In the Presence of My Enemies)

Beside verses in my Bible, I often write a date and sometimes a note to remind me of when and how God especially spoke to me through that verse. I call them my memorial stones.

Beside those two verses above, I had written “Nov., 1994.” I was going through a stressful time concerning a possible health issue and the death of my Grandma. We lived in Leavenworth, Gary was deployed for training in the military, I had three little ones, Aaron’s special needs were getting more difficult, and I was far from home and family. But God reached down in that chaos and stress, and He told me very sweetly and clearly that those times…MY times…were in His loving hand.

Now here I was yesterday, with COVID-19 and all its issues swirling around us and those we love, and I was remembering when…

Remembering when God spoke to me all those years ago in another stress.

Remembering when God filled me with peace.

Remembering when God proved His promise to be my God, then, and is doing the same now.

“How often the truth of this text has proven a bastion and bulwark for God’s servants. Ulrich Zwingli, a reformer in Zurich, was visiting his people, trying to console sick and dying. The plague had some to Zurich in August 1519. By autumn Zwingli himself had succumbed to the disease. Confined to bed and staring death in the face, Zwingli prayed: ‘Do as you will, for I lack nothing. I am your vessel to be restored or destroyed.’ Different words, to be sure, but actually just a paraphrase of ‘My times are in your hand.’ One can rest there even in the plague.” (Dale Ralph Davis)

We can rest in God’s hands and in His times for us individually…for our families…for our friends…for our nation…for our world.

Now, beside these verses, I have added a new memorial note: “ COVID-19, April, 2020.”

May God’s promises and His faithfulness be what I remember when I’m “remembering when!”

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Stay-At-Home With Aaron

This Friday will mark one month that I have kept Aaron home due to COVID-19. To borrow Aaron’s words while I was still able to take him shopping: “You’re getting that because of the Coronavirus, aren’t you?” Said with frustration, I might add, as he has seen this virus as a great deal of unnecessary drama in his life. I think many are feeling that way right now!

The other night he got to video message with two of his friends from his day group. It made him realize how much he misses them and his other friends. I was glad to hear him say that, for getting Aaron to re-enter his former routine may take some doing.

He does love being at home, although some days he is at loose ends. When this first started, I thought of something to do every day that would keep him occupied and happy. Watching some shows during the day, for instance, was a treat for him since it’s something we never do. So many activities we would normally do – eating out, movies, the zoo, shopping – are off limits now, so giving happy moments every day was…and is…vital to Aaron and to ME.

However, Aaron has now become a professional Event Coordinator. 😊 He finds it quite fun to plan our days! But today, after going through the car wash and grabbing a to-go pizza for lunch, I had to say no to driving to a nearby lake. My days are still full of necessary home life, so when added to these fun activities with Aaron, I’m finding myself getting behind. I’m realizing that these are the days I used to wish I had…days at home when I could get so much done…but the “getting so much done” just isn’t happening!

One thing I really wanted to do today…and have wanted to do for many days…is to give a quick update on my stay-at-home life with Aaron. What have we been doing to occupy our time? Let’s see:

Playing Go Fish:

Taking drives and seeing fun wildlife like these turkeys:

Cutting coupons:

Watching favorite programs:

Dairy Queen Blizzards at Lake Afton:

Donuts at Lake Afton (this pattern must stop!):

Walks at Swanson Park:

Practicing with selfies:

Cooking:

Getting a new PC game:

Eating by lantern when the electricity went out:

Pulling Weeds:

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And relaxing as only Aaron does, crunching mulch:

We’ve had some moments, for sure, but I can honestly say that Aaron has mostly handled our stay-at-home much better than we thought he would. I know that’s because of prayer, and I am so thankful for God’s mercies and strength and wisdom.

We are truly blessed to have so many options of places to go and activities to do that keep us safely distanced from others, yet able to leave the house and get some fresh air and sunshine, hear the birds, and enjoy this new pause in our lives.

How are each of you and your families doing? I pray that God is strengthening you and that you are being encouraged in unexpected ways during these days.

Let’s keep praying for one another, and for our great country. May God keep us safe and wise, and may we continue loving Him and each other in these unprecedented times.

Love For Us

I’m sure that many of you would agree with me when I say that I feel like I’m on a runaway train. The past month has been unbelievable for the whole world.

COVID-19 has dropped the bottom out of our lives.

Just outside the comfort and safety of my home there lies fear. Uncertainty. Danger.

I don’t understand or know what’s really happening behind the scenes. I know that I need to be wise and to be wary, but I can’t control any of this situation that is swirling around us.

What I can do is pray. Pray for my family scattered here and there. Pray for friends. Pray for our nation and for our world. Pray for our leaders.

I can read my Bible. With my mind on overload it seems that I can only absorb a few verses at a time, but that’s all it takes for me to hear God’s voice so strong and reassuring.

If there’s ever been a time for people to assess their relationship with God, it’s now. I heard a doctor in New York say that this situation is Biblical…epic. The God of the universe has stopped our world and I do believe it’s time for us to stop and to listen to Him for a change.

I’ve been spending tons of time with Aaron for the past three weeks while being mostly home-bound. Every day I try to get him out for a walk or a drive, which he totally loves.

A couple days ago we went to nearby Swanson Park, one of our favorite places to walk and to enjoy a splash of nature in the middle of civilization. Social distancing is not a problem there. Aaron even obeyed me and didn’t stop to pet every dog he saw like he usually does.

There were flowering trees:

Impressive thorns:

Historical plaques that we enjoy reading:

And our favorite little bridge:

As we walked, Aaron talked…a lot! One of his main topics of conversation involved the fact that he was waiting very anxiously for a PC game that Gary had ordered for him Sunday evening. Aaron had earned and saved enough money to buy The Incredible Hulk PC game!!!

That night as Aaron and I were in the kitchen, he was still (of course!) talking about that greatly anticipated game.

“So, Dad ordered the Incredible Hulk out of love for me?” he quietly asked.

And as so often happens, Aaron’s words stopped me in my tracks.

“Yes, Aaron,” I answered. “Dad ordered you the game out of love for you.”

I have thought and thought about that exchange…about the deep waters of Aaron’s heart.

And this picture I had just taken that day in Swanson Park came to my mind.

How God leads our steps! How He directs the paths of His children!

We live in this world and we’re caught up in what He is doing, but we can know beyond any doubt that He is fully aware of our situations during this frightening time.

“It’s from God that the steps of a man have been settled, and He delights over his way. When he falls, he will not be flattened, for God keeps supporting his hand. I have been young; yes, I have become old, but I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed asking for bread.” (Psalm 37:23-25)

As the old hymn says, “This world is not my home. I’m just a-passin’ through.”

God is surely at work in this old world, as He has always been since the beginning of time. But I know, beyond any doubt, that God is very aware of me and my little family.

He knows our path and He is holding our hands.

Therefore, I can say with great confidence, “Yes, Aaron, our Heavenly Father also ordered this time out of love for us.”

We who know Him are not forsaken!

What Do I See?

Aaron and I were coming out of the grocery store recently. Suddenly he veered sharply to his left, leaned over, and proudly held up his prize find. A penny! He was so happy to have snatched this treasure! He proudly held it up for me to see before stashing it safely in his pant’s pocket.

This is so routine with Aaron. Everywhere we go, he spies items on the ground that most people don’t even see. Or if seen, most of us wouldn’t think they are worth our time or attention. But not Aaron!

We’ve had to teach him over the years that some things he sees are not treasures and are not even safe. Things like cigarette butts…yuck! Or random hair bands, bobby pins, or combs.

Last week, he and I walked out onto our driveway after a rain. Before I knew it, there he was, leaning over to look at what had caught his eye this time.

“MOM!! LOOK!!” he exclaimed. “It’s a worm!!”

A worm. Aaron just had to look closer at this worm and touch it. Again, to me it was just another worm, if I even did see it. But not to Aaron. To Aaron, this worm was a find worth investigating…worth stopping for…worth his notice.

This is such a strange and difficult time we are in right now. There is so much to absorb…to hear…to try to understand about this virus and about its dangers. We are besieged with so many changes and challenges.

What do we see when we look around us?

Fear?

Hardship?

Loss?

Stress?

Certainly, most of us can say yes, to one degree or another, to all the above.

But there’s something else we really must keep sight of. David said it perfectly in Psalm 26:3: “For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes…”

When my eyes dart here and there in such unusual times as we have right now, may I see…above all else…the lovingkindness of God.

Another version says: “Indeed, Your covenant love stands right before my eyes…”

God’s love for us is right before our eyes, every day and every moment of this scary and trying time.

Sometimes I just don’t see it, though. I don’t see God’s love because I’m too focused on looking way ahead at what is yet to come, usually with trepidation instead of trust.

This verse continues this way: “Indeed, Your covenant love stands right before my eyes…and I have walked along in Your faithfulness.”

It’s not MY faithfulness that is being talked about here. It’s GOD’S faithfulness to me that matters!

We say God is love. We know God is love. But sometimes when life is overwhelming, we don’t see His love through eyes of faith.

We don’t understand why we’re being besieged by COVID-19. Why is God allowing this to happen?

We can’t say for sure, but what we do know for sure is that God loves all of us, and He wants each of us to know Him and to walk along in His faithfulness.

Sometimes I just need to stop, like Aaron so often does, and bend over before God as I look at His love.

When I observe His love and think of His deep love, I know peace that passes understanding.

Peace even in the middle of panic all around.

Then I can stand up again, sure of God’s love right before my eyes, and take off walking again.

Walking in God’s promised faithfulness through the uncertainty.

God’s love for each of us is worth our time and worth our notice. God makes THE biggest and best difference to me when I’m stressed.

It’s great to stop at some point each day right now, and just ponder the treasure I see right before me.

Thank you, God, that Your covenant love stands right before my eyes!

Trust and Trouble

As of today, March 27, Aaron has been home and not going to his day group for two weeks.

Two. Weeks.

But who’s counting?!

What a strange world we are living in right now! So many lives on hold. So many lives lost.

How can we even make sense of all this? We can’t, really.

But as believers, we can trust. We can trust that somehow God is allowing this time on earth and that there is a reason far beyond our understanding.

I was enjoying a beautiful morning sky one day last week. The puffy clouds were so pretty.

I was going about my morning. Soon I glanced outside again and noticed some thickening of the clouds.

Darker clouds were moving in quickly. What a change from just a short time earlier!

I was surprised at how suddenly the sky changed.

The deep gray clouds soon choked out any sign of the blue sky behind them.

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A spring storm was certainly brewing!

When the storm clouds were starting to form, I snapped this picture. Can you see what’s out there, in the clouds?

A small rainbow!

A sign of God and of His promises to us!

It was timely that last week I was slowly reading and studying through Psalm 26. In verse 15, David said:

“My eyes are continually before the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.”

David was full of confidence in God and in God’s ability to take care of him, and to protect him.

Yet in the following verses, hear some of David’s comments:

I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart are enlarged.

Bring me out of my difficulties.

Look on my affliction and my trouble.

Look upon my enemies, for they are many and they hate me.

David went quickly from trust to trouble, as Dale Ralph Davis says.

“Sometimes in the middle of that nexus of trust and trouble, the trouble will intensify and multiply. We don’t like to talk this way, at least not in church, but sometimes when we trust (v. 15) and pray (v. 16) things get much worse (v. 17).” (In The Presence of My Enemies)

But why is that? Is God being mean?

We know He’s not, if we truly KNOW Him!

God is working a great work, both in our world and in my own heart. And sometimes His work and His ways are best taught…and best seen…in the most difficult of situations.

We see Him better then because we are forced to trust Him more.

When things are totally out of my hands, I realize that I must place them into His hands.

At the end of the day, God will still be in control. His plan will still…and always…be behind every headline and every press conference.

Let’s remember that God is writing this story and has ordained these times.

We had best be sure that we know Him as our Savior, and then trust Him to take care of us in all these troubles.

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