February 2021 Newsletter
Okay! Okay! – I admit that I have been negligent about keeping up with the monthly newseltters for this ministry. In my defense, I thought about it several times – and even asked the people at Windwood who publish a copy of our newsletter, also. When I was told that they were suspending the monthly newsletter for a time, I thought it also gave me the green light to suspend this newsletter! . . .And I don’t know about Windwood, but I blame the whole thing on the pandemic! – After all, anyone would agree that things are VERY different now – right?
There is no question that the changes we have had to make in the ways that we ‘do’ life since the global pandemic has had a universal effect on ALL of us! It begs the question, “Will life ever return to normal? . . .And when it does, what will it look like?” It harkens back to that dismal day on September 11, 2001, when the world as we knew it, changed. Things since then have never quite been the same. So, what does that mean for us today as we deal with this newest tragedy– and how now, shall we live? Are we to live in fear and hopelessness? Do we stop our journeys and halt life in a sense of needing to give up on our God-given goals and missions? I don’t think so!
In the Book of 2 Timothy 1:7, we are reminded, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” It seems to me that God’s plan for His people is for facing our giants, overocming our fears as we live into the victoriuos Christian life that has always been His plan for us. Sounds good, right? – But how do we do that?
I think that one of the first steps in adapting to a new way of living is to begin by an assessment of what exactly is so about our circumstances and how things have changed from the way they once were. From there, it requires an honest inventory of one’s capabilities as well as one’s limitations in dealing with our new normal. These first steps sound simple – and, in truth they are – They are simple. . . but not easy! In fact, we learn fear. I realize that sounds strange, but think about it for a moment: As we listen to news feeds, informed and uninformed people and mix these with our sense of the unknown, we are actually learning to be fearful. It makes sense, that if we learned fear, we can also un-learn fear, and have a sense of hope for the future to be restored.
In the first step, we must face our fears honestly. For many of us dealing with the fallout of the pandemic, there is a fear of loss – loss of financial security, loss of good health, a sense of not being needed and “essential” in our work and even a loss of relationships due to the mandated “social distancing.” This kind of fear can have a paralyzing effect on our ability to act. Fear leads to the “flight – or fight – or freeze” affect on us. None of these responses are God’s will for us. In the 2 Timothy passage we just looked at, God is encouraging us, through the words of the apostle Paul, as he was close to his own death, to remember what God has given us – a spirit of “power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
It is in hearing and believing these words that we can begin the process of visualizing ourselves as unafraid and re-connect with our inner strength and ability to take action towards the restoration of hope for our futures. It is in the process of confronting our fears, moving towards our fears and dealing with the fears directly, that we are empowered to be able to practice acting “as if” we are not experiencing fear. we can then begin to employ the ‘Law of reversability’ that says that if one feels a certain way, one will act in a certain way that matches those feelings. It is important , then, to behave as if our hope is in the Lord and as we trust Him, We then begin learning to be unafraid, hence reversing our feelings and actions towards our God-given strengths over our fears.
In this time of uncertainty, we pray that you will be able to cling to God’s promises and provisions in what He has given us and be able to be strong and courageous. It is our prayer that as you trust God, you will experience true freedom and joy in His love for you. . . Blessings and peace,
