Faith or Fear: Why Choose Now?

As I write this, the world is being rocked by the changes in life due to the social distancing necessary to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Whether a global pandemic or something else unexpected comes to shift and rock your world, it can suddenly feel like the rug has been pulled out from under your feet. Life can feel a little wobbly, even topsy-turvy as things change, even as situations shake the very foundations of life as you knew it.

It’s not business as usual. And when things do go back to allowing our life to go back to normal, it will be a new normal and never quite the same again. We will be changed. Businesses will be changed. The way we “do” life and look at life, work, families, church, and our world will not be the same. Even our relationship with God will be changed in some ways.

When we are stretched in one way in our thinking and experience, we can never go back to the same. Just like a balloon that has been blown up, once it’s been blown up, even when it’s deflated again, it has still been stretched and has a larger basic shape permanently.

I like to think that’s how we are as people, especially as Christians. As life deals us different experiences, the lens in which we view God and ourselves in relation to Him and what’s going on around us somehow shifts and our view expands.

Day by day we experience little shifts in our normal existence. But God can come in mightily to open our eyes in huge and more transformative ways when we experience something with more seismic proportions. Like shutting down the whole way we live that we had been taking for granted.

As we each process and view this period of social distancing requirements and the uncertainty of when it will all end and a more vigorous flow of normalcy return, what and Who are you focusing on?

Importance and Benefits of Choosing Faith Over Fear

We can choose to live in Faith or in fear. The natural response of our reptilian brain wiring is to pull back in fear and protect ourselves. Although this can be valuable in quick bursts and has its time and place, when we live in the fear and protection mode for extended periods, it shuts down our creativity and the flow of good chemicals in our body.

Chemicals like endorphins and serotonin that the body naturally produces are good for us! Not only that, but these good chemicals actually help boost our immune system and keep us healthy and strong. That’s why a good prescription for a healthy life is a belly laugh a day! Yes, watching those silly cat videos can actually be a health-booster, so let go of your guilt around this!

This is why choosing to focus on Faith and putting your trust in God is so important in these challenging times. Instead of staying stuck, we can all look for the silver lining and the blessings and gifts from this situation. Choosing to do this and think this way can help you connect to something more that God is wanting to do or bring into your life.

Now is the time to connect more deeply with your Heavenly Father and the peace and love and strength and guidance He wants to impart to you. Your dinosaur brain can rest and your creative mind can come out to play. It’s ready to solve new problems and come up with different ideas that could possibly change the course of yours or your family’s life. Most of us now have more time to connect into and receive these new insights and inspiration – even through more heavenly downloads!

An Exercise in Faith You Can Do Right Now

Many have suggested the value of this time to take stock of all the gifts and new opportunities that we have available right now under our noses. I encourage you to take this seriously and grab a sheet of paper and start thanking God for all the gifts of this new day and time as you list them.

Many have started their lists with thankfulness for:

• an open calendar with less stress and hurry in rushing around everywhere
• no commuting time if they are now working from home
• fewer “calory temptations” as they are no longer subjected to all the office treats that people kept bringing in – maybe a great weight loss program with a healthier diet?!
• more time to connect with family and the friends they truly care about
• more reasons to help your neighbors and connect with them, even if you’re just able to have porch parties
• and so many more that it’s really an endless list if we think about it!

When all this is over, I know each of us will be so much more appreciative of the freedoms we’ve taken for granted, the family, friends, and relationships we have, and all the many social opportunities we enjoy and have missed through not being able to feed our bodies and souls together in the same way as before.

I don’t know about you, but I am going to take this time to feed my soul and spirit with more feasting on Heaven’s manna too – by connecting more intimately and frequently with the Bread of Heaven and the Lover of our souls, Jesus and his Holy Spirit. That is the sweetest fellowship of all, dining with the one who is the Sustainer of all life! That extra nourishment will make my relationships with others richer and fuller as well.

I can’t wait to see how God turns around what was meant for evil for our good! I’m choosing to participate in His blessings! Will you join me?

Choose to walk in your blessings every day!

Lois

How will you choose to change your life for the better through all of the circumstances around you – at any given moment in life? Take time to think about this and reconnect to the Truth in life and what is most important.