Tasks and Hobbies
Psalm 34:4,6 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. (6) This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. But a good word makes it glad.
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
During this time of confinement to our homes, I have been watching some inspirational movies. Most I have seen before, but enjoyed re-watching. I watched” the War Room,” “Fireproof,” and “Heaven is Real.” I love to watch movies where people have struggles and then come to God. Our lives are at times a struggle. We may have self or family illness, high bills that are a struggle and a surprise and may cause a lot of anxiety, perhaps you are in a struggling relationship causing arguments and stress, or other life occurrences. We all have things going on we are concerned with, thankful about, or areas that could lead us to fret and become anxious if we did not remember that God is always with us.
This is a stressful time right now with the Corona Virus, differing opinions as to how long the segregation will last, worry about where to go, frustrations that there is not the freedom to meet for lunch, go someplace social to be with friends and share times. Remember when we were younger and told ‘no, you can’t do…’ then we always want to do whatever it is we have been told not to do. I feel some of the stress we have from this segregation is like that. Because we CAN’T, we want to more that when we are free to move about.
I must say I am grateful our technology is where it is and we can get the news. (I refuse to listen to this all day, but gather early AM and rare PM news about the status) I believe we can more embroiled and wound up about listening to the repetition of the news reels. It keeps our minds on stressful subjects—the number ill, the number dead, the projection of illness from the experts knowing how illness spreads. We do the same thing while waiting for a hurricane—we keep listening to projections, the speed at which it is moving, the expected projection of landfall, the category and suspected amount of damage; all of which helps one prepare, but to concentrate and listen to the news, causes our stress levels to raise. We get anxious, gather what we think we will need and make plans to leave. So, asmuch as I appreciate the technology available to us, I also believe the media enjoys the stress of putting out news that while warning us, also increases our apprehension. And of course, that makes us fearful….and one of the most frequent commands in the Bible is, “Do not fear, for I, the Lord am with you.”
The news while beneficial in small snippets is a great tool for the devil to cause unrest, anxiety and fear. Certainly, we need to information to make informed decisions. But the continuous stressful stories that appear often throughout the day, are going against God’s desires for us to not have anxiety and to trust Him. That does not mean to ignore the news. It means to not saturate your home and area with it. Hearing it repeatedly is unnecessary, and you do not need to hear each and every comment. Learn your information, remind yourself that God is in charge, and then do what you have to do to prepare, but no fear, no panic. We dishonor God and show Him mistrust by fearing whatever the news subject is. Do yourself a favor; do not saturate your minds with bad, tense-causing news.
This time will be temporary, and will help eradicate the virus, but in the meantime, we have to spend time in prayer, listen to His response, and for me, it helps to immerse myself in classes—bible studies, other courses of study in areas of interest, watching some inspirational movies, and being thankful I know Jesus, and I don’t have fear over this new way of life. It’s temporary. I have wondered though that since we are told that we will face natural disasters, wars, and so forth, if this is not a new and different war that we had not considered.
So, I pray that we all try to be patient and find enjoyable things we enjoy doing, or start tackling some of those big house projects we have listed. This can be a productive time, and once the project is finished, a time of satisfaction. Trust in God. He’s got this.
Lord, I know You have this, and the world will get through this time of pandemic and illness. I thank You for leading and guiding me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Comments