The scene opens with me lying in the belly of the whale again, feeling overqualified for quarantine…
Me (singing): Here I am again on my own…
God: Uh…
Me: Oops. Keep forgetting You are here. If words were being rationed You would still make excellent points.
Ah, the screen. The other way You make excellent points. The simple act of sifting through my memories with me…
I am chasing a coffee bean as it skitters across the floor of my kitchen managing to snatch it from the dark clutches of whatever is growing underneath our refrigerator. I dust it off and cup it in my hand, gazing at it lovingly. Anyone looking at me would think my coffee addiction had taken a serious turn, but I am just a girl in quarantine with a dwindling coffee supply. Further to my defense, this is no ordinary bean. It is a bean from the Maui coffee company that traveled 5,000 miles to get to me. I dust it off and plop it into my grinder.
The coffee was a gift sent before the looming pandemic. My sister-in-law is now pregnant and sheltering in amid all this chaos. It makes me feel the distance despite Facebook and Facetime. I wish I could be there to go get groceries and shop for them so they wouldn’t have to be exposed. It is in the thick of these moments when I am sad and covered in dust bunnies that I realize God is the best Quarantine Buddy. Reason #1? Omnipresence. I can pray for God to shelter my brother and his wife under His wing and keep them physically safe from this virus while they are in their home and in the hospital delivering. God’s Mighty Presence has the same strength here with me and 5,000 miles away.
My mother-in-law, who has suffered two strokes in the past year, has been taken twice to the emergency room during this pandemic. Both times the updates came once a day the length of a sentence. The second time she was taken in she was unable to move or speak. We only knew that they had to treat it as if it was COVID-19. We didn’t know if she had had another stroke. She was alone in the ambulance and alone in the hospital. I had my first bout of feeling righteously angry. I was overturning marketplace tables in my head. NONE of this was okay. This amazing, strong woman was bright, beautiful, alert, and always had advice about living and eating healthy. She welcomed me in from the moment she first met me, even following me to the bathroom during our first dinner out together. She is a tenacious woman of God whose strategy is to wear people down until they believe in Jesus. She didn’t deserve to be going through this alone. She did not deserve having to be brought into a hospital, risking exposure to COVID-19, as someone in the high-risk category. NOT OKAY. When 20 miles away felt like 5,000, my comfort was God. God who is Omnipresent. So I prayed and sent out pleas for people in our church to pray. I prayed that our boundless God would make His presence palpable and ensure that she did not feel alone for a second. I prayed for the Holy Spirit in her to inform her of the people praying for her. I prayed for God’s supernatural peace to fill her—not cheap, earthly peace that has been contaminated, but the perfect heavenly peace that Jesus felt when he was sleeping in the boat in the middle of the storm. I prayed for this peace to spill over to the medical staff and other people in the hospital. I prayed for His wisdom to be imparted to her physicians. I prayed for God’s hand of protection over her, the medical staff, and other patients. I prayed a prayer from a position of seeing God’s Capabilities because I was too tired and fed up to focus on anything less. By God’s grace she was diagnosed with a kidney infection, got the surgery she needed that they said would not be possible, and is now home recovering. This virus exposed my physical limitations, but it also exposed God’s unlimited ability to be EVERYWHERE all at once and be His God self—breathing out life and making a way where it seemed impossible.
His Omnipresence is helpful even in small situations with only 10 feet of distance. This is especially important to note if you are a mom homeschooling a child with ASD. Imagine having a human being with lack of self-preservation on the level of a two-year-old with the capabilities and aspirations of a six-year-old. This is an actual update I sent to my son’s teacher this past week:
Official Sit- Rep Signing onto Google Classroom:
Hour 1600 Managed to bring laptop computer downstairs to set up on Island without my son having burned down the first floor or escaping out a window.
1602 Wiped glue and maple syrup off base of computer, mouse
1603 Found school website, clicked “sign in with google” with my own account, #fail
1604 Found explicit instructions saying NOT to sign in with personal email #foreheadslap
1605 Clicked back out, clicked back in, hear water running upstairs
1605:02 Ran upstairs to find my offspring in the tub in an INFLATABLE POOL. Yep—fully inflated—filling it with water with his Peppa Pig swim characters lined up on the edge of the tub
1605:02-??? trapped in bathroom, computer probably dying on the counter downstairs because it is not plugged in, please send reinforcements!!
This could have gone south so fast. All we needed was a flood in our house or an injury to our child that would lead us to the emergency room. It is inevitable that my son will slip out from under my gaze. I need a set of loving eyes that are with him always.
Psalm 121 tells us God never slumbers or sleeps. He has us all under His watchful care. He is who I need right now.
If you are separated from a loved one or struggling to keep your eyes on the ones you are with—PRAY. Even if you never have before in your life. Pray with your kids. Everything that happens while we are trapped in the house together can be a learning experience for them. When you are feeling the limitations and chaos being spread by this virus, introduce your child to someone BIGGER—someone who is always with them and has no limitations. God is our Loving Father who connects us all. He is waiting with arms full of peace, hope, and joy that defies circumstances regardless of how you feel about him. He is just waiting to be invited in to lavish You with love.
Lord, thank You that though we are limited by this virus, You are NOT. Fill us with joy in the midst of this struggle because we were made by You and we have a purpose. You creatively inspire us to be there for others regardless of any geographical restrictions. When we hit a roadblock, we can lift a prayer and remember You are everywhere and with everyone all at once. Thank You that when we are separated from our loved ones, You are as close as their elbow. Pour Your peace over all those feeling isolated at home or in hospital beds. Pour Your supernatural strength and wisdom into those still working and risking exposure and who are homeschooling for the first time, especially with kids with special needs. Help us trust YOU to be our refuge, strength, and help in times of trouble. This virus may wreak havoc, but You are bigger and the only one worthy of our awe and attention. Amen.