Two weeks ago, I had a wisdom tooth extracted. It needed to come out, because it was getting infected. It was very painful, but my personal pain somehow diminished, considering the pain of my family and friends during this unprecedented time.
A healthy woman battle COVID for the second time and we thank God that she is now on a recovering journey.
An estimated 40 – 60 million people being pushed back into poverty after years of humanitarian aid.
Christians being brutally persecuted for their faith.
Families ripped of their lives when the hurricane hit.
This is only the tip on the iceberg, but all this news broke me. I was so discouraged.
But then I picked up a book, that I had started in Spring. Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere. I read the Chapter where she talks of how lions live in the light and hunt in the dark.
The lioness is not afraid to sleep anywhere during the day. She is resting, gaining energy for hunting at night. She lives in the light! She knows that no enemy can hurt her, because she is powerful and strong.
Doesn’t this sound wonderful to live in the light? To not be ashamed of our faith and who we are in Christ? To not live in fear and shame?
To live life open handed. What does that mean? I don’t fully understand what that means, but God is slowly revealing it to me. It is living in community with our fellow believers, a place where we are encouraged and admonished. To willingly give of our time and money to help loved ones and those in need. To love, even when we don’t have the same views. If you want to learn more read the Bible and you will find a more comprehensive version of living open handed! Oh God help me to Love and Live like You!
Now here is the interesting part – Lionness’ have night vision. Its not that simple though, in complete darkness, they are as blind as a bat, no seriously they are blind, they can’t see.
But when the stars are twinkling and the moon is glistening, they can see their enemy and hunt it down! How? They have an unique ability that helps them capture, refract and then reflect light. So even the smallest fraction of light is transformed into sight. She then is able to kill her breakfast.
We are living in hard times and the darkness seems so blinding and sometimes I ask where is the Light? Where is God in all of this?
Before COVID hit, we were living in the day. For the average, life was relatively easy in North America. Yes, we had our struggles, but for the majority, we didn’t understand the definition of hardship. Life was pretty good.
But then COVID hit and we entered a type of darkness, surrounded by so much sadness. WHO(World Health Organization estimates COVID will push 40 – 60 million people back into poverty, undoing years of humanitarian service. People are dying and being affected by a sickness that is serious. People are losing jobs and their means of livilihood The list goes on.
God is asking us to get our night vision on! What are we consuming? Are we reading the news more than the Word. This doesn’t mean we should block out the reality, but use wisdom.
“When we think more about pandemics and politics than about Jesus, Jesus influences our conduct less than before. But when we think about Jesus, other differences between us fall into perspective.” -David Campbell
What are we speaking? Our words have power. Thats how God spoke the world into being and that is one way we can bring hope to our world.
“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences” ~ Proverbs 18:21
This requires our perspective to shift. Are we letting the darkness around us to blind us, or are we focusing on the Light – God. Once I looked at what seemed like only a glimmer of light, I was humbled. I realized I had taken my focus off of God and I needed to shift my perspective. That’s when something changed, not the circumstances around me, but I changed. I now was looking through God’s eyes. And when we look through God’s eyes it also moves us to be the light, by helping our neighbors both locally and abroad!
This is a hard lesson, that takes more than a lifetime to learn. I am someone when I see injustice, I want to bring justice, not today, but like yesterday. I hurt when people hurt, probably even more than when I hurt. Like I heard in a song, I only have two hands. But I serve a God who has many hands all over the world. When we ALL use these hands that we’ve been given, we then will see His Kingdom come and His will be done!
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:9
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