Where is the Hope? | Letters in Lockdown #1

Suuuuurprise!! I’m back!

I apologise. I took a little break and I feel a little ashamed at how long that break lasted. But with a schedule stretched every which way and the right side of my brain shrivelled like a raisin, it was inevitable. 

But then, life changed. My life changed, your life changed…the life of the whole world has changed. Living in the ever changing climate of a global pandemic, the fact that life has changed is one of the few things we can say with certainty. To coin a phrase written in every single email sent over the past couple of months…we are living in unprecedented times. 

I’ve been itching to hop back on the blog since lockdown landed but, up until this week, that train of thought was left in limbo. Who am I to comment on a Coronavirus existence when I am, currently, in full health? Who am I to offer encouragement and condolences, when my biggest Covid-induced disappointments are minor inconveniences in comparison to what many across the world are facing? In fear of sounding glib, ignorant and unqualified, I have chosen to keep quiet.

But I’ve gradually come to realise that if there is anything I am qualified to talk about, it is my existence as a human, ergo my need for the grace and love of Jesus. 

We may all be experiencing this pandemic differently, but those experiences are underlined by one truth; our lives are fragile. When all the systems we have put in place and rely on to gain control over our lives have been swept out from underneath us, when the ping of our daily news notification makes our hearts ache with heaviness, when we are having to write a new definition for togetherness when being together is disallowed – all of this makes us aware of our humanness.

And it’s probably made us all ponder the big ‘life’ questions, too. You know, the usual: What am I doing with my life?; What is the meaning of life?; Who am I?; Do I even exist? Oooof, heavy. Sorry. Before you run a mile or crawl into the cave of an existential crisis, there is hope!

See, the good news of the Bible tells us that, though we chose to forsake our creator God, He has not forsaken us. It tells us that God the Father so loved us, though we are sinful and imperfect, that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to become sin for us and die a death that He did not deserve for our sake. But He then rose again and broke the power of death promising that, when we let Him take His rightful place in our lives, we can live forever in victory with Him through His Holy Spirit. Through His death and resurrection, we can live full lives and know complete peace. 

Peace in knowing that God, the creator of everything from the morning dew to the Milky Way galaxy, is in control when everything feels uncontrollable. Peace in knowing that we are the children of a gracious Father who loves and cherishes us beyond any human understanding. Peace in knowing that the yoke of Jesus is easy and His burden is light; we can bring all our cares, our worries and our joys to Him and entrust Him with them all.

While the truth of God’s love for us is so beautifully complex and profound that it is so hard to reduce it down to a few sentences, the truth of the gospel is amazingly simple. And so can be our response. He’s done the hard bit. All He asks of us is to recognise our need for Him, and to put all our faith and trust in Him. He will help us with the rest. 

Life right now may be hectic, scary, and overwhelming. It might be lonely, narrated by a heavy and oppressive silence. It may be absolutely bliss and a welcome break from the challenge of ‘normal’ life. I believe that Jesus can meet you wherever you are. He sees you. He knows you better than you know yourself. 

If this is new to you, I encourage you to just sit with this for a while and consider your response. If you’ve heard about Jesus but don’t really get or like what I’m going on about, I encourage you to take some time to be quiet, to let your thinking mind rest, and ask God to reveal Himself to you personally. If you already know Jesus, then I encourage you to ask Him to reveal something new about His character during this lockdown period. That’s a prayer I’ve personally been praying, and I can tell you that He has delivered many fold!

So in my upcoming blogposts, I intend to share some of musings, puny and profound alike. I’m not going to commit myself to an agenda (my inner Monica is currently screaming at me as I type), but instead I am just going to go with da flowwwww.

That’s all for now, kids. 

Speak soon. 

Rosie x