But I found something better — a French patisserie one county north selling the dessert of my soul, macarons. I took the 30-minute trip to enjoy authentic macarons and coffee in the beautiful, modern French bakery.
During the following morning’s news, reports of the first COVID-19 case in our state were made. It was the county I had spent a lengthy afternoon in just the day before.
A month later, my husband shared some news that would rock our family. Designated an essential worker during that time in the pandemic, he relayed that there would be a cut in his work hours. He also shared that he would be face-to-face with people diagnosed with COVID every time he went to work.
We were concerned for the health of our children, namely our four-month-old who’d just begun to live and hadn’t possibly built any immunity to the common cold, let alone coronavirus.
As a couple, we decided to decrease our spending to include only the necessities, developed a deeper cleaning protocol, and trusted God for the rest.
It took a lot of faith to believe that God would carry us through the unknown. But we did, and I can humbly and gratefully thank him that we never suffered sickness or lack during the 2020 year.
As you’ve thought through your own pandemic story of God’s goodness and graciousness towards you and your loved ones, I’m sure you can testify about the ways God took care of you. And if you are like me, God has placed specific situations in your lap to stretch your capacity to exhibit faith in him. Here’s what I learned about faith during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic:
The Testing of Faith Produces More Faith
James 1:3 reads
“for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” (ESV)
When our faith is tested, we are given another opportunity to show God that we trust him with our next step. As we live life and experience more tribulations (because they will come), we have a foundation to build on during those trying times.
Faith Puts us in Position to Receive Blessings
Trust with God is a two-way street. When we place our trust (faith) in him, it opens the door for additional responsibilities from Heaven to be placed on us. Because we know God’s burden is light (Matthew 11:30), it will never be more than we can bear.
Faith Shows us We Need God
The more we put our faith in God, the more we realize we actually need him to be a part of our every day.
For two years, God silenced the world and gave us an opportunity for a deeper relationship with him. We’ve been tried, and prayerfully, we’ve learned something and will come out pure as gold, like Job in Job 23:10.
Featured photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash; In-text photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
One Response
Thanks for a great post Tacoi. You use trust and faith interchangeably and I believe most would agree. It might be good to explore that idea one of these days.
The pandemic reminded me that faith is rooted in God and who he is. We had no previous pandemic to relate to. We didn’t know how God would show up or what was going on. But I could choose to actively trust him because I had already put my faith in him.
There are times when I choose not to trust. I do my own things and make my own choices. When I do, I miss out on the joy of having trusted God and seen him working. I can always second-guess my own actions. But when I do what I believe God wanted me to do, second guessing is no longer an option. I experience rest and joy as a result.
Comments are closed.