Blessings in Sheltering – By Pastor Nancy Rapp
Sheltering in place has been hard and oh so good for me all at the same time…..let me explain
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At first, it was new and I was trying to figure out how to do what needed to be done. How to work, get food… As I live alone, I thought I wouldn’t struggle so much, I am already used to being alone, right?
Not so much! I was all alone….in my house…24/7. The second week I began to feel sad, depressed. I was confronted with just how alone I am. I could not go out to walk around at a store, or sit with a friend, or have my grandkids hug me. The absence of touch was so big.
I began to run to my best friend and worst enemy….food. I realized that could not continue and turned to face God with my desire to eat away how I was feeling. I poured out my heart to God, letting him know the pain I felt in being alone and asking Him to sit with me.
God was with me, every step of the way, just as He has always been. I needed to turn my face and heart directly to Him and hear His voice. When the world goes fast and I am running from one thing to the next, it is so easy not to turn and hear him, but all I had was time.
What a lovely gift this shelter in place has been for me. There are so many hard things from this disease, and I am not saying we should be thankful for those things. But, in the midst of the hard, there have been many blessings. I hope I will continue some of them long after this shelter in place is gone. Some of the blessing I have noticed have been:
- Slowing down
- Watching families walk and hearing their laugher in my neighborhood
- Sweet time spent with God
- Remembering what is truly important in life
- Connecting with those I love via phone and zoom
- Hearing God’s voice over the other voices
- Feeling my aloneness in a deep way, bringing that to God and finding Him to be enough
Oh God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. Psalm 63:1-5
Oh Father, how thankful I am for You.