Silver Lining

Silver Lining: (noun)  something that the most optimistic people look for during a stressful time.

Most people tend to focus their attention on the issues that are causing the stress. That’s me, I’m most people. This year has definitely brought on more than its share of challenges. But I love how God takes what we consider challenges and creates opportunities for Christians to remind us of his love and his promises.

As the world was shutting down due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, my life was changing with a recent medical diagnosis. Adjusting to managing a new lifestyle, adapting to working and teaching from home, all while not having the physical connection with friends was enough to put my anxiety levels on high alert.

As an adult, we sort of just roll with the punches and complain about the obstacles, as we are overcoming them. But as a parent, it made me realize this was a change for my son as well. I was so focused on myself and my own struggles, I didn’t realize that my son was struggling alone. It took him having a complete breakdown with fear over all of the recent and sudden changes for me to see that this was my opportunity to remind him of God’s love for him. I reminded him that we have nothing to be afraid of, because of the promise in Jeremiah 29:11.

This was an opportunity to gravitate towards Christ and not toward our fears or our obstacles. Reading scripture together gave us hope and peace knowing that we serve a God greater than our fears. Peace consumed us both with the reassurance that God will bring us through this difficult time. We then became like the optimistic people, recognizing the things we can be grateful for.

Would you believe it? Me reminding my son of God’s promise, helped ease my fears because it made me set an example, as a disciple maker of Christ.