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(16) And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever… (18) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:16, 18
By Teresa Taylor-Williams
About 10 p.m. the other night, a tornado was sighted just outside of my small Kansas town.
As the ominous sirens outside grew louder, I felt fear building up.
This is just great, I thought. If Coronavirus doesn’t take me out, a tornado might!
I called a friend who flatly reminded me: “Well, what’d you expect? You live in what we call tornado alley.”
Gee, thanks for the sympathy and the gentle reminder, buddy.
All of a sudden, I felt very alone.
It was bad enough I was battling COVID-19 in isolation. Now this?
And this may sound shallow, but I felt sorry for myself. I thought of all the couples and the families who had one another to cling to in this time of emergency.
I had no one.
I was suffering and no one cared.
My mother always taught me that suffering is part of life. “No one said we wouldn’t suffer,” she’d say. Essentially, suck it up, buttercup.
I watched the news from the floor. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the tornado veered off in another direction.
Thank You, God, for being with me, I said to myself, as I drifted off to sleep.
“Yes,” He gently reminded me, “I am here. I have always been here.”
At times, living with COVID-19 was not easy.
It was uncomfortable. Chills, congestion, serious body aches, extreme fatigue, dizziness, loss of taste and smell.
It was scary because, well, this virus can be quite intimidating. Particularly when you hear the spiking numbers and see news clips of folks fighting for their lives in hospital beds.
And isolation and quarantine can be lonely. There’s nothing like living in a town full of your relatives and knowing you can’t see any of them…for your safety and for theirs.
But if there is one great thing I can take from this Coronavirus experience, it’s those sweet moments where the Lord reminds me that I am not alone.
Abide in me, and I in you. John 15:4
Reliable. Consistent. That’s God.
He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24
At my old church in Michigan, I have many favorite hymns. I lean on this one: “Jesus is my all and all. Without Him I know I surely would fall. He picked me up, turned me around, placed my feet on solid ground. And that’s why, He’s my, He’s my all and all.”
I just want to assure people, and in the process remind myself, that God is real.
He is a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
And He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
He promised it. I believe it. That settles it.
“Sometimes you have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you have to speak victory during the test. And no matter how you feel, speak the Word and you will be healed; speak over yourself, encourage yourself in the Lord.” Encourage Yourself by Donald Lawrence & the Tri-City Singers
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