We are currently experiencing a time unlike no other. In all my years of life, I have never seen such times like this. The only thing I can compare it to from personal experience is the morning of 9-11-2001. I will never forget that day. I was getting ready for school, listening to the radio as I did every morning. Just an average 13-year-old girl without a care in the world.
Then came the moment I heard someone say the terrifying words “A plane has just struck into the world trade center.” Mind you, it was Kube 93.3 that I was listening to, I was in middle school at the time and barely knew what the world trade center even did. The devastation in the radio host’s voice struck through me like an arrow and the only thing I knew to do was to go wake my parents and tell them what I just heard. They first questioned where I got the information from, wondered if this could be a trusted source, and quickly turned on the news. There it was across every channel, a plane indeed struck into the building of the world trade center. We watched it happen on the television, still in disbelief. I can still feel the despair that floated through every room of school that day.
So many lives were taken, just like that. So many more lives now forever changed. There was panic, worry, sorrow, but through the midst of all that I remember, there was this sense of unity after that I had never experienced before. Neighbors came together to mourn the losses of our nation and I had never seen anything so terrifying and beautiful at the same time.
I remember joining my community in moments of silence. I can still feel the tears that flowed from all of our faces as we held candles and wept for the tragic losses that came from this terrible day in history. Sounds of the frantic classmates trying to get a hold of their parents who worked in the world trade center still haunt me to this day. The school which was normally so full of life was now dull and it was as hard for the students to learn as it was for the teachers to teach.
Fast forward to 2020. I am now the mother of a 7-year-old boy. I am a spouse to my best friend and we work so hard to give our son the life we know he deserves. But today we face a new crisis that is quickly spreading throughout the world known as COVID-19. This is something so unique that no one in history has ever experienced such a time.
Sure, there have been many plagues and illnesses over the years, but this one is brand new. It discriminates against no one, puts the generation that raised us as risk, and is quickly disrupting all life as we know it. Schools have shut down, small businesses are suffering, big corporations are unsure if they can survive, the economy is breaking, and the government is scrambling trying to figure out which way to go. It is by every definition a world crisis! We are left again wondering “is this really happening?” Is this real life right now?
What is a crisis? It is something of which you did not cause, and you have no control over it. This sounds familiar, doesn’t it? COVID-19 is totally something that was not caused by any of us, and certainly something of which we have no control over. In a matter of days, we went from total freedom to confined to the walls of our own houses. We once spent our days working, shopping, eating out with friends. Now, we are trying to balance working from home, homeschooling our children, and under orders not to leave the house.
Some people are unable to work at all, not every job can be done from home. Suffering is happening all around us and no one knows how to stop it. The recipe for panic and hardship for many across the world. Some are indirectly affected and question why we have to take such drastic measures, but so many others are affected directly, many fighting for their lives and isolated from everyone that they love. It’s the kind of times that make you lean on, or question your faith.
I took a week off of my everyday routine to just meditate and reflect on what life is today, and I really want to share with you what it is that I have come to realize. It became known to me that I have become equipped with some tools and knowledge to help overcome seasons of crisis through my studies in life. I want to share them with you all in proof that we can all overcome this time of stress. It was made known that NOTHING is permanent except God and his promises. To everything, there is a season. How comforting to know that during this unbelievable time in our lives, we can rest assured that this is only but a season?
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 NIV:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing was taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
We may have no control over the crisis our entire world is facing right now, but we are always in control of our thoughts during the crisis. Kingdom people live in faith and know that what we are experiencing cannot last. Genisis 8:22-9:1 says “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer, and winter, day and night will never cease.” We can look at any and all situations and understand that it is just a season, for believing a season is permanent is suicide. There will be LIFE after the test. Praise God!
The great thing about seasons is that they are always changing! In fact, seasons guarantee change. They give hope to believers for we know that our time of brokenness, will not last forever. A change is gonna come! There is nothing on earth that remains the same forever. This means that a crisis will never be a permanent condition. Rejoice in that! This makes the key to life is to just outlast the season. A crisis will never be a permanent condition, therefore we cannot make permanent decisions in the midst of a crisis. A crisis has always been a source of development and growth. People won’t change unless they have to.
Take hurricanes for example. A hurricane is God’s way of cleaning up an area. The trees that are rotted, the buildings that are not built to code, every single thing that is faking it gets wiped out. It is pure devastation in the beginning, but stick around long enough and watch the new development that inevitably happens. A crisis creates an opportunity for creativity. You are forced to find new ways to make money. Japan is an island that was bombed during WWII. Rubble was all that was left. What did they do? They came back selling everyone in the world cars and electronics. Out of their crisis, it became an unforeseeable opportunity. Kingdom people see a solution to every problem. They are still selling these things to nations of the world to this day!
For people of the world, a crisis produces fear, trauma, depression, despair, frustration, anxiety, loneliness, abandonment, worry, hopelessness, sense of loss, sense of death, sense of survival, abuse, crime, and domestic violence. Some of us are cycling through these things daily given the current state of our economy and livelihood. This is a huge problem for any country, these things can destroy people’s lives and cause them to make permanent decisions during this temporary situation.
We are not meant to be of the world system. The bible says in Philippians 4:6-7 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” You overcome by faith when you believe in the dark that he told you in the light. Meditate in his promise and spread God’s love throughout your community.
Since the whole world is in lockdown, many of us have been temporarily (some permanently) laid off from your everyday jobs. This may seem like a devastating crisis, right? But what if I told you that there is no crisis in that, only opportunity? Better yet, what if I told you that your job is not even your work? There is a difference between your career, and what you were born to do. Never confuse your job, with your work. You can be fired from your job, you cannot be fired from the assignment that was implanted in you before you were even born. Jobs only prepare you for your work by refining your gift. Your gift is bigger than your skills that they pay you for. There is no future in any job, your future is in the one who holds the job. Your provider, the creator.
God allows seasons to come to test our faith. We may be broke in one season, but riches are coming. Things may seem hopeless in one season, but laughter is waiting. God will allow you to lose some things just so you can remember what it’s like to have nothing and strive to be a blessing to those who are in a season of struggle. When we are all in trouble, it takes us all to help bring us out. Hard times will bring us back to humanity. They make life simple again and cause us to re-evaluate what is really important. Family, friendship, helping one another.
No one is better than the next when everyone is at risk and suffering. We are all able to find empathy again. We can now focus on the common good and reprioritize our lives. True leadership is tested in times of crisis. We are seeing companies true colors, some of which have been heartbreaking towards those that work so hard in our community. Others make you proud and honored to be a part of organizations that show so much compassion for their community. I am lucky enough to be of the latter.
The rich man and the poor man have one thing in common, God made them both. God gave sight to both. Dr. Myles Munroe told a story during a video I watched one time about two college guys who took a trip to India. They both got to experience true poverty firsthand. They saw poor people everywhere with no clothes and no shoes going through life as their version of normal.
One of the students wept at their misfortune and returned home to school. The other, returned home to quit school and developed a plastic shoe. He found a designer, created the prototype, and learned that it would cost $0.15 to produce this shoe. Then, he located an investor who believed in his idea, they produced these shoes and sold them to the people of India for around $0.50. They quickly became millionaires. Both college kids saw exactly the same thing, only one made a profit as well as changed the lives of all those they saw that day. The other was hired as an accountant to the one who saw a business. Perspective is key!
I want you to know that God envisioned and planted something so powerful inside of you. There are problems waiting for you to solve them. My dear, sweet friend, don’t wait for someone to give you a job! Take a good look around your community and find the problems that exist today. Every one of those problems is a business. There is no lack of employment in our country, only a lack of sight.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 NIV says “Sew your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle.” This means even as you clock in and work your day job with dignity, but then use your nights to perform your work. People think I am crazy because I wear so many hats but you do not know which one will prosper you.
I am an analyst for a health insurance company during the day. This not only takes care of my bills, but it allows me to take pride in helping people. When I get home, I have a house and family to take care of. Then find time for working on my vegan makeup line. You have to make time for your works weather its blogging, photography, writing your book, cooking for the gram, anything in the world that you want to turn into your business. We don’t know which one will bring us our fortune. We must be true to our souls and always continue to search for the purpose within.
Your future is not ahead of you, it is trapped inside of you. You were born a seed! The real testimony of life will be discovering, developing, and releasing your seed into the world. Seeds are never in recession. No matter the economy, your seed will grow. You will succeed. Your seed is the idea that just won’t go away, the desires for your life that you cannot shut off even if you tried. I know as moms, we do try! What do you have right now? An oven? A laptop? A camera? Turn the items you already have into your business. God already equipped you with everything you need right now to get started and will supply all of your needs as you go. The world is waiting for you!
My source for this article comes from the teachings of Dr. Myles Munroe of Munroe Global, and you can purchase all of his works at www.munroeglobal.com as well as watch them on youtube. He was a brilliant man and his life’s legacy is inspiring generations to come, including mine. Thank you for your wisdom!
