Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh start. A new dawn. The news has been shocking. The world feels like its closing down. It’s not by the way, just feels that way.

Feelings can be deceiving at times. They make us see things from a skewed reality. Sometimes they blow things up bigger than they really are, and sometimes they downplay things that are actually pretty big.

My feelings during this time almost seem to be following the pattern of grieving. The complete and total shock of it at the beginning. I was in disbelief and kinda shrugged it off as no big deal.

Then, there was some confusion and anger. Angry at the response of the government, and sometimes angry at the lack of response. Maybe frustrated is a better word than angry. And it’s been a rollercoaster of up and down emotions. Fear has been mixed in there at times. Worries and anxieties too.

Yet today, for the first time in several weeks, I know what to expect when I rise. I will have coffee, get ready for the day, and then sit in front of my computer. I’ll start responding to emails and google classroom comments. I’ll read assignments that were turned in since I signed off yesterday. I’ll make a simple breakfast for my kids and from 9 to 11, I’ll focus on their schoolwork. After lunch, I’ll put them down for a nap, and I’ll sign onto my computer for a zoom lesson at 1pm. I’ll see my students in their homes, and through the minor technical difficulties, we will push through a lesson together.

Afterwards, I will keep checking emails and responding to students.. and the list goes on.

But see we have a routine again. Hopefully a short lived routine, but nonetheless for the time being, our home has settled into a “new, but temorary” normal.

And you may have too. Whether you’re still working out of the home during this crisis or you are working remotely, things have shifted pretty quickly in our daily lives. Regular routines that were embedded into our day were suddenly pulled right out from underneath us. We went into survival mode and started scrambling to reorder our days. There is comfort in knowing how a day will unfold. Even if the day includes struggle or hard work or long hours, there is comfort in the knowing.

And many people are reminding eachother through posts social media to remember to have gratitude even in struggle. We have food, a home, our family, we are okay.

It’s like we need a reminder that we are safe and we are okay. The sudden and abrupt switch of almost everything can make our brain react as if we are in imminent danger even when we clearly are not.

So you may be slowly finding a new temporary normal or you may still be feeling quite topsy turvy OR you may go back and forth between the two emotions.

Wherever you are, you can cling to what you DO know.

God is for you. He stands alongside of you. He walks with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

He is your strong tower.

He is an ever present help in times of trouble.

He fights your battles for you.

He equips you with everything you need to rise again today and move ahead in the earth.

He is everlasting, and through it all His eyes are on you.

He sees you. He hears you. He draws near to you. He EVEN sings songs over you to delight in you like a parent sings over their child.

He also sings battle cries and songs of deliverance over you when things are crumbling.

Friends, today wherever you are in this global crisis. Know that the Lord Almighty, your God. The God of the heavens and the earth has you safe in His Hands. And He will sustain you right into a new “normal”.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Our needs are all so different, but Your solutions are the same. Time with You can bring chaos into order and turn fierce storms to calm, lapping waters. Lord, come into each of our personal situations and bring peace, strength, wisdom, and equipping. In Jesus’s name, Amen..

Blessings!

Vanessa Lynn