Draw Near in Troubling Times

I am going to take a little detour from our normal path of encouragement on your parenting journey and share with you where I am right now. It is my prayer that parts of this story will resonate with you and you will find encouragement in knowing you are not alone.

I am on edge, and I can’t seem to shake it. I have written pages and pages of thoughts in my journal and walked miles as these same thoughts spin around in my head. I have searched my Bible and prayed for days for clarity and to hear God’s message in all this. I have called girl friends to hear how they are doing. I have  talked to coworkers to gain their perspective. I have kicked this uneasiness around so much with my husband that I think he is starting to hide from me. But still I have not found rest for my thoughts.

As we greeted the new year in January, I wrote a post about “Raising Achievers.” In that article, I wrote about how to help your children set and achieve their own goals. I find it interesting to see how much the world and our kid’s lives have changed so much in just a few months. While setting and achieving goals are still valuable life lessons in the second half of 2020, they seem almost trivial as we face the unknown of the future. I have wondered how to guide our children in these times.

My heart breaks as I look across the table at my son. In the past few months, we have seen the closure of big parts of his life, his school and our church. We saw the cancellation of spring college campus visits, summer camps, summer mission trips, and maybe even postponing the ability to get the much coveted driver’s license. Slowly, little by little, the external influences of his life and the activities that were such a big part of his identity were being stripped away. I wondered just how many more conversations we could have about overcoming disappointment and being resilient.

As the world news talked about job loss on a national scale with big scary numbers, it became personal in our home as my husband was first furloughed and then laid off from a job he loved. He (and we) grieved the loss of his job. He had envisioned a long career at this company. The thought of starting over in a world of uncertainty seemed impossible to wrap our minds around. I wondered just where we would start.

As spring started to transition to summer, I was eager to jump into the execution of all our summer programs. As a church staff member, summer is my favorite time of year. Summer camps, mission trips, community service activities, and fun days for kids are such a big part of sharing the Gospel message for me. I mourned the missed opportunities to change lives, while looking for new ways to impact lives in a slowly reopening world. I wondered how to do ministry with kids and families we cannot see.

Then the crushing news of the last few weeks—the senseless murder of George Floyd, the national outcry for justice, and the horrible scenes of rioting and looting are heartbreaking. We grieved for this man’s family, for the destruction of our communities, but also the pain it brought to the surface for so many of our friends and families. As we discuss racism and injustice at the dinner table, I want my son and my family to search our own hearts. To root out our own prejudices. But more, I wonder how we can mobilize for real change in our society.

My discontent and the itchiness of my mind is from my position of wondering. I am not able to see past the horizon, and I am not able to take action to change the world around me. I cannot plan my community’s way out of the pandemic. I cannot plan what school will look like for my son in the fall. I cannot find the next job for my husband. I cannot heal the wound of generations of injustice on my own. So, I am stuck between I wonder, I cannot, and trust that should rest in God.

And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done.

Colossians 2:6-7

So as we turn the next corner on a year that seems so different from any other, my encouragement to you (and myself) is to let your roots grow down into Christ and draw up nourishment from Him. For it is growth in our faith and trust in Christ that will sustain us through all we do not understand. We do not know what the world will look like in one month, let alone in three or six months. But we do know that God’s love is everlasting.