Hang on to Hope

This is COVID-19

I have finally lost patience with COVID-19. Today was the first day I felt truly challenged by stay-at-home orders.

The past couple of months, I've had plenty of things to keep me busy. I rarely even needed to go for groceries or necessities. When I did, I observed social distancing and wore a mask.

The thing is, I'm tired of hearing about COVID-19. Opinions are so varied I don't know whom to believe.

I'm also tired of seeing COVID-19 on display around the globe. Epidemics have caused havoc before, but not on such an all-encompassing worldwide scale.

We Are All In This Together

My refrigerator has a magnet that says It Will All Work Out. That's what dad would say after he tried really hard to deal with something and found he couldn't change it.

Sometimes all we can do is wait. When that happens, how we wait becomes important. That's why I'm reminding myself to hang on to hope.

HOPE! Now there's a word worth keeping in your vocabulary. The dictionary describes it as desire accompanied by expectation.

That makes it a dynamic, energetic word. People with hope never give up.

COVID-19 seems to have renewed interest in spiritual things. It seems more people than ever are praying. Many of them have learned that prayer changes things. 

For me, hope and prayer go together because I see it like this:

How Often Prayer Enables

Prayer that enables provides the means, power,

or authority to do something, or get it done.

Pray Anytime Anywhere

How often should we pray? The Apostle Paul said to "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Prayer is talking to God. It comes from our heart, not our posture. We can pray anytime, anywhere. I do, but why?

Because God is greater than I am, I have hope! Because I have hope, I pray. When I pray, I believe God hears me, whether my prayer is long or short.

HOPE in the form of prayer makes a difference. Even if we feel our faith is as tiny as the mustard seed mentioned in Matthew 17:20, it has power.

Prayer changes things, so don't give up. Hang on to HOPE!