Do any of you feel like you’re experiencing something like the movie Ground Hog Day over and over?  I do! We are being sequestered. We are to stay home from work, school, church, restaurants, etc. until this virus has been conquered and we are safe to leave our homes and be with other people. Yesterday, we were given the word that our own Washington state sequestering has been extended until May4! My first reaction was disappointment. What? Do those who run our government understand what they are doing? Really? Ten million people have filed for unemployment this week. It’s hard to believe we will still have a world we’re even familiar with, financially at least. when this virus has passed.

This is not the first time a pestilence has affected our world. We’ve been in wars. The Spanish flu, the Hong Kong Flu, the Asian Flu, SARS, Swine flu, Polio. I could go on, but  this COVID-19 seems to affect all of us more than other diseases in the past. It’s hard not to get scared. Frustrated. Today, I read in the Psalms, my favorite go-to when I’m scared, or sad, or don’t know where else to go. This time it’s Psalm 41. I like verse 3 that gives promise:

The LORD nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort. 

I’ve read about people in our area who’ve gotten the COVID-19 virus and how sick they are. The word “LORD” indicates this is Jehovah God, Yahweh. And it is he who nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort.

I’ve been sick in my lifetime but not like some of you who have survived cancer, other debilitating disease, or even COVID-19. But I have been so sick at heart through loss, that only the LORD was able to comfort–nurse–me in the way he knew I needed. I can tell you that he was with me when I was sick with a broken heart. He comforted me the way he knew I needed to be comforted. It was not instantaneous. My broken heart took time to heal and after it was healed, there was scarring and I won’t ever be the same as I was before my losses. I became a different person. I looked at life and my loved ones differently. I care about people who are suffering loss through death. I can fully agree with the psalmist: he eases their pain and discomfort.

I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you I was tired of this sequestering. I would like to go to church this Sunday and celebrate Palm Sunday with other believers. I’d like to go to choir practice to rehearse for an Easter morning triumphal song. I’d like our world to be normal and it isn’t. But one thing that is normal. We can trust the God who made us. Who eases our pain and discomfort.  

Though we are sequestered, we can still go for walks and this time of year is outstandingly beautiful where we live. Along one road where we walk, there once was a farm on the bluff above the river. There are many old fashioned flowering trees in that place right next to the road. Earlier this year, they tore the house down. I think they will build a much larger home to take the simple farm house’s place. Most likely they will tear out all of the old established plants, too. Until they do, however, I will help myself to the lovely flowering Camelia bush and bring color and joy into my house.

What’s your need today? Are you grieving? Are you sick? Are you heart sick over a loved one? Are you bored with this sequestering?  I’m going to go to the One who knows and loves me best. Join me.