Time of Transition

"Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-4

Globally we are all grieving the affects of COVID-19. The whole world is suffering.. with plans crumbling, uncertainty, unemployment, and sickness. Travel bans have caused some complications, resulting in a lot of my close friends/fellow staff members having to suddenly leave Brisbane to return home, much earlier than we expected. So these past few days have been exceptionally difficult in the sense of feeling closure, with social distancing rules in place, I think to myself

" I thought I would have more time..".

But I get it, life isn't always fair. But God turns everything for good, and now I think I have actually learned to cherish however much time that I do have with people, because we can't afford to withhold love, honour, or words. Plus, i'm comforted by the fact that we won't be subject to time in heaven.

I have gracefully leaned into the truth that on earth, we can't expect anything to go the way that we thought it would. There is so much that is out of our control, I'm sure it always has been out of our control, but seasons like this tend to highlight this reality to us. Things that we thought we had "the right to do/right to have" have been taken from us without much warning (ability to travel, access to certain foods and resources, physical touch, financial stability, the ability to go to school, or go to church.. the list goes on)

I was listening to a sermon the other day and the pastor said.. "can I go as far to claim that a lot of those who are now complaining that the church buildings are closed, are the very same ones who haven't been attending in the past few weeks because they decided to sleep in instead". Frankly, I think this season is a bit of a wake up call, what is really important to us? What have we been taking for granted? If we are struggling to find peace in this time, then we were most likely placing our peace, security, and comfort in places we weren't supposed to.

Jesus hasn't changed. My comfort and peace needs to come from Him. With the rest of the world in a panic and crippled by fear, I can choose what I set my eyes on in this season. I can choose to grow my character and to come out of this stronger, or I can choose to entertain fear by giving COVID-19 more time and attention than it deserves.

Here at YWAM Brisbane, our community has been finding new alternative ways to connect, gather, show love, and to encourage each other, while still keeping our space and abiding by government rules. We have been having prayer meetings via skype, writing letters, singing songs, making art, and calling friends and family back home! God is good, God is consistent. Communities are being brought together, families restored, art and music is being made, and churches are proving that the church is not confined to four walls!

In the meantime, I am transitioning into a more logistical role of serving at the YWAM base for the next little while. We are still waiting to hear if Australia will be following the steps of New Zealand by entering a complete lock down. I'm playing things by ear, just like the rest of you, praying in faith that things will blow over soon but instead of returning to normal, I pray we will come back with a greater reverence and gratitude for our relationships, our communities, our time, and the things we've been blessed with in this life to hold on to with an open hand.