Lessons from Lockdown (Part 2)

If you didn't catch part 1 of this post, you can read it here. I am sharing some of the things God has been teaching me during this lockdown period.

More Lessons from Lockdown

- God is giving me GOOD things to enjoy because HE is good. There are so many amazing things - how much more amazing must He have to be to think them up! A boring, fun-sucking God doesn't invent chocolate.

- God is an artist and not only is this world His art - our lives are - a vastly multi-dimensional, beautiful piece of art. "You are His workmanship."

- Christ is enough, but He is not just enough. He is BETTER. His person and character are better than I can possibly imagine.  His plans and what He is going to give me are BETTER than what I think I want. They are not just a passable substitute, the bare minimum. The future is infinitely, wonderfully more than I can ask or imagine.

- This suffering is needed in my life. It is the only thing that is really forcing me to run to Christ.

- The Sower's Song - this song really hit home for me. Please give it a listen...

This suffering is a seed that will grow a massive tree for eternity. God is planting eternal praise for Himself. Everything is going to be...well, there are no words for that wonder. Everything will be good. Better than good. More than redemption.

- We don't know how to enjoy joy without the threat of sadness. 

"It's too good to be true."

"All good things come to an end."

"It's too good to last."

What if we turned those statements on their head to reflect what is actuallyl true when we take eternity into account?

"It's too bad to last."

"All bad things come to an end." 

(Only good things don't!)

"It's so good it has to be true!"

(Because God is the greatest Good and He is always true...)

- I actually do struggle with loneliness (for a while, I thought I didn't), but not in the traditional sense. It took a lockdown to show me that I was seeking to scratch that itch with people. It wasn't all wrong - fellowship is needed. But I need to run to Christ more for companionship and comfort. I wasn't, and this often caused a lot of friction in friendship. This loneliness doesn't present in the same way as someone who sits around feeling lonely all the time, but that person and I share the same root issue.

- I've learned a while ago, that I don't need to sit around waiting and dreading the next wave of anxiety that comes to cripple me. Because I'm learning that it's sin, and as a good friend told me, that's good news, because "there's a cure for that!" I can say no to sin, by God's grace and in His strength. But I'm realizing now that there's a second reason I don't have to be afraid. I play a song for the kids about how Peter walked on water and his faith failed; he looked at the waves and started to drown, to slip into the waves. But he cried for help and God heard him, Jesus stretched out His hand and saved him. And even if I slip into nauseating, crippling anxiety - God will graciously and lovingly reach out His hand and pull me up.