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About this post: We want to stay connected! This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for this season. Read them, share them, and pray that they bring God's peace and love to our communities. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text zpc to 39970. We welcome your comments and questions each day.

About the author: Kira is a freshman at Azusa Pacific University, majoring in christian ministries and minoring in psychology. She has been involved at ZPC for the past 4 years and has been a member of ZPC for a little over a year. She hopes to work in student ministry or in an intercity context doing adolescent and family therapy. 

Today's Scripture: Psalm 69:1-4

When I was asked to write this devotional, I was honestly hesitant to commit to it because of the insane and surreal reality of life right now. In thinking this way, I realized that, while this time is incredibly overwhelming, one of the only remaining constants in my life is my faith and it is something that I should invest in and lean on more than ever. I feel like this is true for many of us, but I simply cannot wrap my head around what is happening in the world right now!! I can’t even wrap my head around my own life right now!! Every time I try, I get overwhelmed, sad, angry, and definitely scared. In talking to others about all that is going on, I know I am not the only one experiencing these emotions. How could we not when so much is being taken away from us? Prom, friends, classes, work, in-person connections of any kind: The list is endless of things that are no longer being experienced in the same way they were before. 

Two weeks ago, I was across the country, in my dorm, playing cards, doing homework, having coffee with professors, and going on spontaneous adventures with my friends. While life as we knew it was continuing, we all had at least a subtle fear of the threat COVID-19 brought to our college experience. Two days later, the things in my dorm were in storage, I said goodbye to my friends, and I was back in Indiana. Even writing that, I am shocked by how much my life has changed over the past couple weeks and I know that there are so many others that have experienced a similar situation over the past month. Basically, what I am saying is that I am now taking life one day at time. I know it sounds cliche, but none of us have experienced a global pandemic or the quarantining of a whole state or any of the things going on that we’ve only seen in movies. This day-by-day approach has given me comfort and confidence in how I go about each day. I have cleaned, organized, baked, cooked, slept in, stayed up late, and eaten way too many snacks. As we are all learning, those are classic quarantine activities.

As I go about everyday, I constantly am evaluating what I can and cannot control. I love to have things planned and have control over the things in my life, but in my short 18 years I have learned that this simply is not a reality for anyone. As a result I have learned to find peace in the little things I actually do have control over and not get caught up in the things I don’t. Before this virus, no one would have ever seen me as organized as I am now. My planner is everything I’ve ever wanted it to be: color coded and actually filled in. I am a huge fan of Frozen 2, and my life perfectly reflects a quote from Olaf. He says, “We’re calling this, ‘controlling what we can when things feel out of control.’” Thank you, Olaf, for the healthy coping mechanism. With all of this being said, let’s dive into the Psalm. 

This Psalm is a cry for help. These first 4 verses are filled with language that convey so much weight. The words “depths,” “deep,” “engulf,” “parched,” and “forced” are just a selection of words that have connotations of discomfort, anxiety, and a lack of control. We could so easily use these words to describe the situation that we are all currently facing. David is the author of this Psalm and as he begs the Lord to save him from all that is overwhelming him, we can relate to the desperate attempts to make this all stop and have life return to what we were comfortable in. He is tired of asking to be rescued and to be helped. We can ALL relate to this, whether it is now, or at any other point in our lives. In this time, our fear, anger, sadness, grief, loneliness, anxiety, stress, etc. can so easily become the waters that continue to rise and take us over. As we desperately pray, trust, read our Bibles, or worship it is so hard for us to see all that is happening and still truly believe that God is still bigger than the global hysteria that has affected our lives so hugely. My favorite part of this passage is in the last part of verse 4. It says, “I am forced to restore what I did not steal.” Isn’t that true for all of us. We have been stripped of the life that we knew before being forced into quarantine and are restoring our lives, when we actually had no control over our lives in the first place. The routines we have built throughout our lives are being altered and we have no choice but to figure it out and roll with the punches. Toward the end of this Psalm, David begins to praise God for the things in his life that are remaining constant and assures us that the Lord will hear our cries for help. He reminds us that God resides in whatever we experience and that God will restore and dwell wherever we are.

Activity: 

Something that has brought me peace and joy is journaling. I keep a prayer journal and it has been a blessing to have extra time in this practice. I would encourage spending a few minutes or even seconds to write down a prayer, the things that you are finding joy in during this time, or even just the emotions you are feeling in the moment. There is no wrong way to journal, and you can make it unique to you. You can do this individually or as a family!

Prayer:

God,
You are mightier than a pandemic, yet personal enough to remain with each of us in our many fears and anxieties. As I continue my life in this season of unknown, help me to find peace in the constants that remain in life and the truth that you restore. I pray that you restore me, just as you restore the rest of the world. 
Amen

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