In a few weeks’ time, our world has turned upside down.
That’s the thing about crises — they come unannounced and settle right over the plans and dreams we’d scrawled into planners and calendars.
Stores have sold out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer and our best plans have cancelled like bad Christmas tree lights – conferences, speaking engagements, church services, ballet lessons, senior class trips, weddings, sporting events, and more.
In the days since, we’ve seen this virus escalate globally, then nationally and then like a London fog seeping into our towns and cities. We’ve isolated to protect the vulnerable and ourselves, working from home and schooling from home and we don’t know how long this will last.
Both the world at large and our personal worlds have turned upside down.
I hear all around the weight we’re carrying in crisis.
- We’re weary before the day’s even over as we prepare for the worst while praying for the best.
- We’re grieving that once-in-a-lifetime events won’t happen or certainly won’t look like we dreamed.
- We’re adjusting to massive change and upheaval to our day-to-day normality.
- We’re watching markets tumble, layoffs happen and businesses struggle, wondering what kind of economic repercussions are down the road.
- We’re overwhelmed with headlines and predictions and anxious for the unknown that lies ahead.
It’s all leaving us confused, fearful and vulnerable.
While I’ve never been through a time like this — none of us has – I’ve been through the kind of crisis that upends every part of life.
I know despair. I’ve grieved once-in-a-lifetime events that will never happen for me or my children. I’ve grappled with massive change to our day-to-day normality and wondered what the future looks like without the single income that supported us. I’ve feared for my children and worried for the unknown the lies ahead. I’ve felt confused, fearful and vulnerable.
And here’s what I know.
We are not victims in this.
No matter how grim the circumstances, God enables us not merely to survive this season – lots of people will do that.
God enables and intends for us to flourish DESPITE this season and IN this season as he leads us through.
I’ve put together a FREE and simple workbook called Flourish: Find Your Footing, Tame Your Fear and Bloom in Unexpected Difficulty. This study is based on Jeremiah 17:7-8, where God reveals four steps to flourish in the unexpected.
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
Isn’t that what we want? To be stable when the life rocks, to be deeply nourished when life is barren, to disarm fear when we face the unknown and to bud and blossom even in the hard.
This workbook is an easy, 4-day study guide unpacking each verse of Jeremiah 17:7-8 to see how God tells us we can flourish in the unexpected.
I pray this blesses you mightily!
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Trynna find my way back an have a closer bond with God.
I need something to keep me spiritually closer to God at this time…thank you…but I don’t want to have to keep ordering things..
Mary, no ordering involved. This is free and sent to your inbox. You can either read it online or print it to write on.
Going thru really difficult things right now. So difficult to process. Holding on to God. I know He is good. Trying to get my body and mind to relax and press through to back to thrive even with the worst case information a parent could learn. Thank you for praying for our family.
Thank you.
Lisa, I just read your article – Surrendering our children to God means surrendering their entitled lives.
WRITTEN BY
Lisa Appelo
PUBLISHED ON
May 18, 2021
What a prefectly enlightening, concise, but chok-ful of transformative little ‘pearls’.
My circumstances are very different to your parenting article, but for some reason I was drawn to it while reading Jim Denison’s article. I know now it was God sending me to get confirmation of a pre-dawn discussion I had with Him today. The following excerpt “… I realized this too was something I needed to surrender. I needed to let go of the life I wanted…” hit me like a lightening bolt, for though I committed to Him then, I have lingered during the day.
Thank you for this article, which our heavenly Father used indirectly to remind me of my committment.
I am not on instagram but will continue to follow your website.