Coronavirus Cogitations {Lois Ormsby}

Watching everything transpire before my eyes is interesting to say the least. How unusual that truly the entire world is going through the same thing in some capacity.  My thoughts about it all are many – but I am trying to be like Mary, who “…kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

A glaring result of this crisis is the way it affects the 2019-2020 school year. On every side, uncertainty is found. The fear of the time your child, no matter their age, is losing with their education is alarming. Today I wanted to share something from my life that God reminded me of; maybe it will encourage you in this time.

India and I were homeschooled our entire lives. I even did my first two years of college at home. In the years I was 8 and 9 years old, my mother became very ill with malaria. She was very, very sick…sometimes close to death. During that time, our education was inevitably put on hold. We went months without doing any schoolwork. In a way, we lost an entire year of school time.

I don’t really remember much of what my mom said about our school then, because she was so sick that we girls did not get to see her very often. We spent most of our time with different church families who cared for us while my dad was with my mom at the hospital. I was young enough that I didn’t always understand how sick she was. As young as I was, though, I also remember the strength of my mother’s faith as well as the encouragement from our pastor to trust God in that confusing time.  Mommy recovered, praise the Lord, and life carried on. Guess what? I graduated high school right on time. India did, too. Many might say, “oh, well, your mother caught you up and it worked out since you were homeschooled anyways”. But, don’t forget that making up an entire year of missed time is a pretty big deal academically.

What is impossible with man is always possible with God. Somehow, God helped make up for the time we lost in that year. I honestly do not even remember how. That was over 20 years ago. The way technology has advanced in 20 years is astounding and to our great advantage. If God was able to help us way back then, could He not do the same for our world today?

I see many trying to carry on in this crisis as close to normal as possible, almost as if this crisis is not happening. May I encourage you to consider that it is ok not to have it all figured out. It is ok for everything to be awry because sometimes that is how life goes. Please let God take up for where you are lacking. I am not belittling the importance of anything good; no, I am seeking to make much of what God is capable
of. He wants to be the One glorified in our weakness. How sad it would be if when we come out on the other side of this crisis, that we look back and tell others, “This is what I did to power through.”