Community in the Time of COVID-19

Morgan Farr is a strong voice for biblical truth and practical Christian living. In this Spiritual Life and Ministry UPGRADE, she reminds us of the strength found in Christian community, especially during tough times like the coronavirus pandemic.

"Social distancing and isolation can be incredibly lonely." Morgan says.

"Many people all over the country are feeling the strain of Covid-19 on their lives and relationships. But it doesn’t have to be that way!"

I (Dawn) have watched lonely neighbors struggle during the coronavirus pandemic. This isn't the time for Christians to hunker down, but rather to reach out to them. There are ways to safely minister to others—especially to the "household of faith" (Galatians 6:10).

Morgan continues . . .

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,

“Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak.

"The elimination of the weak is the death of fellowship.”

The good news is that we live in an age of incredible technology, allowing us to still communicate despite the separation! 

As Christians, we should still have the best community out there.

Here is how to maintain community during the Covid-19 social distancing without needing fancy online technology or computer access.   

1. Make a List.

The very first thing I did to prepare for social distancing was to make a list of all the people that I wanted to stay in contact with. This list included people from my Bible studies, moms from our homeschool co-op and distant family members.

I have:

• a list of people that I text every single morning,
• a list of people I text on Sundays, and
• a list of people that I am sending snail mail to multiple times per month.   

Who can you reach out to today?

2. Set an Alarm.

A list is great, but how do you remember to look at your list?

• I set an alarm on my iPhone labeled “Text the Love” for my daily check in,
• I set an alarm for “Love on the Lord’s Day” for the Sunday texts.
• I set an alarm that just has an emoji of a snail for naptime on Saturdays to write my letters and cards.

When the alarm goes off, I do the activity.

No pauses; no snoozing the alarms.  

3. Reach Out.

If you are feeling lonely or having a hard time, do not hesitate to reach out to people in the body of Christ.

I know the diaconate at our local church is working tirelessly to be available to the church via phone, Zoom, FaceTime and more.

Titus 2:2-8 says, 

"Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

"Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

"Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

If you are in need of someone to talk to, contact your local church, and ask to be put in contact with an elder or deacon.

Let the elder men and women of the church love and instruct you. It is what God has called them to do!

Finally, in this time of social distancing, don’t distance yourself from God.

• Maintain your quiet time,
• be in the Word of God every single day,
• memorize scripture, and
• pray as much as you can.

This is a scary time for many people, but for the followers of Jesus Christ we know that this is just a part of the story, and that it is all in God’s hands!  

Who can you reach out to today? 

Morgan Farr is a Texas-loving, succulent-cultivating, book nerd. Stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this Army wife is working to better love her husband, develop her three (soon to be four!) small children, and learn more about homeschool. Morgan is a homemaker dedicating her time to ministering to other Army wives through Bible studies, one-on-one mentoring, and physical training. She writes about her transition out of feminism and into biblical womanhood at The Forgiven Former Feminist.

How to Trust God with Unanswered Prayer

Debbie W. Wilson is not only an exceptional Bible teacher, she is a life coach who applies scripture in practical ways. In this Prayer UPGRADE, she addresses a topic that sometimes causes Christians to question the Lord.

Debbie asks, "Have unanswered prayers ever shaken your ability to trust God?"

I (Dawn) know I have had many unanswered prayers. I wondered, "Isn't my faith strong enough?" My focus was all wrong, regardless.

Years ago, a movement named Promise Keepers called men to faithfulness. But this article is about the faithfulness of God. Debbie is calling people to the Faithful Promise Keeper.

Debbie continues . . .

My friend and I prayed for her teenaged sons who were rebelling against her faith and values. Nothing she did seemed to reach them.

One day while reading the Bible she came across a Bible passage that resonated with her.

^"This is what the Lord says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the Lord.

‘They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your children will return to their own land’” (Jer. 31:16-17 NIV).

My friend believed this was God’s promise to her.

She repeated “they will return” to herself when their behavior worsened. This word from God boosted her faith whenever she was tempted to worry.

Abraham and Sarah, an Old Testament couple, also found hope in a promise from God. This couple tried for decades to have a child with no success. Sarah was infertile.

Imagine their surprise when God approached Abraham when he was pushing 100 years to say the time had come. Sarah would give birth to a son next year.

“As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her” (Gen. 17:15-16 NIV).

Sarah was at least 89. If she couldn’t conceive during the normal childbearing years, how could she hope to conceive a child now?

When their circumstances contradicted God’s words, they focused on the promise.

Their placed their hope in His ability not in their circumstances.

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed… Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:18-21 NIV).

Abraham didn’t live in denial.

Neither was he a Pollyanna.

He considered his “good as dead” body and Sarah’s dead womb and laughed. God sure had a sense of humor to bring a son from them—now!

At age 100 Abraham held his infant son in his arms. At age 90 Sarah sang lullabies as she nursed her newborn.

God ALWAYS keeps His promises!

God fulfilled His promise to my friend too. Today, both of her children walk with the Lord and are raising their children in the Lord.

How do we trust God when our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears?

1. Ask God for His will and perspective and then expect to receive a word from Him. It may come from your regular Bible reading, a sermon, or what the Holy Spirit brings to mind.
2. Focus on His promise—not on what you see or don’t see. Memorize it and say it out loud.
3. Trust God’s timing. Some of God’s promises—like Abraham being the father of many nations—are bigger than our lifetime.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1 NIV). 

God always keeps His promises.

Has He given you a promise, but you can’t see anyway it will be fulfilled? Trust Him. He is the Promise Keeper.

Debbie W. Wilson—drawing from her walk with Christ and decades as a Christian counselor, life coach, and Bible teacher—helps women give themselves a break so they can enjoy grace-filled lives. Based on Hebrews 11, her most recent book, Little Faith, Big God, shows people how to live strong and finish well. Debbie enjoys a good mystery, dark chocolate, and the antics of her two standard poodles. Refresh your faith with free resources at debbieWwilson.com.

When Circumstances Look Hopeless, Hope Prevails!

Dr. Michelle Bengtson was one of the first "strangers" who reached out to me when I was going through my Myeloma journey in 2019. It didn't take long for me to count her as a new friend. Her posts about hope encouraged me for many months.

In this special Hope UPGRADE, she tells us a little about her own journey, and encourages us to hold onto hope in our own tough circumstances."When everything around me looked hopeless," Michelle says, "hope was all I had to hang onto."

Like Michelle, I (Dawn) believe hope is no small thing to hang onto! It is solid. It can be counted on—because our hope is in the God of Hope!

Michelle continues . . .

My husband and I were on the way to his oncologist appointment. As he drove, my cell phone rang. Across the screen scrolled my doctor’s name and phone number.

Thinking they were just calling to confirm an upcoming appointment I had scheduled, I answered and was greeted with the words no one ever expects nor wants to hear—“I hate to have to tell you this, Dr. Bengtson, but you have cancer. We need to schedule you for surgery.”

Wait. What? This must be a mistake.

They must have the wrong person. I’m healthy.

We’re on our way to see my husband’s doctor. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been given another bad report, but me?

“Dr. Bengtson? We need to schedule surgery. Would now be a convenient time to do that?”

I could hardly think straight, much less talk on the phone and access my calendar.

“Um, I’m sorry. I’m going to have to call you back.”

As my husband and I sat in the waiting room of his oncologist’s office, we sat in silence, holding hands. Neither of us needed to say anything… we knew what the other was thinking, and words wouldn’t change anything.

In as short as a minute, my mind started going down the “what if?” rabbit trail. But I knew how very counterproductive that usually was.

I had just written my book, “Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises,” and turned it in to my publisher two weeks before.

As I sat in silence, I thought,

“You have just written the script for the next phase of your journey. Either you can go down the slippery slope of worry, fear, and anxiety, or you can choose to trust God and remain in His peace. This did not take God by surprise, and He already knows how He’s going to help you navigate your future.”

In that moment, a calm assurance came over me consistent with Philippians 4:7 (NIV), “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

There was no earthly explanation.

There was no earthly explanation for the peace I felt. It had to have come from God.

As time progressed, I underwent surgery, and began treatment. My approach during that time was different than most. I told my doctor that I didn’t want to know how many treatment cycles she expected, because I didn’t want to wish my life away, waiting for treatment to be over.

I wanted to wake up every day thankful that God gave me a new day, and ask Him how He wanted me to spend it.

As I went through treatment—while my husband dealt with his own cancer—life could have felt very hopeless. Yet through my husband’s first bout of cancer, we were told by doctors to get our affairs in order because he wasn’t going to live.

The doctors were wrong, and God had another plan.

Through that experience, I learned that doctors diagnose and make their best guestimate, but the Lord’s report is the one that I choose to listen to and hold onto.

Jeremiah 29:11 assures us,

“'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”

Because I could look back over my life and see God’s faithfulness so many times before, in this new journey, when life seemed hopeless, hope in God was all I had, and it was enough.

I learned that when live seems hopeless, there are ways to hold onto hope:

1. Think back on your life, and record previous times when God was faithful to you.
2. Look in the Bible for examples of when God was faithful then.
3. Turn off the negative outside influences like the news and media and, instead, listen to praise and worship music.
4. Write down promises in Scripture that apply to your situation.
5. Pray and ask God to give you a greater measure of faith.
6. Repeatedly thank God in advance for what He is going to do.

Jesus warned us that in this world, we would experience trials, but because of Him, hope prevails!

How will you maintain your hope when you face seemingly hopeless situations?

Dr. Michelle Bengtson is an international speaker, and author of the award-winning Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey through Depression, the award-winning companion, Hope Prevails Bible Study, and Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises. A neuropsychologist in private practice for more than 20 years, this doctor knows pain and despair firsthand. She combines her professional expertise and personal experience with her faith to address her patients’ issues—both for those who suffer and the ones who care for them. Michelle blogs regularly on her own site and is the popular podcast show host of “Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson.”

Rest and Reflection Saturday

In this Easter UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson encourages us to prepare our hearts by thinking about the day before Easter—something she calls "Rest and Reflection Saturday."

I never really thought much about the Saturday before Easter.

Other than to sing the words, “Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior,” Saturday wasn’t in my religious tradition.

Now I understand an important truth. After Jesus declared His work for sinners "finished" (John 19:30)—on what we call “Good Friday”—He honored the Sabbath, just as He did at the beginning of creation.

In other words, on Saturday in the tomb, our Lord RESTED. Friday was a grueling, torturous day for our Savior. But …

On Saturday, the Lord rested from His work of providing salvation for us.

There was no additional price Jesus had to pay. “Jesus paid it all,” as the hymn says. Our sin was fully atoned for, "once for all."

G. K. Chesterton wrote in "The Everlasting Man" that this particular Sabbath Jesus spent in the tomb was the last Sabbath of the old creation.

The disciples, on Resurrection Sunday morning, celebrated "the first day of a new creation,” Chesterton said—as do WE!

I saw a fine art print of “Jesus in the Tomb,” part of James Jacques Joseph Tissot’s “The Life of Christ” series (1884-96)—for sale at this site.

The print made me think of the deep grief the Lord’s followers must have felt that Saturday as they laid him in the tomb.

We think the disciples had no way of knowing what the next day would bring,

but Jesus had told them what to expect in Mark 9:31.

I like to call the Saturday before Easter “Rest and Reflection Saturday.”

It’s a quiet, meditative bridge between two days—a time of pausing and thinking about:

• what Jesus finished on Friday,
• and what He would start on Sunday.

I’ve been thinking about the tomb of Christ. The body of Jesus remained in the borrowed tomb all of Saturday.

The tomb was a dark place. Tombs are place of darkness, death and sorrow.

On Rest and Reflection Saturday, I think about how dark my soul would be without hope in Jesus.

But the tomb is only part of the story. Sunday would come, and Jesus would rise from the dead.

God’s requirement for our salvation would be satisfied—Jesus is the "propitiation" for our sins—but also, our hope in Jesus would be satisfied.

Salvation and Eternal life with God would be our new reality if we placed our faith in what Jesus accomplished for us in the cross and resurrection—a reason for rejoicing!

Without the resurrection, we would still be in a very dark place.

Condemned in our sins, darkness would pervade every corner of our lives. (John 3:19-20;

But Jesus came to give us His light!

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light (Ephesians 5:8-9).

Many say they have faith in God, but without embracing the Gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4), our faith is “futile.” We would still be in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). But Christ was raised from the dead and we are alive in Him, victorious over sin and death.

The Christ-followers on that sad Saturday weren’t only grieving; they were fearful and in hiding (Mark 14:50; John 20:19). They were afraid of being arrested and killed. They desperately needed peace.

What likely went through the disciples’ minds and tormented their emotions?

• Surely the disciples reflected on their Lord’s crucifixion and the dashing of their hopes for a Messiah to conquer their enemies.
• Maybe they reflected on the betrayal of Judas.
• Perhaps Peter was still weeping over his own betrayal.
• Was John, the “disciple Jesus loved,” especially heartbroken?

How should WE reflect on these days?

• Do we understand our hopes would be dashed to ever deal with sin, our flesh and the devil without the death and resurrection of Jesus?
• How many ways have we betrayed the Lord who loved us enough to die for us?
• Are we heartbroken over our sin?
• Do we understand what Jesus did to transform our lives?
• Are we grateful for our salvation, or do we take it for granted?

While the disciples grieved, the enemies of Christ were busy on that Saturday. They remembered what Jesus had said about rising in three days (Matthew 27:62-66; John 2:19-21). They tried to prevent that by stationing a Roman guard at the tomb.

But miraculously, the next morning the tomb would be empty.

Nothing could stop the plan of God!

The Savior would accomplish the Father’s will (John 6:32-44)—God’s plans cannot not be thwarted. 

So today, Saturday:

Take time to rest. Take time to reflect.

And on Sunday morning, let the Holy Spirit remind you:

“Your Redeemer is Risen … He is risen indeed.”

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, at Revive Our Hearts, a blogger at TrueWoman.com, writes wiki-type posts at  Christianity.com, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Pexels at Pixabay.

We Will Rise!

Julie Sanders cares about helping women think biblically. In this Easter UPGRADE—in the midst of a pandemic—she helps Christians focus on our future in Christ.

“Can you remember a time when everyone was thinking about the same thing?” Julie Sanders says. “Right now, we’re all tracking the same information and asking many of the same questions.”

Yes! With the Coronavirus coverage, I (Dawn) am on the same page as many Americans—but not always from the same perspective. As I move toward Resurrection Sunday, I want to be sure I am thinking biblically. And that’s exactly what Julie encourages us to do with this post.

Julie continues . . .

Daily, we watch to see where lives are impacted by COVID-19.

We wonder if we’ll get it and, ultimately, if we’ll die.

So much about life is uncertain.

• We never envisioned watching Easter Sunday services online from home.
• We never envisioned obeying government “Stay Home” directives.
• We never envisioned daily briefings on the lives lost.
• We never envisioned people passing away alone, without the presence of loved ones.
• We never envisioned THIS LIFE.

As we celebrate the Resurrection, we have questions. There’s so much we don’t know about life and death, yet there’s so much we’re sure of.

1. No one lives forever; we will all die one day. (Hebrews 9:27)
2. No one knows what tomorrow brings; we don’t know when we’ll die. (James 4:14)
3. No one is alone when they die; God is with us in death. (Psalm 23:1-6)
4. No one can defeat death but Jesus; one day this will be over. (Revelation 21:4)
5. No one can be separated from God’s love; Jesus guarantees it. (Romans 8:38-39)

This weekend we celebrate the sacrificial death of God’s Son Jesus, leading up to His history-making, life-changing resurrection. Christ secured a chance at life for all of us.

Not even disease or death can rob us of the gift of life.

While sin secured our suffering, Jesus secured our salvation.

Every person wondering how this Coronavirus will change their life has the chance to receive eternal life.

Because He rose, we will rise.

WE WILL RISE!

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

COVID-19 reminds us of the limits of our knowing and our controlling.

This Easter, we approach the celebration of Christ’s resurrection victory over death with fresh comfort, gratitude and relief. We may not know what tomorrow holds—life or death.

The same One who sees every tear is also greater than every disease, even today’s disease. His battle on our behalf lets us face tomorrow with a certain hope. We will rise.

How does the global crisis of COVID-19 change how you look at the death and resurrection of Jesus this Easter?

What does His life mean for your life? How will that look and sound in your attitude, in your words, and in the expression on your face?

Julie Sanders loves lifting women who lead globally. She’s the author of The ABCs of Praying for Students and Expectant, a devotional for new moms. Julie finds joy in helping women discover and develop their gifts to influence others. She writes from her online base at juliesanders.org.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Luis Galvez at Unsplash.