While We Wait to Return to Normal

Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri is biweekly and a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

Watch the Wednesday Wanderings Welcome for this week.

Now that we have cleared our minds of the clutter, we can wander on the journey with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined Being Well and Staying Well. This week we will investigate how to be strong and courageous While You Wait to Return to Normal.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

PROMISE:  Psalm 27: 14 Amplified 

God, the Promise Keeper pledges to us that we can wait confidently and with courage for Him to strengthen us while we move toward normal.

The song writer begins the stanza with an objection, he states, “BUT Lord, tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait. In his recovery from the warfare of grief and calamity Spafford encouraged himself with God’s Word. He clung to the promise of blessed hope and rest of his soul on earth and ultimately in eternity as he walked through his grief process.

PARABLE: Grief is quick to come, but slow to leave. We can’t rush suffering. If we could, I would sprint like Jesse Owens to the recovery finish line. During the month of May, ten days apart, I experienced the death of my father-in-love and my uncle (his brother) to COVID-19. The monstrous roller coaster of the illness, circumstances of the death, and the conclusion of the ride hijacked my emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Not everyone experienced COVID-19 as I did but everyone experienced COVID-19.

As we discussed two weeks ago, loss and grief is something everyone will experience. No matter what type of loss you are experiencing (job loss, break up or divorce, loss of loved ones, loss of normalcy due to COVID-19, or a terminal diagnoses), there is no short cut, We have to experience the process.

While you Wait to recover from the silent war of COVID-19 and return to normal you will experience one, some, or all of the stages of grief in any order. 

The stages of grief are:

• Denial (a coping mechanism)
• Anger (a masking effect)
• Bargaining (a way to postpone sadness, confusion or hurt)
• Depression (overwhelmingly feeling foggy, heavy, and confused)
• Acceptance (understanding loss is a part of life and examining what it means to your life now)

My temporary roller coaster can travel the track of any of these on a given day. Yet I know that there is no suffering or situation greater than the PROMISED hope and rest of my soul found in the arms of Jesus. Suffering is a part of our journey, it is the medicine that cures us from walking on our own. It is the weight too powerful to lift that drives us to scream, pray, and/or worship while we wait for the warfare of sorrow to terminate in the powerful and peaceful Presence of God.  

COVID-19 is a national trauma that the world will need to grieve. As some of the world sprints back to normal and other parts of the world jogs the marathon of the normal recovery race from COVID-19, we will approach the recovery of the grief of sorrow differently. Some of us have already returned to gatherings without our masks, our hugging and hand shaking, and traveling for summer vacations. Others are still wearning masks, avoiding crowds, and carrying hand sanitizer like a treasured jewel. While some are cautiously testing the normal waters with masks sometimes, 6′ feet social distancing, and some small gatherings. No matter how you are recovering from the trauma of COVID-19, while you wait, you can wait courageously, confidently,  and in expectation that God will deliver us from this pandemic plague and any other loss we have experienced.

PONDER and WANDER:  In my last Wandering we examined the losses and unresolved grief within our life. If you choose, Ponder the question: What stage of grief am I currently most experiencing as a result of the losses of COVID-19 or any other loss in my life?

The soul training WELL exercise can assist us in examining our loss and strengthening our hearts as we wait for the grief process to end.

Soul care training exercise: If you choose, complete the W.E.L.L. exercise.

• When you are ready, clear your mind and invite the Holy Spirit to help you Wait courageously, confidently, and expentantly as you ask God to identify which stage of grief you are currently most experiencing as a result of COVID-19.
• Next,  Invoke the assistance of God to strengthen your heart. Ask speficially for strength regarding in the stage you are experiencing .
• Then, Listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• Finally, Lay down your burden and receive the strength of Jesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, help me to wait in courage, and confidently expect you to strengthen my heart. The silent war of COVID-19 has faught us in ways we are unaware. While we wait to return to a normal let our response be to pray, worship, and seek you during this recovery process. In the healing name of Jesus I pray, Amen. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to breathe and let the work of your wandering fill you with strengh.

Then take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post While you Wait appeared first on Resonant 7.

_{Image Attributions:
Stages of grief: Google images
Wait on the Lord: Google Images}

BONUS REFLECTION: Rest and resolution don’t always come easy. You may experience more rain, while you wait. If you choose, listen to this song and be reminded that God is never late so praise Him while you wait.