Women’s Ministry Minute
June 24, 2020
With Marissa Arnett
Since the beginning of quarantine and COVID-19, so many things are different. All of the sudden, life was a novel. With tragedies and difference, defiance and truth, all happening as if a writer decided to give his story plot twist after plot twist, striving to keep their audience guessing. To keep their hearts beating rapidly and continuously, only to be lulled in a sense of security in which--almost immediately—is deterred, such as the snapping of a trap. We as the audience in this bizarre description, know all the emotions that come with it. Fear, love, sadness, joy, and so many others that can never be described yet we all know how they feel. The biggest and perhaps the most diversified feeling we’ve had is change. For instance, I’ve had to change the way I get my education, change the way I buy groceries, and change the way I walk into my house, all to keep others and myself safe. The most awkward change I’ve made, is with my times with God. All the sudden I had and infinite number of things to pray about, think about, and ask myself about. What is God trying to teach me, through all of the foreign happening outside my front door? It was overwhelming trying to navigate through the maze of conflict and trouble that was happening to so many people in the world. I felt as though I was in the eye of a hurricane, feeling the world’s wind and waves as they thrashed against my helpless body. To help with this feeling, I turned to the Psalms. Through prayer I was determined to help others in a way that always pointed to the goodness of God, as many of the Psalms do. But that isn’t what God wanted me to learn. Instead, praying about the goodness of God everyday taught me the most important thing I’ve learned from all this change: God is constant. As the world seemed to be crashing down around me, God remined me that He is here, always has been, and always will be; here with us. He was there when the world began, he was there when the Red Sea was parted, he was there when His son hung dying on a tree, and He is here with us now. He is here when thousands are dying. He is here when my black brothers and sisters are being persecuted. He is here when the world is in turmoil. He is here in the eye of the storm. If He has the power to command the wind and the waves, to break the bow and bend the spear, and to move mountains into the sea, why should I feel overwhelmed with the world? God is here and his power is unmovable. He is the one thing that hasn’t changed in this world of struggle. He is constant. Therefore, even as the wind and the waves beat against my body, I take comfort in knowing that the mighty God of Israel is here with me. I take comfort knowing that he is with the many, many, peoples who are hurting. I take comfort knowing that God has been here with us, reading each chapter with countless emotions as we are. We may not know the ending to the narrative, but we do know the author, and I look forward to facing the storm by His side.