10 Unexpected Blessings I am Experiencing Despite the COVID-19 Crisis
I thought that since we read and hear so much negative information regarding the virus pandemic, why not write about what are some blessings you and I might be experiencing despite the COVID-19?
There is a scripture in the Bible that says “that in all things we know that God works for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to this purpose” (Romans 8: 28). This is an amazing verse because it is communicating to us that God can take all the good and hard things in our life and produces something good.
Here are 10 unforeseen blessings you and I might be benefiting from during the virus outbreak.
1. Spending more time with your family. If you live in a home where there is more than one person than you are benefiting from spending more quality time with your spouse, siblings, kids, or parents. In a world that has always been fast paced it is nice to have more time with family members. Of course, the flip side is true, your family members might be driving you crazy! Well… this too shall pass!
2. Saving money. If you are like me, I was out of my house everyday and this meant I spent more money on gas, take-out food, and clothes. Since I am home self-isolating I am no longer buying food, gas, or clothes and this has helped me save money. More dollars in my pocket!
3. More time with God. One of the biggest blessings of having more time on my hands is that I get to spend more time with God. More time reading devotionals, studying, praying, and listening to worship music. The extra time is creating space in my day to sit before God and hear from him.
4. Exercise. Again since we have more time we can actually start to do those workouts we said we didn’t have time for and we can go out for walks to enjoy nature. Exercising and enjoying nature is a great way to stay fit and be healthy.
5. Compassion. This is a time where we can extend a helping hand to those in need. We can offer help with someone who needs groceries or a ride to a medical appointment. This pandemic has taught us that it is important to remember that we are a community. We cannot fight this alone, we need each other. We all have to do our part.
During this time make yourself available to help someone in need and you will reap the blessing in return.
6. Being thankful. This is a big one. I have realized through this virus outbreak that little things matter. For example leaving the house, or driving, or buying tea, or going to the mall, or meeting someone in public. These are some examples of little things that matter and I am sure you can list things you miss doing and took for granted. I find myself thanking God for things I took for granted and appreciating it more. I hope to retain this attitude of appreciating little things once this pandemic dissolves.
7. Learning to trust God. Another HUGE lesson. Since the onset of this virus outbreak almost everything has been taken from us. Some people have lost their jobs, experienced investment loss, lack of entertainment like sports and theater, some are facing health uncertainty, and there is less social interaction. Due to the loss, we are all forced to think about this important question - do we trust God? Are we making God our source of help or have we been relying on other things? This pandemic is helping us to draw closer to God and to put our FULL trust in Him and not things or people.
8. Completing Unfinished Tasks. Procrastination, Procrastination, Procrastination. We have all been in a situation when we said we would do something and we didn’t finish it. We didn’t finish what we were suppose to do because we didn’t have “time”. Well all of those excuses are out the window now since we have more time than ever. This has been a great time to finish unfinished projects.
9. Rest. I was talking to one person and they said since this outbreak they have had time to rest. They were going a mile a minute and they needed a breather. A pause. Now is the time to rest and to reset your body, mind, emotions, and spiritual health in the right direction.
10. Learning to use technology. Most of us are probably using technology to connect with others. Lass week was my Dad’s 70th birthday. We had planned on getting together as a family. There are twelve individuals in the family but due to gatherings being reduced to only five people, we had to change our plans. We used zoom conferencing program to connect with the family members so that we could sing happy birthday to Dad together. Not what we wanted to do on Dad’s birthday but at least we did it together. Using the zoom technology allowed myself and others to learn another way to connect with people. The virus outbreak has pushed us to engage with technology on a whole new level.
Well there you have it.....these are 10 blessings we might be experiencing as we deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Like Romans 8: 28 says, "that in all things we know that God works for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to this purpose”. God is working through this virus and good things will and are coming out of it. I hope reading this blog was a blessing to you!
