November 30 Advent Devotional
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I hear it often (and have said it myself), as I am sure many others have as well, “When will this all be over,” “I can’t take much more of this,” “I just want things to go back to normal,” “We just need 2020 to be over,” and so on in some form or other. We all yearn for normalcy to return. We all want the pandemic to be over so we can get back to our lives.
I am a Physical Therapist by trade and when I was treating full time a few years back I was using my hands all the time. They were invaluable to my work. I developed something called dyshidrotic eczema in both of my hands. I had small itchy blisters all over my hands. I became obsessed with getting rid this condition as it was impacting my sleep, mood, and my work. I prayed and prayed to God for healing and became frustrated when it wore on and nothing happened. At some point God changed my heart and my prayer turned from heal me to please Father help me to endure. I became thankful for the moments of reprieve from the eczema and thanked God for his grace during these moments. God did eventually heal me, on his time though and not mine.
As the pandemic continues to impact every facet of our lives I believe if we just put our focus on God, praying his will be done, and opening our eyes to his grace in our lives and those around us we will find that we can’t help but to be thankful. My prayer for all of us is to shift that focus to God’s grace. Let us be thankful, rejoice and praise God even in the midst of a pandemic and ever changing world.
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